Things have not been peaceful in my life lately so I went looking for a good quote on peace that I could pin to my bulletin board. What I realized when I started reading is that people’s ideas about peace are a reflection of who they are and the time in which they live. I am not those people and I do not live in their time so their words did not help me find peace.
Then I started wondering if peace was what I really wanted. I mean if everyone really wanted peace why don’t we just do it? Not war, no quarreling, just polite, kind people being nice to other polite, kind people. Yuck. I think like in the Matrix, if our lives had no problems we would probably shoot ourselves.
So if peace is not what I am looking for than what is it? I found a great quote by Helen Keller that talks about understanding and I think maybe that is my answer. I don’t need peace, I need to understand people and have people understand me. If we understand each other then perhaps a working peace will follow.
I am not talking about approving of the things that people do, but accepting them. If I understand that you like horror books and you understand that I like cozy mysteries than we don’t have to argue. We can just read what we want and know that no one is going to fight us about our choices. This idea could work from money, to religion, to politics.
So I will try to understand the people around me better and perhaps that will bring along a peace that I can live with.
“I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.” Hellen Keller
