blank blank spaces 
Tonight at services, we were introduced to a twenty-one year old who, at sixteen, lost friends to a terrorists bombing. Her whole life suddenly took on a different form down a different path than she had known. This has prompted me to put this page up sooner than later. (Like Now!)
Over the years when I have heard someone speaking about peace, the form the conversation takes is that of “someday.”
The usual sentence goes something like: “Someday there will be peace in the world.”
Where is the power to be found in a “someday conversation?”
How many powerless conversations revolve around “someday.”
We will be happy “someday,” when we have enough money.
We will be happy “someday,” when we loose this extra weight.
We will be happy “someday,” when we have the house paid off.
We will be happy “someday,” when we get married.
We will be happy “someday,” when we retire.
We will be happy “someday,” when we have more time.
For me, the answer is that there is no power in a “someday conversation.”
So now I begin to listen to what I am generating in my conversations, and when “someday” creeps into it, I quickly stop myself, rethink what I want to generate, and change that old “someday” conversation to a “now” conversation.
This new conversation, created with this power of “now” gives power to my words. It begins to take that old “future” conversation with its far-off, unreachable destination and turns it into a powerful “present” conversation of a journey that supports growth along the way.
So now I begin to look at how can I create peace now in my life, then have it ripple out to all around me and find itself cascading into the far corners of our world.
What better time to take a stand for peace than now, in this moment.
What better time to be happy than now, in this moment.
What better time to love than now, in this moment.
What better time to give than now, in this moment.
What better time to be present than now, in this moment.
What better time to listen than now, in this moment.
What better time to live than now, in this moment.
and
What better time to teach than now, in this moment.
Peace, happiness, love, giving, being present, listening, living are not a destinations, they are journeys. For if we are going about the journey correctly, it will determine the correct destinaition as well. It is how we handle what we are given in the moment that determines where we end up. And most important is the journey itself, not the destination. For the journey is now, not later. The journey is where it all happens. The journey is where life is experienced; songs are sung; dances are danced; laughter is heard; love is shared, and peace given.
There is no better time than right now for peace.
It starts with peace in our own hearts for ourselves.
Then it ripples out to peace for our family, our circle of friends; co-workers; neighbors; people who service us each day; the stranger we pass on the street.
We are all a part of the Oneness. We are related by this Oneness. Call it what you will, It’s energy is within and without. It surrounds us with infinite wonder and love.
When we look at what we have in common with each other, we begin to see how we are united.
We all have One Creator.
We all share One Energy Source.
We are all part of the human race.
We all have human frailties that seek forgiveness and compassion.
We all have Our Creator’s love and energy source within us.
I’ve not been taught to kill someone’s grandmother or grandfather.
I've not been taught to kill someone's husband or wife.
I’ve not been taught to kill someone’s sister or brother.
I’ve not been taught to kill a little baby who knows nothing of hate.
Why would I want to hurt someone who is a part of me?
Why would I want to hurt someone who has the same Creator as I?
I’ve been taught to protect life and treat it as something to treasure.
I’ve been taught to forgive others and myself our humanity.
I’ve been taught that we are all made in our Creator’s image.
I’ve been taught that we all have a part of our Creator in us.
One way to create peace is to educate.
Teach love.
Teach peace.
Teach forgiveness.
Teach compassion.
Teach our similarities.
Teach to build anew.
How can we teach?
How can I teach?
By Example.
If not peace now, then when? There is no better time than right now. How many children must die before we begin to repair the world?
Peace starts now with me.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
Peace Now.
Michele
Below you will find the original words of the song written in 1955 by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller...it is copyrighted by Jan-Lee Music.
Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me;
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me, Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take, Let this be my solemn vow:
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth and Let it begin with me.
Picasso's Peace
In Memory of Jenya Dorfman- www.geocities.com/jenyadorfman/story.html
Gather The Women www.gatherthewomen.org
Code Pink For Peace www.codepink4peace.org
Women For Peace www.womenwagingpeace.net
Shalom Achshav [Peace Now] in Israel. This site offers a host of other international peace links.www.peacenow.org.il[Hebrew]www.peacenow.org.il[English]
How others view peace:
"Nonviolence is the supreme law of life." — Indian Proverb
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
Albert Einstein
"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner."
Nelson Mandela
"Five enemies of peace inhabit with us -- avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace." --
Petrarch (14th century) "God has made of one blood all nations under heaven. No man can suddenly become my enemy just because he happened to have been born on the other side of a river or a boundary line, and his government has issued an ultimatum against mine. Is it not time that we refused to fight? The day should begin by focusing on God as shining beauty, radiant Joy, creative power, all-pervading love, perfect understanding, purity and peace."
Muriel Lester
"The point of nonviolence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we can no longer sink. A platform which stands a few feet above napalm, torture, exploitation, poison gas, A and H bombs, the works. Give man a decent place to stand. "
Joan BaezWhen you're finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you're going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people?
Frank Borman
"Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace."
Thich Nhat Hanh
Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind. In this sense the most insignificant writer can serve peace, where the most powerful tribunals can do nothing. Julien Benda
"To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness."
Robert Muller
"Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are, something you give away." Robert Fulghum
"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room." -Anita Koddick
"Everything, everything in war is barbaric . . . But the worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being."
-Ellen Key, 1916
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance." -- Socrates"If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world." -Chinese Proverb
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
"Peace begins with a smile." -- Mother Teresa
"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." -- John F. Kennedy
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." --- Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."--Martin Luther King Jr.
"War - an act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will." "My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth." -- George Washington
"I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask: 'Mother, what was war?'" -Eve Merriam
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages." -- Thomas Edison"...in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners."- Albert Camus
"Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, a gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation; others in a person. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever-threatened truth that each and every person, on the foundation of his or her own sufferings and joys, builds for all." Albert Camus, The Artist and His Time
"I cannot but have reverence for all that is called life. I cannot avoid compassion for everything that is called life. That is the beginning and foundation of morality." -Albert Schweitzer
"In the hearts of people today there is a deep longing for peace. When the true spirit of peace is thoroughly dominant, it becomes an inner experience with unlimited possibilities. Only when this really happens-- when the spirit of peace awakens and takes possession of men's hearts, can humanity be saved from perishing." - Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
"The problems of this world are so gigantic that some are paralysed by their own uncertainty. Courage and wisdom are needed to reach out above this sense of helplessness. Desire for vengeance against deeds of hatred offers no solution. An eye for an eye makes the world blind. If we wish to choose the other path, we will have to search for ways to break the spiral of animosity. To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans." - From the Christmas Message 2001
HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history." --
Peace Pilgrim"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake. "
—
Jeanette Rankin, first woman Member of Congress"If we do not speak for Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?"
Carl Sagan "Cosmos" "Peace, in the sense of absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free." -
The 14th Dalai Lama "When we are dreaming alone, it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality." -
Dom Helder Camara "Nuclear weapons threaten the most basic of human rights--the right to life." -anonymous
"The most terrifying monster lurking in the darkness of Hiroshima is precisely the possibility that man might become no longer human." -
Kenzaburo Oe"An optimist says, 'War is impossible.' A pessimist says, 'War is inevitable.' A realist says, 'War is inevitable unless we make it impossible.'" -Unknown
"The road to devastation begins long before war does: it begins when nations and groups equip themselves for war. Preparing for war ensures that it will happen (though it may not be the war that's being prepared for). You might as well try preventing a forest fire by pouring petrol over the trees and then standing by with a box of matches." -Peace Pledge Union
"The soul of our country needs to be awakened . . .When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders." -Veterans Fast for Life
"Men are so accustomed to maintaining external order by violence that they cannot conceive of life being possible
without violence." -Leo Tolstoy"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?"
-Eleanor Roosevelt"We are ready to retaliate, rather than forgive or gain by love and information . . . Force may subdue, but love gains. And one that forgives first wins the laurel."
-William Penn
"Peace isn't merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice." -- Harrison Ford
" If you see good in people, you radiate a harmonious loving energy which uplifts those who are around you. If you can maintain this habit, this energy will turn into a steady flow of love. Annamalai Swami
"Peace is not the absence of conflict; it's the absence of inner conflict." -- Unknown
"Peace, like charity, begins at home." --Franklin D. Roosevelt
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war." "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." "Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding." --Ralph Waldo Emerson
"All we are saying is: give peace a chance."
"Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one." --John Lennon
"There are no warlike people, just warlike leaders"
"The United Nations is our one great hope for a peaceful and free world." --Ralph Bunche
"The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation " --Jonathan Larson Rent "Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence." --Mahatma Gandhi
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." "Those who are attracted to nonviolence should according to their ability and opportunity, join the experiment.""A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, less good when they obey and acclaim him, worse when they fear and despise him. Fail to honor people and they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did this ourselves.' "
-Lao-Tzu"There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace."
-- Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations "The best preparedness is the one that disarms the hostility of other nations and makes friends of them." -
Helen Keller "We want our country's use of money and minds redirected from inventing ways to destroy one another to learning how to live together." -Woman's Peace Presence
"If it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "No" to war. For one does not create human society on mounds of corpses."
-Louis Lecoin, French pacifist leader
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." --Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) American Musician, Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter
