Dona Nobis Pacem - BlogBlast for Peace 2011

I'm really glad to have turned on my computer this morning and found out it was BlogBlast for Peace day, because the process of looking up a quote to post that spoke to me helped bring a certain sense of calm to my troubled mind.  Troubled because of the last round of bullying emails from my mother (the biggest disruptor of my own personal peace), because of the many Occupy movements that have shown us the arrests of and injuries to our honored veterans and fellow citizens (including the outright murder of one of the peaceful protester's dog), and also in light of the recent video of the abuse of a teenage girl with cerebral palsy by her family court judge father (both her parents beat her with a belt for an illegal download).  I think we all could use a bit more Peace in our lives...

There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace.

-- Kofi Annan

Peace is something we need to cultivate in our own Selves, in our hearts and minds first, and then to each other.  Peace is something that needs to spread over us all, like a blanket, like a wave of love, drawing us closer to each other and recognizing that we need each other to evolve.  Peace means taking the hand of someone you don't understand and making an honest attempt to see things from their point of view.  It means listening to each other, and hearing what we have to say.  I am not naive enough to believe that living and being this way will come without conflict, but like anything worthwhile, it will take a lot of hard work - work that is, in the long run, extremely worthwhile.

In the hearts of people today there is a deep longing for peace. When the true spirit of peace is thoroughly dominant, it becomes an inner experience with unlimited possibilities. Only when this really happens - when the spirit of peace awakens and takes possession of men's hearts, can humanity be saved from perishing.

-- Albert Schweitzer

It's interesting to me that there are so many good quotes about peace to be found - obviously, intelligent people have been having this discussion for quite some time, maybe even since the beginning of time, and we still don't have it.  Why is that?  Why are there still tens of thousands of American troops in the middle-east?  I think it's really great that our current administration wants to bring them all home - and they should - but I worry about where they will find jobs...and murder their families because they won't get the psychological counseling they surely need.  I don't even want to get into my issues with overpopulation!

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

-- Baruch Spinoza

I wonder what can be done on a global level, and find myself wondering what can be done in my own heart.  How can I reach peace with my family when they refuse to acknowledge that I exist?  How can I possibly love someone who turns their heart against my child?  How can I continue to throw loving vibrations at my mother when she continues in her attempt to bully me into bending to her will?  How can I be the change I wish to see in the world?  How can I show my child that even though his genetic family wants nothing to do with him, that there is still an abundance of love in this world?

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

--Eleanore Roosevelt

Well, that's really all the time I have to dedicate to this right now, and unless I want to turn it into an essay of epic proportion complete with footnotes and and a resource list, I'll have to end it here.  Thinking about peace and how to come by it is no easy task, but one I take up willingly, each and every day.  I ask myself the questions - and though I don't always succeed, I attempt to live inside the answers I find within my own heart.  When I mess up, I apologize, and/or vow to do better next time.  I want to be a catalyst for change - I actively seek opportunities to bridge misunderstanding, and usually learn more than I could possibly teach.  So I ask you - how do you hold the dream in your heart?  Peace ~

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.  Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

-- Harriet Tubman

There are two ways of spreading light:  to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.

-- Edith Wharton

BlogBlast for Peace 2011