Peace on Earth

Peace on earth and good will to man. That is what you hear at certain times of the year. People wishing fot peace on earth. People say it. People say they want peace on earth. It certainly sounds good: peace on earth. No war. No violence. No fear. No hatred. Peace on earth sure would be nice. But is anybody willing to do much more than wish for peace on earth? Is anybody willing to do what is necessary for peace on earth? As long as peace on earth remains a fun little catch phrase, there will truly be no peace on earth.

So how do we move from just saying we want peace on earth to doing something about peace on earth? I think we must start with ourselves. There will be no peace on earth if we are constantly at war with ourselves. There will be no peace on earth if we are always in conflict with our families. There will be no peace on earth if we are constantly intolerant of our neighbors. There will be no peace on earth untnil we find it in ourselves to be loving, kind and tolerant of ourselves, our families and our neighbors. Once we have accomplished this
we can start spreading peace on earth. Otherwise it is just words. Otherwise peace on earth is something that we think political leaders and governments can and must create.

Those political leaders are only a reflectionn of our lack of peace on earth. And our governments are only acting out the lack of peace on earth that exists within their citizenry. How can peace on earth come into being if we are all so angry, violent and intolerant of ourselves and others? There can be no peace on earth under these circumstances. If we truly want real peace on earth we will begin with ourselves.

Peace on earth means more than an end to war. You can stop a war through violence and force. But as long as the underlying structure of society is unjust and violent there can be no lasting peace on earth. Until all people everywhere are allowed their share of the earth's resources there can be no peace on earth. As long as industrialize developed countries continue to take advantage of their weaker neighbors in the world, there can be no peace on earth.

Everybody wants peace on earth. But they want God to come down from the heavens and magically create peace on earth, and this is not how it is going to happen. Even if there is such a god, she would not do this. Peace on earth is ours to create one person at a time.

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