Page 20: Roots of peace
From SI Exco News
THE ROOTS OF PEACE
- by Bob Luitweiler,
- ‘Grandpa of Servas’
Most of the world talks peace, even the war mongers claim wars can end war or defeat the bad guys - and then we will have peace….
But the nature of the Universe says we can build peaceful societies only when we live in ways that rid us of the seeds of violence. We don’t have to become saints. While still retaining our natural passions - sometimes angry, sometimes loving - we can build a peaceful society. The view of those pacifists who think that a truly peaceful society has no conflicts is a mirage. Only dead things have no conflict. Living, vital societies constantly change like growing trees in the forest that ever struggle for growing space in their roots and between their branches. So too do dynamic societies have frequent conflicts. The difference between peaceful and violent societies is in the way they resolve their conflicts. When justice and respect are the basis of a settlement, then - and only then, are they on the way to a durable peace….
How then do we find the way to peace - how can we start climbing this challenging path?…. First we must look at ourselves and our ways of life more honestly. We (in the First World) hog the largest portion of the world’s resources both of natural and renewable raw materials and manufactured products. Our society is as unjust as the exploiting feudal lord of the medieval manor. The only difference is our exploited surfs are in the Third World, out of sight, where we don’t see their hunger and suffering.
There will be no peace in the world so long as we live on the sweat and blood of others, whether they are near or far. Because our every day way of life is so intimately intertwined with this unjust system, extracting ourselves from it is going to be painfully difficult. But if all the peace-wishers and actual peace-minded people in the wealthier countries would start boycotting the products made by the worst exploitation, it could start a tsunami that would circle the globe. Because all of us caring people would naturally start buying our needs and luxuries from just producers, we would send a message to all the plantation owners and international corporations around the world that we would not accede to their unjust, violent-to-the-roots systems - and we would not patronize them.
If enough of us cared we could elect compassionate government representatives who would institute gentle and kind policies and heed less the wealthy and greedy powers who now buy the elections because our public is so lethargic and unthinking. We could help build local communities that thought less about neighborhood watch and more about helping the needy, the outcasts and the disenchanted youth. Most important of all we would, at first in little ways, change our ways of living and consuming so that they reflected our concern for the hungry and oppressed people of our global human family.
We need fundamental changes in our unjust life styles. We need to reach out to our sisters and brothers in need in other parts of the world and first of all get off their backs, stop allowing our corporations and greedy entrepreneurs from taking their land and natural resources for our enrichment. Then we need to encourage them to build on the positive aspects of their own customs and heritage instead of trying to reprogram them in our image in the name of education. We have enticed much of the world to follow some of our worst practices and most destructive habits. Our lack of perspective causes us to believe that all the people of the world would be better off if they only copied our ways. But if they did, we would run out of resources in very few years and the whole human race would soon be starving….
- Bob Luitweiler, 409 York Street #510, Bellingham, Washington 98225, USA
- E.mail: owl@steadi.org
- Phone: 00-1-360-7141043
