How Peace is not a Philosophy

When I started work several weeks ago, at my welcome lunch (of a raw beef salad delicacy for this very grateful vegetarian) I was asked to talk about my philosophy of peace. I don't know what I said but I made something up on the spot. I've never thought of my philosophy of peace. I just do it. And yet I work in "professional peacebuilding" and claim membership at "a historic peace church."

When I ask myself, why do I do what I do, four things come to mind instinctively.

1) Given the state of the world, it's obvious.

2) Given the places I've lived, it's more obvious.

3) Given my personality (I like to fix things), it's really obvious.

4) Given I wear t-shirts, cut-offs and royal blue eyeliner everyday, it's honestly mandatory.

So there are instinctive reasons for why I entered the peacebuilding field, but what is my philosophy of peace?

I still don't think I have one.

My journey towards peacebuilding was a process. It was a combination of factors after seeing injustice in multiple settings around the world; racism in Zimbabwe, violence in Pakistan and intolerance in the United States. My reaction in every situation was simple: this should not be. This is unfair, and unjust and everyone should have the opportunity to live in peace and security. I do what I do because I don't think people should ever have to go without, and that conflict either emerges from, or is is fueled by unmet needs of any gravity. I learned what it means to be voiceless, and concluded no one ever deserves to be voiceless. I learned what it means to be denied dignity and self-respect, and decided no one ever deserves to be denied such essentials.

My journey towards peacebuilding was also personal. I don't know if I would have embraced it with the same intensity if I didn't feel I had personal stake in the issue and it didn't apply to my life and help me. I took what I learned and began to reconcile my diverse past and conflicting identity, reconcile my relationship with my Creator, and reconciling with people whose viewpoints and needs were different from my own. Peace for me a lifestyle coming from a theology of peace. It's not just a professional discipline, an abstract virtue or a subculture of rebellion/counter-culturalism.

It's not profound. It's not complicated. I choose peacebuilding because for me it's obvious, and necessary, and natural. I can't change the world but peace starts with each of us choosing to live a better way, and seek reconciliation and right relationships in the places we live. Peace is what we're supposed to do. It's my profession, but it's first and foremost my lifestyle.