JazzManJim
On the Downbeat
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2001
- Posts
- 27,360
In the past year or so I've been thinking seriously about the whole concept of peace, especially how war and peace can be married by some and not by others. As the months have passed to today, the word's been bandied about in so many different ways that it's hard to tell say what the word means, much less if it can ever be achieved. People say that they wish to fight for peace, others say that fighting is the antithesis of peace. Yet others say that peace is an ephemeral thing, never to be seen much less obtained.
I don't believe that peace is a destination - a place to arrive. I believe rather that peace is a journey. You travel the road of peace and make a conscious decision every day to continue traveling that road. But how is it that a people can claim honestly to cherish pease yet go to war? That is because war and peace are not mutually exclusive.
The road that is peace has many travelers - all of us, in fact. Most often we will find people traveling that same road and we will share strength and cooperation to make each day's journey easier. Sometimes, though, we will find people who stand in the road against us and they will not move. We may ask them to move - plead until we're hoarse, give them incentives, promise them the moon and stars, yet they will not move. They bar the road and make it difficult, if not impossible, to go forward.
We can try to step around them, and we may do so successfully. But that person still remains and someone who follows behind us will find them unpassable. For them, peace will grow still and the journey will stop. We could travel on, but eventually we will be affected. The world is no longer the wide place it once was. In time, the travails of another who has been blocked on this road will find their way to us even if it does not seem so immediately. We have seen this happen more times than we can count and it grows more important that we not sidestep those who block everyone's journey.
I don't believe that peace is a destination - a place to arrive. I believe rather that peace is a journey. You travel the road of peace and make a conscious decision every day to continue traveling that road. But how is it that a people can claim honestly to cherish pease yet go to war? That is because war and peace are not mutually exclusive.
The road that is peace has many travelers - all of us, in fact. Most often we will find people traveling that same road and we will share strength and cooperation to make each day's journey easier. Sometimes, though, we will find people who stand in the road against us and they will not move. We may ask them to move - plead until we're hoarse, give them incentives, promise them the moon and stars, yet they will not move. They bar the road and make it difficult, if not impossible, to go forward.
We can try to step around them, and we may do so successfully. But that person still remains and someone who follows behind us will find them unpassable. For them, peace will grow still and the journey will stop. We could travel on, but eventually we will be affected. The world is no longer the wide place it once was. In time, the travails of another who has been blocked on this road will find their way to us even if it does not seem so immediately. We have seen this happen more times than we can count and it grows more important that we not sidestep those who block everyone's journey.
![]ooooo(chained)](https://forumfast.litimgs.com/data/avatars/m/201/201593.jpg?1645473681){kind=avatar}
