Many years ago, I was contacted by a woman named Fumi Johns in Japan who was planning to travel the U.S. to plant peace poles. The poles said on them “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in English and Japanese.
I was excited by this prospect and told her, please come to my locale and I will find a place for the peace pole to be planted – and so, the peace pole was planted in my community. Since then, the Peace Pole Project, as they came to be called, has continued planting peace poles all around the world, in many different languages, all with the simple message:
May Peace Prevail on Earth.
What a simple message indeed. Yet, it seems in many ways we are moving away from this message, what with all the anger and vitriol that is spewed.
We have to get over all this horrible, angry and vitriolic talk. It seems these days, it’s all about war.
Yeah, it sounds tough. But I’m sick of all the politicians, especially the Republicans – and it’s not just Donald Trump, it’s all of them – who just want to bomb the bejeezus out of anyone and everyone.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” said Mahatma Gandhi. And that’s what will happen if we continue with the belligerence and bellicose tone and behavior.
Instead, how do we secure the peace? That’s the more important question to ask.
In the spirit of Christmas, John Lennon once wrote the song, Happy Xmas/War is Over.”
He says in the song that “war is over if you want it.” You can watch the video of the song above.
Let’s want war to be over. Let’s wage peace. Nobody wins with war.
We want a revolution of peace, of love, of enlightened thinking, behavior and action. And this war talk just doesn’t cut it.
I’ll be glad when this election cycle is over in the U.S. and we don’t have to hear the angry and belligerent men – and one woman – show us who is the toughest of them all.
How about showing us who is the most enlightened of them all, about who has the biggest heart and mind and can understand what is going on in the world and why there is so much unrest in the world?
How about showing us who knows what love means, and that it is love, and tolerance, and compassion, and openness to other cultures that will help us understand one another and create a more beautiful and peaceful world.
May peace prevail on earth.