i think peace is the absence of war and the restraining of those that would kill the peacemakers....impeach bush...

I hate to say this but this world and especially this country uses VIOLENCE as the "panacea". Before we can strive for world peace, we need to train ourselves and especially our kids out of it. For kids, we adults owe it to ourselves and our kids to communicate more often and effectively. This means adults resisting the urge to work more than 40 hours a week, showing real faith in your married partner and not going out on dates even after marriage which is often the cause for 50+ % divorce rate in America, not getting drunk and overstuffed at parties but instead actually socializing and meeting one another like real people, training your kids the Basic Interpersonal Communications Skills even if schools don't instead of letting them buying toy weapons and watch too much television filled with vulgar cartoons and playing video games most of which are violent to begin with. I didn't mention "free" trade but yes, it's a major contributor to warmongering as it's always about nothing but an aggressive race to the bottom and there's nothing really free about it.

The problem is, be it in America or anywhere else, IGNORANCE leads to VIOLENCE and AGGRESSION. Instead of giving bullshit on fallen soldiers such as "our prayers go out to fallen soldier X", we badly need to focus on not putting one another in harm's way in the first place and yeah, I too have been flanked for bringing it up and called "unpatriotic". If you can't have peace in yourself and keep thinking that war has to always be the answer just like the Israelis going in their "never will this happen again" infinite loop after WWII, then you're the LOSER. Try to come up with nonviolent strategies for solving daily problems and make sure your kids learn self-discipline and peace and learn to pass it on. Yeah, it's not a quickie but we don't have any choice if we want to get out of this rot.

And one more thing, let's SHUT DOWN the "War on Drugs" and fight for our natural medicines and cures and not the fake petroleum manufactured poisons Big Pharma keeps shoving down everyone's throats.

Peace is love.

Love is when you care more for others, than you do for yourself.

One of the reasons we do not have a very large Movement for Peace in this country is simply because the Peace Movement itself doesn't very very well understand what war really is. Thank you, Cindy, for examining some the question for us.

'Sanctions' are a form of warfare, as is destroying national infrastructure, such as the US military routinely does when attacking other countries. In fact, the destruction of any continental wide civilian infrastructure in Africa is a form of genocidal warfare against a race of people carried out by the European and US ruling classes.

The Peace Movement needs to get a better understanding of how the US government and the US corporate elites that control it wage warfare across the planet. Instead, many of the American liberal community often are advocating economic sanctions against other peoples and countries around the world, instead of trying to stop this form of warfare from being used. We need to better understand what warfare consists of before we can actually stop war in a real way.

war and peace as a contrary pair of opposites will always exist as contradictory forces to the other.

best to remove one self from the contradiction of opposites if possible.

kem,

The key to loving others is loving yourself first. Being too nice to others and the expense of sacrificing yourself only causes more trouble. Case in point, look at how the fake "liberals" keep caving in to ruthless "conservatives" who have no regard of the real meaning of conservatism. It's like an abused spouse showing his/her love for his/her partner even as that partner continues to abuse him/her.

safiyyah,

It was those liberals who allowed "free" trade and "War on Drugs" to go haywire. Yes, I'm pissed off at the conservatives as well but until the liberals stop caving in in their desperate attempts to please their opposition at the expense of shitting on their own base, it's all a lose-lose.

maxpayne December 8th, 2007 11:42 am -- Before we can strive for world peace, we need to train ourselves and especially our kids out of it.

And who, pray tell, will do that in today's society of two-wage-slave families, deteriorating schools, child rearing by commercial television and military recruitment with "whack-an-Arab" video games? Perhaps we can trust the religious fundamentalist institutions to set them on the right path -- NOT!

How should we know? War is just a disagreement that gets violent. Militarism is continual war, punctuated by ceasefires--some of them quite long.

as we have discovered from these blurbs, perhaps, the instant we do not treat others as we wish to be treated, we perpetuate the state of antagonism which we are hoping to eliminate.

Dennis Kucinich is on the same page as Cindy, has some answers also, and will create The Deprtment of Peace WHEN elected.
http://www.dennis4president.com/go/resources/the-department-of-peace/

To me, peace is the absence of want.

Dennis would save himself valuable time if he just took the war part off the other department. though lord knows how we habitually twist meanings to be what they aren't.

yes, I agree with you, self.

want of either this or that. one thing or the other. I am currently reading that in some Ghandi which I wanted.

Reading these comments, I wonder if all these folks read the same essay by Cindy that I just read.

This is a beautifully conceived and written piece and I'm grateful that Cindy's out there demonstrating leadership where there is so little being demonstrated. We must begin to "walk away from the king" - in other words withdraw our support for the forces of war and domination and dedicate ourselves to making peace in the fullest sense described by Cindy. As Bob Marley said, "a hungry man is an angry man." There will be no peace until we collectively attend to the needs of all of us. Until we see humanity as a family in which it is just not an option to give up on anyone. Support Dennis Kucinich's candidacy and Cindy Sheehan's, because they understand it. Precious few people in politics do. We need them now.

DOGS SHOULD RULE THE WORLD!
THEY NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE!
HUMANS ARE BRUTAL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWKnzG3q9ag&feature=related

REMEMBER... DENNIS KUCINICH TRULY WALKS THE WAY OF PEACE!
HE IS A VEGAN!
I WILL VOTE FOR HIM!
HE IS THE CANDIDATE WHO IS DEFINITELY ON A HIGHER LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS!
AND WE ALL KNOW THAT WE NEED TO TAKE A GIANT LEAP TO CLEAN THINGS UP IN THIS COUNTRY AND ON THIS PLANET!
GRADUALISM IS NO LONGER AN OPTION!
VOTE FOR DENNIS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61nRRTMTK2g

dolkar,

So what you are telling us is that you have a higher understanding of the subject matter? Is that peaceful?

or are you encouraging us into a different way of thinking?

MAXPAYNE, we certainly should love ourselves, but a good defination of love, is when we attempt to love others MORE than we love ourselves. If we all did, there could be peace on Earth and goodwill to all.

(Ut ameris ama) To be loved,__ love. ___ ~Ausonius~

Peace is liberty in tranquility____~Cicero~

"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
~Tolstoy~
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/25/2754/

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals."
~Gandhi~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWKnzG3q9ag&feature=related

VOTE DENNIS KUCINICH!
FIRST VEGAN PRESIDENT!

yeah Kem. soldier on.

Attempting to control external events will never keep us safe. Control is an illusion.
- Lao Tzu

But, that said, how many of us are still off to War-Mart to buy lead based crap for our children?

whatfools,

are you taking a tally here?

nayoibi: "impeach" - thanks for keeping us on topic; for to impeach would be an act of peace for it would be creatively constructive.

No matter which direction you look, no matter the time of year there is peace and war: peace - where creation is cultured, war - where destruction is cultured. Certainly at times one predominates over the other, as for humans destruction rules the day: have we had enough yet? Has the field been burnt enough to yield to new growth? I think so.

And I think impeachment would be the grandest of creative processes - to impeach would take the building of human relationship beyond racist lines, thus culturing a vast diversity yet to be seen on earth. The process of impeachment would also yield the greatest form of participatory human governance yet to be seen on earth that would catapult the "vast diversity" to the glory of the greatest creative expression yet experienced in the universe!

Peace is creation, impeachment is creation, peace is impeachment.

The word "peace" is a dirty word in the United States. Multiple generations of living in a defense-based economy has made it so. Fear has become basically a second skin for us, so anyone who talks of peace is seen as weak or an appeaser of some kind. If Dennis Kucinich came off as more aggressive and ready to use weapons, he would be more popular than he is now. Instead, he talks of peace and negotiating and actually listening to our enemies. Americans don't know how to hear such things rationally. Kindness and common sense are invariably seen as weakness. This is our great American tragedy.

If John Lennon were still with us today - he'd be endorsing Dennis Kucinich - no doubt about it!

Peace is Cindy Sheehan, and those who support her ideals. Therefore, there is always hope.

Yet hope is only a nice four letter word, that is often erased, without sensible, firm action, to insure hope springs eternal.

"...Americans don't know how to hear such things rationally. Kindness and common sense are invariably seen as weakness. This is our great American tragedy".

Yes, Alanlak - and not only the great American tragedy, but also the great German tragedy (pre-Stalingrad), and just before that, the great Spanish (pre-civil war) tragedy. To name but two examples.

In both of those instances, there came a breakdown and disintegration of everything people had been brought up to believe in - of the infallibility of their own institutions and "natural" leaders, and of illusions that "they" were somehow more beloved of God than other nations and peoples. And after that, a rebuilding from the rubble of what had gone before, of something wholly better.

dolkar wrote:As Bob Marley said, "a hungry man is an angry man."

So true, yet other people here have posted thoughts that ring true also.

Aalanlak wrote: Americans don't know how to hear such things rationally. Kindness and common sense are invariably seen as weakness. This is our great American tragedy.

Also true, so what is there we can do other than think about John Lenon to move our Nation and the world in the right direction? maxpayne in a post above enumerated ways to move in that direction (thank you maxpayne, thank you Cindy). It's damn right depressing to see what is done in our names contrary to all the ideas expressed on this thread.

Ms. Sheehan begins her article with the premise that Peace and war are related. I disagree with this premise.

Peace is an absolute. It was present before us, is present during us, and will be present after we are long gone. That being the case, it cannot be described by an opposite (war) or an absence. Perhaps she would better serve herself by focusing on Peace as a presence. Is It a presence of endless unfettered joy? Is It ever-present untouched freedom. In It's presence is it possible for anything contrary to It to exist? Does it actually "pass understanding" and, if so or if not, why.

She invites these type of questions with her own definition of Peace as an "existential state." This suggest that she believes Peace is derived from experience. If this is so, then why not attempt to contemplate Peace from the perspective of Peace rather than from the view of a perceived opposite?

In other words Cindy is wrong? Are you giving lessons ZYDECO, or casting your pearls before swine?

Thank you Cindy for reminding us what peace looked like through John Lennon's eyes. Back in the day, I wore out several copies of his Imagine albumn on my turntable. In those days I could imagine peace. Today it's a lot harder.

Stupid as it may sound, I believe that humans are esentially good. It is the culture that they grow up in that corrupts their true nature. If a culture elevates the value of wealth over human values, it corrupts humanity. Any religion or belief system that expouses a "special" class as having the only right answer for all of humanity, it corrupts human rights for all. Whenever one group is fed at the expense of the starvation of others, humanity is lost.

Am I my brother's keeper? Not really. But if my actions deprive my brother of his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I also limit my own.

Beware the golden calf in all of its forms and incarnations.

Peace to all

Personally, I like Spinoza's definition of peace:

"Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, and justice."

Peace is the prevalence of the positive over the negative, of enlightenment over ignrance and awareness over ambivalence.

Rebel Farmer,

Right On!

But humility aside, please don't punctuate your remarks with qualifiers like "stupid as it may sound," when there are countless readers out here who might believe that "stupid" isn't what you are.

And the others be damned! Or at least experience several additional lifetimes.

Guess we will have to tote it Rtdrury, __ in shame of course.

We'll see Mars settled before we see Bush or Cheney impeached,__ or possibly de-throned.

geoff: Thanks. In my many years on this planet, though, I have discovered that the majority of folks I run into don't share my view of humans. They have decided to go the "every man for himself" route instead. It's really very sad.

well I find myself as I find many of you would agreeing with Ghandhi fairly to the letter who writes,

"But when men recognize no limits in fighting, demolish temples, and kill people indiscriminately, that would mean eclipse of dharma. That would be wickedntess in the name of dharma, it woulld mean the spread of adharma and disorder. Do not, Sri Krishna says to comfort men, give way to to despair when such things happen. "It is good," he says, "that you feel helpless at such a time, for by making you feel so I humble your pride."

Thank you Cindy Sheehan for so beautifully addressing the most serious of all issues facing humankind. And thank you to all the contributors who have elaborated and extended Cindy's thoughts.

I find it distressing, however, that no one has thought to include the single issue that, more than anything else, must be addressed if we are to establish world peace:

In a world of billions of people and hundreds of so-called "sovereign" nation-states, there are bound to be numerous differences of opinion and conflicts of interest among nation-states and among groups of nation-states.

The question is, how are such differences to be resolved. The present method, if it can indeed be dignified by calling it a "method," is the use of force and the threat of force by those who see themselves as the mightiest. And of course the inevitable counter-threats by those who don't agree. That "war system" is the fundamental reason why we have wars. We have in place no method of conflict resolution other than the resort to war.

It is becoming ever more clear that the survival of humankind and perhaps the survival of life on the Planet is seriously threatened by continued wars. That means that we must find a way to replace the law of force with the force of law on a global scale. The wisest among us, like Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell, have already told us that if we deem human survival important, then we must sooner or later develop the institutions required for the administration of democratic and enforceable world law. Humankind must develop a Federation of of all these nation-states who currently think of themselves as so terribly "sovereign" -- which in reality they cannot be and are not.

Clearly this is something that cannot happen "overnight." But equally clearly, it is high time that we got started thinking about it. Several things could be done in the near future to begin to march in the right direction. A first one would be to make the United Nations General Assembly into an organization that can actually work. The GA's current one-nation-one-vote method of voting guarantees that the GA is restricted to talking and can never accomplish anything positive. Just imagine a system in which the smallest least populous state has the same presumable voting power as China or the United States! We must find a system of weighted voting that will be acceptable to all concerned. Not only mere nationhood but also population and financial contributions to the UN must be counted when it comes to voting power in the General Assembly.

Peace is indeed more than the absence of war. Peace is equivalent to installing a degree of civilization at the supra-national level. And a civilized society by definition is a society that governs its affairs through democratic law enforceable on every citizen.

With every good wish to all of you.

Felix Rosenthal.

maxpayne,

Most losers in this forum hardly make any sense but you stand out. The truth is we need to stop bashing one another on social issues and get to the real issues which matter such as peace, economic stability, general security and privacy rights, etc ...

"And who, pray tell, will do that in today's society of two-wage-slave families, deteriorating schools, child rearing by commercial television and military recruitment with "whack-an-Arab" video games? Perhaps we can trust the religious fundamentalist institutions to set them on the right path — NOT!" - Arvy

Here's the answer. YOU. Instead of bashing other people and their religions, why don't you get your lazy butt off the chair and do something about it? If you're too lazy and want to be a commie, then trot your ass over to China and learn some lessons. Besides, if you even read what mp said, it has nothing to do with religion. You people on the Left should STOP ATTACKING RELIGION and STOP SHOVING ATHEISM DOWN OUR THROATS. The religious fundies are already athiests ! Truly religious people would NEVER believe in war as the solution to everything in the first place ! Not all Christians are bad people.

As for Dennis Kucinich, if he's for peace, then why is he still giving 125k to the DCCC which supports the war ?!?!? You fools should wake up and start voting Green or Independent. Besides, after Dennis badly loses, he'll kiss and make up, support the front runner likely to be a corporate/war hack, and run for his same old seat again. And by the way, why the fuck aren't the Kucinich supporters recommending that he try and challenge Voinovich in 2010 and grow up?

KEM PATRICK --

Yes, I feel Cindy is completely wrong when she says that the question "what is peace" begs the question "what is war."

If you regard anything I wrote as "lesson" or "casting pearls," I humbly thank you and I'm quite certain you don't consider yourself swine (smile).

you see all we were saying is give the discussion a chance for peacefulness, in the light of, and in keeping in the spirit of the article being discussed.

instead what we get is continuing violence.

apparently, insecurities rule the world still to this day.

ALASKANFRONT__There is absolutly no connection between being a vegan and desiring peace. That is probably the only thing I disagree with Dennis K on, however it is his business what he eats. I think that is even a dumber reason to vote for someone than whether they have the proper religion or not. Stop and think, if you want Dennis to get votes then do not alienate thousands of cattle, hog and sheep raisers as most of them would not think of voting for a vegan. You vegans should just eat what you want and leave meat eaters alone as thay will continue to use animals for food from now on. Another stupid thing to divide people over nothing.

"Neither enemy faces, nor the mothers that love them, come to mind when one is thinking of nothing but endeavouring to survive. Philosophising about war is useless under fire."
Linda Berdoll

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
Mahatma Gandhi

"Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
Mao Tse-Tung

"The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts."
Omar Bradley

"Either war is obsolete or men are."
R. Buckminster Fuller

"It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it."
Robert E. Lee

"One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war (WW II) should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'."
Sir Winston Churchill

"Wars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies."
W. L. George

Peace is the marriage of the people and the planet, with all attendant vows.

-- Anonymous

Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.

-- Hafsat Abiola

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.

-- Black Elk (1863-1950)

There is no time left for anything but to make peacework a dimension of our every waking activity.

-- Elise Boulding

Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.

-- Buddha (560-483 B.C.)

Democracy is an objective. Democratization is a process. Democratization serves the cause of peace because it offers the possibility of justice and of progressive change without force.

-- Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Peace, to have meaning for many who have only known suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health and education, as well as freedom and human dignity.

-- Ralph Johnson Bunche (1904-1971)

Do you know what astonished me most in the world? The inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit. Soldiers usually win battles and generals get the credit for them. You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

-- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Peace is the only battle worth waging.

-- Albert Camus (1913-1960)

We know how to organize warfare, but do we know how to act when confronted with peace?

-- Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997)

Human Beings, indeed all sentient beings, have the right to pursue happiness and live in peace and freedom.

-- The XIVth Dalai Lama

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.

-- The XIVth Dalai Lama

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

-- Moshe Dayan (1915-1981)

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

-- Albert Einstein (1979-1955)

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.

-- Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536)

There was never a good war or a bad peace.

-- Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

It is possible to live in peace.

-- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Peace is conversation and discussion, without the m**f**ing angry and hurtful words, without the SHOUTING.

Peace is inside you if you try to find it. Peace is outside and it can find you.

Peace is beauty. Have you heard Bryn Terfel's version of "Goin' Home" by Dvorak? Now that's beauty and it makes me peaceful.

Well, that's the best I can do today. Peace to all of you and your loved ones.

jesus christ almighty good god in heaven.

War is over
If you want it

http://www.imaginepeace.com/news.html

"'Peace, Peace' when there is no peace"

When Jesus asked God to forgive his persecutors as he hung in excruciating agony on a cross, there was peace.

When Buddhist monks in Burma remained committed to non-violence, even as soldiers lined them up and smashed their skulls into brick walls, one by one, there was peace.

When a Tibetan monk who spent years in a Chinese prison was asked what his greatest fear had been, and he replied "the fear that I would lose compassion for my captors", there was peace.

I think I'll take a shower now, shave and swab on some deoderant, brush my teeth, power the sheets with a little Oscar D larente, offer my bride some good wine and cheeze and then snuggle up and have a peace.