The Road to Peace 
by Timothy Martin Flanagan 
 

PEACE is not a gap between times of fighting, or a space where nothing is happening. 
Peace is something that lives, grows, spreads.  And needs to be looked after. 

Katherine Scholes  Peacetimes   1989 

In the days since September 11, our response has been uneven…
A
peace that comes from fear and not from the heart is the opposite of peace.

~ Gersonides~

We responded quickly to violence with violence, and inherited more victims…

It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace.

~ Andre Gide ~

 

We must attend to the task at hand, peace in our time.

"We can all do our share to redeem the world in spite of all absurdities and all frustrations and all disappointments."

~Abraham Joshua Heschel~

War and Peace are not two sides of a coin, opposing forces, or two parts of a whole.  Peace represents balance and purpose, while war is a chaos of cruelty, oppression, injustice, and pain.

What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to  
what lies within us.  And when we bring what is within out into the world,  
miracles happen.  
Henry David Thoreau

Peace is our hope, a silver lining.  It is the flower that explodes when we embrace our suffering, and it blossoms into joy…

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it."

~Dwight David Eisenhower~

These are troubled times, but we must not lose ourselves in the moment….

“The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?”
                                                     ~Pablo Casals~

 

We must not isolate ourselves, but reach out to our fellow travelers…

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

~ Moshe Dayan~

 

It is our task, not to exclude anyone, but to include everyone in our search for peace…

Seek peace, and pursue it. [Psalms 34:14]

~Bible~

Where is the road to peace?

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding."

                                                   ~Albert Einstein~  &  Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Some contend that war is a road to peace…

 There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.

~ A. J. Muste ~

 

Military solutions to human problems are a slippery slope.

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."

~Alfred Adler~

 

Our principles dictate that we act out of love, but…

"If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolute night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos."
~Martin Luther King Jr.~

 

The Peace Process is related to actively pursuing peace, rather than acquiescing in war.

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

~Baruch Spinoza~

 

It is our human task to heal and sustain this planet.  That healing will not flow from the barrel of a gun. 

"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.”

--Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Sometimes a good look in the mirror, is our only hope to know who we are. 

"The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs.  The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists."  ~William J. Clinton, 1997

We must find a way to accept, open up, and reach out.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. 
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Peace must be the choice each one of us makes.

We have seen the enemy and he is us.  
Walt Kelly, "Pogo"  

Talk is cheap, but peace can only be won by living up to the best in us.

"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

-- ISAIAH 2-4
 

 

Military force alone, cannot ever secure a just peace.  This notion contradicts our most cherished traditions and beliefs. 

"Violence just hurts those who are already hurt...Instead of exposing the brutality of the oppressor, it justifies it.

~Cesar Chavez~

 

We cannot triumph over the morally degenerate unless we take the high ground...

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Peace is a more difficult undertaking than war…

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."
-- John F. Kennedy

 

We cannot lower our standards when challenged by Terrorism and fear, we must insist on Justice. We will not find peace, freedom, and dignity until we remember who we are.

"No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God."

Micah 6:8

 

When we acknowledge our common ground, we can reach out to our neighbors...
"
The basis of world peace is the teaching which runs through almost all the great religions of the world. "Love they neighbor as thyself."--Eleanor Roosevelt

"Peace is our gift to each other..."
-- Elie Wiesel

 All we are saying is: give peace a chance.
--John Lennon

"Peace be to you."
-- The Bible: Genesis 43:23  

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.  ~Anton Chekov~

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