Peace is our dream

Even though many world leaders have focused on erosion of peace, Ukraine society is spiralling out of control. What we are seeing is typical of human nature as we constantly make mistakes in chaos. Finger pointing and admonishment of others actions has taken over. The peace that is eroding in Ukraine is now spreading to international relations. The person who wakes up and needs to gather food for the family is now struck with fear of life for the entire family. Food is pushed down the list of concerns. What was a normal routine just months ago is now a distant dream. Children are thrown into question mode as they try to understand why the people who are to provide and protect them are no longer able. As the hand of death slowly cradles the children, the adults are gripped with revenge. This situation is what we must understand as the reason violence should be avoided. Taking that knowledge of reality with in conflict zones also spreads to every other country around the world. Every city, community, family and individual faces these spirals of chaos. Each of us have been involved in circumstances when a breakdown of some order occurs. It is natural to point fingers and seek out a cause for blame. In such situations each of us is trying to rebuild order, peace and good relations. However that desire is lost more often due to the fact that we interpret other peoples intentions are to blame, correct, admonish or even punish us. This is a natural state of individuals protecting themselves. For peace to reign, that understanding of personal protection must be met with great courage. Such courage allows the freedom of expression. The courage to stand in the face of these verbal bullets is the price we must pay in order to ensure a wider peace. Each of us are soldiers of peace and the bullets fly each day. Some bullets hit hard and are fired with great repetition. In these situations, we soldiers can lose control, some of us actually die. Each day we face these battles and each day we must carry the courage to stand up speak with peace. This world we live in has everything. From the most horrendous nightmare to the wonderful beauty of peace, each of us can experience such realities. For someone to experience all of this takes great courage. To be okay in the face of the nightmare as well as in the presence of total beauty is rare. Each of us work to be just that person and along the way we will falter, yet we will succeed. The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility. Vaclav Havel.