Price
of Peace
“Let
us first explore what price we have to pay for peace…First we have to face our
failure to create a peaceful world…It costs us a great deal to admit that each
one of us is implicated in having created this peace-less world…”
Br.
David Steindl-Rast (“The Price of Peace” on One Peace Magazine; February 15,
2015)
Brother
David Steindl-Rast always gently tells us the truth that we would rather not hear.
This time, his message is “we are truly all in this together.” And, even though
it was written in 2015, it may as well have been yesterday. Nothing has changed
and once again we are watching the world burn. Lester Holt, on the Nightly News
yesterday reminded us that there are no fewer than 27 violent uprisings
happening right now on planet Earth. The one in Ukraine is most on our minds
because it involves a nuclear power. Br. Steindl-Rast suggests that we all take
a minute to acknowledge that each of us bears responsibility even if we are a
long distance from any of it.
He
suggests four steps toward claiming our part in supporting a world constantly
at war. The first is, of course, accepting that we share that responsibility. Secondly,
if we ask the question, “What on earth can I do?” then we must be open to the
answer: we are the problem. “Most of us in the first world are exploiting
the third world.” (Steindl-Rast) We do this by demanding cheaper products
and services, by living above our means and by not demanding that our leaders
take steps to equalize the opportunities for underserved communities. I don’t
know about you, but I gripe when I have to pay sales taxes, or shipping
charges, and I don’t want to pay more than 30-bucks for clothes or shoes—I expect
to be offered deals on everything. That means that women in Bangladesh or India
make a few cents a day for making the clothes I wear. And those of us who
change wardrobes with the season and discard what we don’t want any more are
contributing greatly to that. The only canonized American saint, Mother Seton,
suggested two-hundred years ago that we should, “live simply so that others
may simply live.”
The fourth
step that Br. Steindl-Rast suggests is to understand that morality is always unilateral.
We cannot wait for others to reciprocate to do the right thing. We cannot, for
instance, be kind only to people who are to us, or give with the expectation of
receiving. We cannot use the excuse, “I’ll be respectful to others when they
are respectful to me.” Giving with the expectation of reward is not the same as
simply giving because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s hard, I know. Most
simple and obvious moral challenges are hard to put into practice—especially in
a capitalistic society. But it is the price of peace—sharing, equalizing,
including, and embracing—not because it pays me off in the end, but because it’s
the right thing to do. I must ask myself, “Am I willing to do my part to help
create a more peaceful world?”
In the Spirit,
Jane
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