If we have to do so many mental gymnastics to justify harming others that we’re out of breath—that’s a sign it’s time for a sit down on the bleachers to reflect. The only way war will end is with the power of informed and engaged citizens uniting to ignite and enact change to make the world a peaceful place.
I am and always will be as pro-peace as I am pro-justice. There can’t be one without the other. Every being on the planet deserves to feel safe. Everyone deserves access to healthy food and water.
When we dig into the outcomes of wars, we see, war is planned by people who never get their hands dirty. If it’s not just for vengeance, they are mostly strategically bullying other countries into submission and taking their resources and territory. It’s basic animal territorialism. But humans have evolved past this in so many circumstances. If all the money and energy given to the military was diverted into education, equitable resource sharing, ensuring human rights, and caring for the vulnerable — we’d finally be living in the Eden we dream of.
It’s time we take the advice we give to our children— raise our words and not our fists. May we lay down our weapons and pick up our tools of empathy, collaboration, communication to resolve conflict and heal all relations. And may we once and for all declare #CeaseFireNow