Our former President was asked what the war in Iraq was really about. His answer: "It's about peace."
To my ear, that's about as Orwellian as it gets. Looking for solutions to the world's problems by applying the same action that contributed to the mess we're in--then calling it something else (peace?)--won't take us to where we say we want to go.
War is not peace; pretty obvious, no? But hating war is not the same as loving peace. Those are two entirely different paradigms. Loving peace, then making decisions--political, social, financial, ecological and spiritual choices--with truly peaceful goals as the desired result...that's the road to lasting peace.
A race whose goal, like a corporation (and remember, they're people, too!) is simply to "have more" will never have enough. Maximum consumption will only end when resources run out. The systems we've created are so dependent on exploiting all available resources--people included--for maximum profit, that the kind of change this world needs could only be considered "collapse" in the eyes of the very few percent who hold the wealth and make decisions for so many.
Yet "having" more, and "doing" what we're doing is actually killing us, and of course there will be consequences. Change is inevitable; the question is, what kind of "brave new world" do we want to experience? Survival means a paradigm shift in the way we see ourselves; what we mean when we say "me" and "you" and "us". I believe that only a deep recognition of our innate connectivity, all man-made constructs aside, will change our world. Only an epiphany of global scale will bring this about...or when we're faced with a literal life or death decision about how we'd like to go on. Well, folks, we're there now! And like G.W. Bush said, it IS about peace; only not by expending what life we have to make war, or tolerating the scale of global poverty that Gandhi described as a form of violence.
We KNOW we can do better. We CAN change. But like any journey, it will start by taking the first step. How about we start considering peace.
About Me
- Stephen Jerrome
- Los Angeles, CA, United States
- I am a writer, photographer and musician living in Los Angeles. In the last few years, new written work--numerous plays, screenplays, and two novels--have demonstrated this to be the most productive period of my life. The journal I have also kept for thirty-five years has, of late, become a personal sounding board for my thoughts on peace and the state of the world...about which I remain hopelessly optimistic! My writing here will be in tandem to video "Peace Talks" I have recorded, and which will be released throughout 2011. You're welcome to visit my website, the "Studio 5" link, to see my photographs. As a classically-trained pianist, I have been composing music all my life. Two guitar re-mixes of piano music are attached here, as well as several music videos, including "Consider Peace" the title track of an up-coming CD. Balancing writing, photography and music has been a long and challenging path...not to be recommended! Yet this very Aries diversity reflects an enthusiasm for the modern world of which I feel very much a part.
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