Posting for Peace
Glenda is sponsoring a peace rally in Blogtopia today. She issued an open invitation to Blogtopians to post their thoughts on the subject of peace. She has a list of all the participants over on her blog. If you'd like to participate then write your post and go tell Glenda you played. Thanks for the idea, Glenda!
I loved our annual elementary school Christmas concert. I loved singing and there was an opening night/roar of the crowd/smell of greasepaint excitement to these evenings. I like to imagine we were so musically gifted that it was nothing but pleasure for the auditorium full of parents to sit through two hours of "Silver Bells" and "Rudolph" plus a medley of Christmas carols with the orchestra accompanying.
One year, I might have been in the 7th grade, we sang the incredibly schmalzy song "Let There be Peace on Earth". (You know the one, it continues "and let it begin with me". That'll be on your mind all day. You're welcome). Of course, to a 12 year old girl during the Viet Nam war, it was anything but silly. It was an anthem, man! A rallying cry to put down our weapons and bring the troops home! LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH! LET IT BEGIN WITH ME!
Now, I don't know that our teacher had a political agenda in having us sing this little ditty. It wouldn't have mattered if she did because I grew up in a community largely composed of Mennonites. Mennonites are a pacifist sect and no one would have taken it amiss that their children were singing about peace at school because they were being taught it at home.
My family was Mennonite because we happened to move into the community and that church was the nearest thing to evangelical around. They are a sect that believe in and live the notion of community and who don't just oppose war but eschew all violence. They are gentle, thoughtful people. I remember those years as a time of grace, a time that continues to inform my life and my politics.
I don't like war. I have marched in demonstrations, written my congresspeople, signed petitions. I give money to peace-making organizations and am proud to attend a church that has made very public stands over the years in the cause of peace and justice. I was confirmed by (now retired) Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, a gentle and godly man who continues to shine as a beacon in the NW for the stands he took - to the extent of pissing off the Vatican - in the cause of non-violence and inclusion. So those are my credentials.
But getting back to where we began, with that ridiculous sappy song that is still ringing in your ears: peace begins with me. I can put all the "Wage Peace" signs I want in my window. But if I am not living my life in a way that speaks to and nurtures the concept of peace than I am as much a hypocrite as George W. Bush and his Orwellian "wage war to win peace" crap. Because I live in community. I rue the horrors of our involvement in Iraq, cringe every time I hear another story about Isreal and Palestine going at it, wonder why in hell no one in our government seems to be taking North Korea as as seriously as everyone else but you know what? It doesn't much matter if I'm yelling at The Child or fighting with The Spouse about the American Express bill. It really doesn't. If we aren't offering forgiveness, tolerance and peaceable ways to one another, can I really expect more from anyone else? I don't think so.
So I try, I really, really try, to be a peacemaker in my own home. Then I try to extend that same peace to my neighbors, the clerks in the supermarket, the jerk on the highway who won't let me merge. I can only authentically raise the banner for peace if it is a statement of sincere conviction and a way of life for me.
Happy 4th of July. Peace be with you. And I really mean it.
I loved our annual elementary school Christmas concert. I loved singing and there was an opening night/roar of the crowd/smell of greasepaint excitement to these evenings. I like to imagine we were so musically gifted that it was nothing but pleasure for the auditorium full of parents to sit through two hours of "Silver Bells" and "Rudolph" plus a medley of Christmas carols with the orchestra accompanying.
One year, I might have been in the 7th grade, we sang the incredibly schmalzy song "Let There be Peace on Earth". (You know the one, it continues "and let it begin with me". That'll be on your mind all day. You're welcome). Of course, to a 12 year old girl during the Viet Nam war, it was anything but silly. It was an anthem, man! A rallying cry to put down our weapons and bring the troops home! LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH! LET IT BEGIN WITH ME!
Now, I don't know that our teacher had a political agenda in having us sing this little ditty. It wouldn't have mattered if she did because I grew up in a community largely composed of Mennonites. Mennonites are a pacifist sect and no one would have taken it amiss that their children were singing about peace at school because they were being taught it at home.
My family was Mennonite because we happened to move into the community and that church was the nearest thing to evangelical around. They are a sect that believe in and live the notion of community and who don't just oppose war but eschew all violence. They are gentle, thoughtful people. I remember those years as a time of grace, a time that continues to inform my life and my politics.
I don't like war. I have marched in demonstrations, written my congresspeople, signed petitions. I give money to peace-making organizations and am proud to attend a church that has made very public stands over the years in the cause of peace and justice. I was confirmed by (now retired) Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, a gentle and godly man who continues to shine as a beacon in the NW for the stands he took - to the extent of pissing off the Vatican - in the cause of non-violence and inclusion. So those are my credentials.
But getting back to where we began, with that ridiculous sappy song that is still ringing in your ears: peace begins with me. I can put all the "Wage Peace" signs I want in my window. But if I am not living my life in a way that speaks to and nurtures the concept of peace than I am as much a hypocrite as George W. Bush and his Orwellian "wage war to win peace" crap. Because I live in community. I rue the horrors of our involvement in Iraq, cringe every time I hear another story about Isreal and Palestine going at it, wonder why in hell no one in our government seems to be taking North Korea as as seriously as everyone else but you know what? It doesn't much matter if I'm yelling at The Child or fighting with The Spouse about the American Express bill. It really doesn't. If we aren't offering forgiveness, tolerance and peaceable ways to one another, can I really expect more from anyone else? I don't think so.
So I try, I really, really try, to be a peacemaker in my own home. Then I try to extend that same peace to my neighbors, the clerks in the supermarket, the jerk on the highway who won't let me merge. I can only authentically raise the banner for peace if it is a statement of sincere conviction and a way of life for me.
Happy 4th of July. Peace be with you. And I really mean it.
Labels: Blogtopia
cobbled together by Moi at 8:51 AM
11 Comments:
Very inspiring! Thank you. I feel like i've been to church. And I will have the song in my mind today. I remember it well. Not a bad song to have stuck there although later this evening i may be cursing it.
Peace
I remember that song. I also remember when they changed the lyrics from "Let me walk with my brother" to "Let us walk with each other" so that it would be gender neutral. That really made me mad.
and also with you...
I remember that song lol
Nice post lorraine have a wonderful holiday.
Well said Nayb - peace to you too and can't wait for the corn dogs tonight!
xo nayb
Interesting and food for thought..thank you :)
Lovely thoughts, Lorraine. On the WWJD scale, invading a foreign country has to rank right near the bottom.
Oh, and I once bought a tank of gas from expatriate Mennonites in Paraguay. Just thought I'd share that.
Lorraine, you know - that's so right on... I was thinking of that earlier today - how the peace effort has to start in the home - actually start inside our hearts... move out to our families and then on from there... Lovely post, as always. Pft... Pollyanna... (smile)
Amen.
See, this is why we love you - great gams aside.
Your post rings with truth because you speak truth and that is one of the cornerstones of true peace. Thank you and it's good to meet you.
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