I believe that there is a sense of collectiveness in peace. If you see everyone else as part of your own family or even as an extension of yourself, there is a chance you will:
- Refrain from waging needless war on them.
- Try to understand the motivation in their actions and frustrations.
- Try to preserve their home, find them shelter if you can, or simply be compassionate to their living situations.
It comes down to compassion and seeing people as individuals who are part of our immediate social circle rather than some other entity or group.I do think that for many people developing compassion for others is a process and will take some time.
It is not possible to have peace outside of ones self if there is no peace within. The same way that one cannot love and respect another human being without first loving and respecting ones self.
I honestly don't know what complete peace would look like. But if I was asked to make some suggestions towards it, I guess these few items come to mind:
* There should be collection agencies set up that are in charge of collecting, sorting through, and distributing the following items across the US:
- Books and learning materials that are thrown away by affluent schools. These can be taken to schools with more limited resources.
- Food that is being thrown away every day at restaurants, coffee shops, etc. can be picked up and taken to shelters. There can be carts set up in poor neighborhoods where people can come and pick up the food. Many coffee houses will bake breads and pastries in the morning only to throw them away that same night.
- Clothing, etc.
* For many countries it is cheeper to dump excess food supplies into the ocean than to ship them to a country in need. There should be government incentives set up for companies to collect and ship foods from manufacturers and growers. Many times if a product is in any way "deformed" it gets tossed even though it is perfectly fine. Why not take it to someone in need?
* There should be a truly universal healthcare system that covers every person on the planet and is paid for by all countries. This way it becomes in our immediate interest to educate people and to prevent disease in countries other than our own. Equal attention should be paid and equal amount of money should be spent on education and prevention as on treatment. Fitness club, yoga & meditation centers should be open and free for all people to use.
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When we have our own tea/smoothie/pastry/bread/book/dance/yoga shop we can do some of that ourselves!
Posted by: Robert | July 23, 2008 at 10:32 AM