11 Days Til BlogBlast For Peace ~ The Power of Story

BlogBlast For Peace 2010 20 Day Countdown ~ Day 11

with quotations and prose from famous peace activists -

YOU

I am listening to the voices of peace bloggers.

I have long maintained that while there is significant noise in numbers, the real power of the peace globe movement lies in the eloquent prose  buried deep in the pages  of peace posts from Nigeria to Switzerland. But when people are not allowed to speak, hope is forever silenced and change has no chance.......because silence is the greatest partner to apathy and apathy is the greatest threat of all. My hope is that this movement will continue to harness and illuminate the goodness and imagination of people whose  hearts truly long for peace and tolerance.  It is my belief that massive change always starts  with momentum born of passion and unrest.

Let our words start the flood  of permanent peace.

If we believe that words are powerful.....then this matters.


Day 11 comes from a Haiku writer in Phoenix, Oregon. Her name is Joystory

I composed this paired haiku poem a bit over a year ago inspired by the picture below. It is my sense that it is only with the power of story that we can can recognize and implement solutions to our problems. The best hope for conflict resolution at any level is for all parties to know the other's story with the same intimacy as they know their own. And I don't mean 'the story as written by' I mean the story as known by and lived by the others in the same way you know and live your own.


It takes great courage to be open to this knowing.

Our stories are like trees with roots going deep, nurtured by the soil of our history and the waters of our memories. The roots of our individual stories entangle in the deep past. We can no more isolate our story from that of our 'opponent' then a spruce can isolate its roots from that of the oak in the forest. And above the surface of the soil in the light of each day our common dreams and hopes, fears and angers weave the stories that are making our tomorrows. Our stories are poisoned by fears and can be healed only by love.

Peace is not a gift granted or imposed by an other (or Other) in response to a simple request. Peace cannot be granted unless and until the recipient's yearning for the peace of his br(other) is as unreserved as his yearning for his own peace, Peace cannot be parceled out or fenced in. Anyone wishing for any br(other) to be excluded from it cannot himself have it.


It is within each of our hearts that peace must be made welcome and it is by welcoming our br(other's) heart into our own that we invite peace in. 
For if peace is not everywhere it can be nowhere.

You have a voice.

What will you say?