If you want to understand how we could live in a world where every religion speaks of peace and yet every nation is eventually involved in war, look no farther than what we teach our children. As those old lyrics from “South Pacific” go,
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
Make no mistake – peace takes work. The ongoing resolution of conflict in all the areas of our lives takes effort. But that is where it starts, in our homes and with our neighbors and in our cities… What have you done for peace today?
Peace is not an absence of conflict and violence. It is a set of relationships based on justice, participation and a recognition of our mutual humanity and inter-dependence.
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