What Do We Want? Peace! When Do We Want It? Now

Is there a way to truly find peace in this world? I think so. 

Courtesy of Wiki Commons

What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now.

This is a chant heard at many rallies around the world when craziness is taking over a neighborhood or a community or a state … or an individual. We all want peace. And we want it now.

But what is peace … really?

Peace is several things. True peace is like a sleeping baby. Many of you have probably had that experience. The day you had been waiting for all those nine months. You got through the doctor’s appointments, the late-night cravings, the worries, the baby showers, the sore back and feet, the anticipation. The day finally comes and that little bundle of joy pops out into this earthly realm. There are 10 toes and 10 fingers. She cries a little bit — actually a lot — and you know that everything is fine.

At last, the new mom and dad are moved to a room and the new little bundle of joy — all wrapped up in a pink blanket with a bright pink beanie on her head — is brought into the room. She’s sleeping like a log in her little clear, plastic crib. And all anybody can do is smile. They look down at the sleeping baby, this little miracle of life, and a giant grin spreads across the faces of even the most hardened human.

“She looks so peaceful,” the new dad says as he reaches a soft finger to brush her cheek. “She just looks so peaceful.”

That is real peace. Inside peace anyway. Like calm waters or a sleeping baby, true peace is a resting of our soul. When the world around us is churning with turbulent waters, our souls are safe and calm and clear.

We are at peace.

We want that.

But we also want peace on the outside. And what we are really saying is we want connection, unity with everyone and every thing around us. We want respect, love, admiration, contact, relationships. We want to experience life like a forest of trees that isn’t upset at the bugs and microbes living off its bark or the small animals using it for shade. The tree is at peace with its surroundings. It isn’t jealous. It isn’t angry. It isn’t spiteful.

The giant tree realizes that it needs the microbes and the bugs and the animals, just as much as the animals and bugs and microbes needs the tree. The forest is the forest because of all those organisms. Take anything away and the forest ceases to be a true forest. Oh maybe not right away, but take one part of the ecosystem out of the forest and over time, that forest will die, a slow death.

We need the people and things around us. That’s what makes this place earth. That’s what makes us, us. We want the same unity and connection as the trees and the microbes and the bugs and the animals.

Sometimes we choose something else besides unity. We choose competition, us vs. them, rage, jealousy and the like. But what we want, what we really want, is peace. We want serenity on the inside and the outside. We want the unity of the forest and the peaceful slumber of a newborn baby.

What do you want it?

Peace!

When can you have it?

If you choose …

Now!

What do you do to find peace in this world? Do you have it? Is it attainable? Let us know in the comments section.