For what seemed like a no-brainer, it took the organizer,
British actor Jeremy Gilley, 15 years to bring together enough nations to back and
proclaim the resolution. I doubt if you were to interview men and women on the
streets, in refugee camps and on the front lines anywhere in the world there
would be more than 5% saying that they wanted anything less than to live their
lives in peace. Why do we have such a difficult time doing this?
I have been involved in a week-long string of events
sponsored by Return to Honor that helps bring awareness to ways of creating a
culture of peace. We have shown the movie Peace
One Day, involved the schools with movies about bullying and writing essays
and expressing in art what peace looks like to them. Sunday spiritual leaders
from various religious persuasions came together in a forum where we looked at
our concerns and beliefs about creating a more peaceful world. We sang together
songs of peace, signed the petition to make Sedona a City of Peace and the
mayor has proclaimed Friday Peace One Day in Sedona. On Friday, the high school
will form a peace sign on the football field to be filmed from a helicopter for
inclusion with the YouTube promotion of the event. There is a live benefit
concert and even a community campout in the park. We say we are all about
peace.
If we are all in this world together and all looking to live
in peace, what is preventing us from behaving as peace-loving people? I believe
it has a lot to do with our focusing on the things that separate us than those bring
us together. We all view life through our own filters of experience and
preconceived ideas.
Case in point – As part of the preparations for Peace Week
in Sedona we engaged a local artist to design a poster to publicize events. He
did a beautiful painting of a family raising a white flag with a peace sign on
it over a tank with flowers in the barrel. Many, because they had been through
the 60’s and 70’s, understood the symbolism and thought it expressed their
sentiments beautifully. Given my past experiences, I thought “Oh no, the
fundamentalists are going to be offended and not join us because they consider
this to be a satanic symbol”. My friend, an ex-military man, thought
immediately that this was a sign of surrender. We are all a product of our experience and conditioning
and see life through these filters.
I see little chance of coming together as One in Peace if we
are not willing to start from this point forward and to begin to find the cords
that connect us and weave together a future that honors and celebrates our differences
rather than raising our hands in anger to those that knowingly or unknowingly
offend us. If we are not mindful in dealing with others, we will not be able to
avoid the mine (mind) fields that can derail even the best of intentions. It is
only by dialoguing about the things that pain and offend us in respectful ways
that we will be able to foster awareness and come together in mutual respect
and peace. One Day…
Namaste, Penny
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