Davis: Peace In The New Year

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(HOST) As the new year begins, commentator Joann Davis has been thinking about Peace – and how to achieve it.

(DAVIS) Early in the New Year, a man got down on his knees to pray.
 
"Dear God," he said. "Here we are in the New Year, and the world is still full of violence and upset, suffering and sorrow.  Won’t you please send help?"
 
A few seconds passed, when a voice shot back, "But I sent help. I sent you."
 
That story comes to mind as 2010 rolls in with its well-worn calls for "PEACE ON EARTH- GOOD WILL TO MEN."  People everywhere want an end to war and strife. They want harmony and cooperation on an international scale, with family members brought home safe from distant places.
 
It’s a glorious idea. Trouble is, many of us expect peace to arrive the same way the UPS man delivered the holiday mail – neat and easy, right to our door. Orchestrated by somebody else.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong. I want our elected officials to be peace makers. I expect it. But in our spectator society, where personal action is sometimes minimized, it’s tempting to consider how our prospects for peace would be enriched if each of us heeded Socrates who once advised those who wished to move the world – to first move themselves.
 
Since childhood, I have searched for inspiration in books and poems, looking for that glimpse of truth to guide and steer me. Few source have guided me as well as The Simple Prayer that begins like this –
 
Make me an instrument of thy peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon
Where there is darkness, let me bring light.
Where there is despair, let me sow hope.

This New Year, I resolve not to wait for others to make peace. I resolve to bring it, to make peace in my own personal life, and with the people who cross my path.
 
Because peace on earth begins with you and me.

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