The world will never have lasting
peace so long as people reserve
for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires
idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires
idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
John Foster Dulles
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Today's Meditation:
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Today's Meditation:
We do spend a lot of money on war. We spend a lot of time and
effort and money and energy on creating things that will harm our fellow human
beings because we're afraid that if we don't do so, we'll be vulnerable to
attack and conquest, that we'll lose our chosen way of life and be forced to
live the ways that other people want to force us to live. What would
happen, I wonder, if we were to spend just as much money and time and effort
pursuing peace?
What would happen if our peace budget were as much as our defense budget?
What could we accomplish in this world as individuals if we were to focus on
creating peace in our own lives, and in our own relationships, as much as we
focus on making money and doing things that we think others want us to
do? The finest human qualities to which John refers, I believe, are
things like dedication, perseverance, focus on accomplishment, hard work,
courage, and sacrifice. Do we put these things into practice each day in
our relationships and into our communities?
There's something about hardship that seems to stimulate our survival
instincts. And once those are stimulated, we seem to be able to reach
inside and tap into reserves of qualities that are among the best we
have. It's unfortunate that we so often wait until adversity strikes to
reach inside and find those strengths--for they're strengths that could
contribute much to the spread of things like peace and community and compassion
if we were to apply them to those things.
I can imagine some of the qualities that I might find inside myself in times of
great turmoil and struggle. The trick is to tap into them during other
times so that I might use them in ways that will contribute positive things to
this world of ours while I'm here.
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Questions to consider:
Why do so many people not tap into their finest qualities every day in
order to work towards lasting peace?
What does "lasting peace" mean to you? Is it just a pipe dream,
or is it a possibility?
Who is responsible for lasting peace in our world? Is it just the
leaders, or are more of us actually responsible for contributing to it?
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For further thought:
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For further thought:
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.
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