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The Peace Report, #2
Dear Friends of Peace,
Welcome to the second edition of The Peace Report, the occasional reflections of this itinerant peacebuilder on peace and world affairs. In this report we look at some of the items in the news through the lens of our commitment to building a culture of peace. Today we explore Nuclear Disarmament, National Security, and ‘No Ordinary Time.’
Nuclear Disarmament. North Korea has woken us up to the fact that, as John Kerry said in the presidential debates, nuclear proliferation is the biggest single issue we must address in the coming years. This is not new information. Who remembers those air raid drills back in the 1950’s, where we’d curl up in the hall or under our desk to be ‘safe?’ Or the Ban the Bomb marches of that same era?
I don’t have any suggestions for the Bush administration on how to deal with North Korea or Iran, other than the obvious, which is, “Sit down and talk – and listen!” (which they adamantly refuse to do.) I do, however, have some suggestions for the rest of us.
Remembering that everything ‘out there’ is also a reflection of ‘in here;’ that what we manifest in the physical realm starts as thought and consciousness, perhaps we can begin a groundswell for nuclear disarmament by disarming our own core beliefs and de-militarizing our own hearts. Peace does, in fact, begin with me.
It’s easy to point to ‘them,’ whether the ‘them’ is the NRA or the weapons industry or the makers of those unbelievably vicious movies, television shows, and computer games, and lament the violence-mongering and profiteering. And it should be lamented, and changed. However, now it’s time to also point to ourselves and ask, “Where is the attachment to violence in me? At my core, what beliefs or emotions do I hold at the very nucleus of my being that collude with the war machine? What am I ‘up in arms’ about? Who or what would I like to ‘blow off,’ or ‘blow away?’ What am I so afraid of that I must ‘raise my defenses?’ How have I ‘hardened’ my heart? What deep underground bunker do I hide in? What nasty stuff do I radiate?”
The Nobel Peace Laureates at the recent PeaceJam conference said that one of the most important peace issues we must address over the next ten years is this disarming of our own hearts. I will have the opportunity this winter to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, just down the road from Los Alamos, where the nuclear weapons industry began (and is continuing). I look forward to exploring these questions more thoroughly in that environment, and seeing how the inner process leads to outer action and to change.
National Security. The idea that our national security is assured by building a wall or bigger bombs, or by fighting a war in Iraq, would be laughable if it weren’t so sad and sadly misguided. Fear is not the essential ingredient of safety; it is, in fact, its nemesis. We have a simple tried-and-true formula for security, but for some reason we refuse to implement it.
This formula came to us via the good work of a psychologist, Abraham Maslow, and it’s called the Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow says that we organize our lives around a progression of basic human needs, relevant at both the individual and group level.
First is our need for Survival. People need the basics of life – food, water, shelter, and health care, and economic viability (which means education). When these needs are not met – as indeed they are not for billions of people around the world – we are trapped in our want, and diminished in our human spirit and capacity. Currently 12.7% of the U.S. population and 17.8% of our children live in poverty; 15.7% of us do not have health insurance; and 32% of high school students drop out before graduation.
This is the core existential issue of our nation’s security, for if we continue to grow the distance between have’s and have-nots, and consign huge segments of our population to the margins of our national life, we risk an internal social implosion every bit as dangerous as an externally-triggered explosion.
When governments neglect the well-being of their people (or certain sub-sets of their people), it is often the political or religious extremists who step in to provide food, health care, education, and other basic services – and then we wonder why the population supports these ‘fanatics.’ If the U.S. would spend even a fraction of the $250 million per day that it spends on the war in Iraq providing these services for its own people, our national security would grow from within.
Likewise, if we gave more than 0.22% of our GNP in foreign aid (making us, the richest country in the world, number 21 among the top 22 industrialized nations and falling far short of the UN-recommended 0.7%) and made the issue of global poverty a true priority, how much stronger would our security be – both at the national and planetary levels. For it is past time that we understood that our security depends on that of others; we are one.
Survival is not just about humanity but also concerns its home, our mother earth. Pollution, global warming, species die-off, resource depletion, deforestation, desertification, weather extremes, and other environmental hazards have a direct correlation to our national security. We are more than fouling our own nest; we are disturbing the balance and basic structure of the living system of which we are an integral part, and racing toward a point beyond which life as we know it may not sustainable. Until we address this most basic of needs, we are not secure.
Next is our need for Safety. Individually and collectively, we need to feel reasonably sure that we will not be harmed as we go about our lives. Yet the biggest threats to the safety of our children come not from immigrant hordes swarming over the border, or from North Korea’s mad dictator, but from the daily threat of violence in the home, on the streets, or in their schools. The culture of violence that we have spawned in this country translates directly into harm – physical and emotional – and ultimately into fear, which then gets projected on to the ‘bad guys out there.’ Changing this culture must become a national priority, and not by more of the same ‘crime-fighting’ mentality. We must de-normalize violence as a way of life and make peace – the principles and practices of peace and nonviolence – normative and valued in our national culture.
The third need in Maslow’s hierarchy is Belonging, or Community. Humans are social beings; the sea in which we swim is the sea of relationship. Connection, respect, communication, appreciation, love – these are essential to our spirit and our being. Yet we live in a highly polarized society, with a leadership that posits ‘us’ versus ‘them’ at every turn; that labels others as evil; that ignores international treaties and concerns and projects an arrogant cowboy go-it-alone image. The mind of separation is the mind, ultimately, of domination. And domination is no recipe for national security.
Only partnership; only reaching across the divides (be they ideological, political, religious, racial, cultural, lifestyle, or whatever) to include, to understand, to dialogue, to find common ground, to cooperate; only building bridges to span our differences and co-create a world that works for all; only respecting the dignity and worth of every person and every identity group – only this will enhance our national and our collective security.
The fourth need in Maslow’s pyramid is Self-Actualization, or, at the group level, Vitality. When our survival is assured, we feel safe from harm, and we know we are in good relationship with the vibrant whole of the human family, then we can turn our attention to the development of our fullest potential, to manifesting the highest aspirations of our soul. This is where our national security translates into the flourishing of culture, the economy, education, the arts, health and well-being. We learn, we expand, we evolve, we grow, we find creative solutions to the problems that surround us, and we face into them with confidence, love, and trust – not with fear.
Dear friends of peace, for me this recipe for national security is so simple and clear. If we choose to address poverty, respect the dignity of our diverse identities, change the existing culture (and economy) of violence, build bridges of communication and understanding, and provide opportunities for all to fulfill their highest potential, we will have solved the national – and global – security problem, and, in the process, launched a new era of peace. It isn’t rocket science.
‘No Ordinary Time.’ I am reading a book of this title by Doris Kearns Goodwin about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during the years of WWII. One of the biggest challenges they faced, relatively successfully, was to insure that fighting for democracy abroad did not mean any lessening of commitment to democracy at home. Sound timely and familiar?
During the period of that war, the Roosevelts (and Eleanor in particular) made great progress in advancing civil rights, women’s rights, human rights, labor’s rights, and an open media. Compare and contrast to today’s administration…
Like then, this is no ordinary time. Global threats of terrorism, environmental degradation, human trafficking, extremism, drugs, war, AIDS and other diseases are real. Is our situation worse than at other times? I would say ‘yes,’ because now more than ever the human family has the means to truly destroy itself and the biosphere, our living home. Conversely, this is also the moment we have the greatest opportunity to turn things around.
I am deeply moved by reading about Eleanor Roosevelt as she faced the challenges of her day. Shy and emotionally vulnerable from a difficult childhood, she nonetheless made herself available to serve, and she did so with a great heart, enormous stamina, a sensitive ear for what was needed, and a passion for right action. And, like Ginger Rogers who did everything Fred Astaire did only in high heels and backwards, Eleanor did it as a strong and independent woman at a time when First Ladies and women of her ‘class’ were expected to be quiet, behind-the-scenes, fluff-types.
The lesson I take from her life for these days is that it’s time to step beyond our comfort zone as change agents. Like her, we must stretch ourselves to listen, to reflect, and then, to act – boldly and strategically – to change the world around us. Reading her biography leaves me with much the same feeling, and message, that I had from the Nobel Peace Laureates in Denver last month. I feel the great ones among us, past and present, are calling us to action. They are reminding us that this extraordinary time is what we signed up for; it’s why we’re here; that the moment for living on purpose for peace is upon us.
I’ve just come from a birthday celebration for Eleanor Roosevelt, and as I looked around the room I realized that, while there may not be another single individual like her among us today, the same spark of spirit that animated her is in all of us. We are asked only to grow that spark into a flame that will warm us and light the way in the cold, dark nights ahead.
In other peace news: We wish our Muslim friends a joyous Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan and the session of fasting. Send prayers that the increased fighting in Sri Lanka may subside and fruitful peace talks may resume. And please, as the holiday session approaches, choose now to give the gift of peace to all on your list. Go to www.thepeacecompany.com to help build a peace economy by using your buying power for peace!
Great gratitude to you all, for all that you do for a more peaceful world!
Peace galore,
Louise Diamond
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