The International Day of Peace

Every day should be peace day.

Today, September 21, is the International Day of Peace as established by the United Nations in 1981.

President Biden was in New York City speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, announcing that for the United States an era of relentless war will be replaced by an era of “relentless diplomacy." I’m not sure how a $24 Billion addition to an already $763 Billion defense budget fits into that, nor a $23 Billion weapons sale to the UAE, but somewhere we’re to believe it’s a separate issue. While the president spoke to at the United Nations on the International Day of Peace, he didn’t mention that in his speech.

Peace is an inconvenient topic to our established political and economic powers, fine as an amorphous concept but hardly something to mention in a serious policy speech! It’s a great end-of-speech flourish, certainly, but it’s a kind of shallow thing compared to drones and nuclear submarines and $500 Million B-21 bombers. Only dreamers and wise people ever think of discussing it as anything real.

But today, dreamers and wise people among us are the only ones who are serious - serious about strategizing a possibly survivable future for our grandchildren. For one thing is very obvious to the most discerning observer, whether we’re talking about the state of our democracy, the state of our planet, the inequity of our economy, or our endless war machine: what we’re doing now isn’t working.

To transform the world we must transform our thinking, and our thinking about war and peace is no exception.

Peace is not the absence of war; war is the absence of peace. We don’t get to peace by simply ending war; we get to peace, by proactively cultivating peace. Peace in our hearts, peace on our streets, and peace in the world. Peace can’t just be hoped for, wished for, or prayed for. Like any other serious effort it must be worked for. It must be strategized.

Statistically, there are factors that lead to a greater incidence of peace, and a diminished incidence of conflict, whether in a corner of our country or in a far off place on the other side of the world: expanded economic opportunities for women, greater educational opportunities for young people, the reduction of violence against women, and the amelioration of human despair. Imagine what our world would be like if that were our overarching agenda.

Some say it’s naive to think that way, but what’s actually naive is to think humanity will survive another hundred years on this planet if we don’t. Declaring that there will be peace on earth by the end of this century - having the audacity to even consider such a thing, much less that the United States should help lead the way - would involve a complete reorientation of our political and economic goals. For one thing, we’d have to choose a peace economy over a war economy. And we’d have to make a gargantuan humanitarian effort both here and abroad. Damn right it’s a a dream. But the alternative is an almost unimaginable nightmare.

In the words of John F. Kennedy, “Mankind must put an end to war - or war will put an end to mankind.” The US alone has over 5,500 nuclear bombs. You cannot continue building those things and not expect something to go really wrong at some point.

Why do we have war games but not peace games? Why do we have a Secretary of Defense but not a Secretary of Peace? And no, that’s not the State Department - though peace building efforts are part of its mission. How to wage peace should be a much larger issue than just a department within a department. We should have a Department of Peace. Imagine if we had a Pentagon of Peace. To wage peace is a result of a specific set of skills, no differently than is waging war. That’s why we need a Peace Academy as well as a War Academy, where we train and facilitate world class peace builders. And then we should fund them, no differently than we fund the Defense Department now.

Earth Day began as one of those hippie-dippie things back in the 1970’s, and now it’s a massive international phenomenon. I see the same trajectory for Peace Day, as people slowly but surely awaken to its significance. Sometimes we take too seriously those we should be laughing at, and laugh at people we should be taking more seriously. Those who dream of peace, and are wise enough to focus on it, are the most serious people among us.

All of us should be serious about peace, and many are…

My dear friend Sister Jenna, Director of D.C.’s Meditation Museum, released this lovely meditation video in honor of Peace Day.

Prayer for the world:

Dear God,

There is so much danger in the world today.

There is so much insanity, so much darkness and fear.

Please do for us what our mortal minds cannot do.

Please guide us

that we might transform the world.

Into every country and every home, into every mind and every heart,

May the power of love now trigger the light,

activate our holiness, and remind us of the truth within.

May our feet be guided.

our hearts be lit by grace,

and our world be blessed with peace.

Amen