The headlines for the past few years sure make it seem like genuine peace is becoming a scarce commodity in our world.
Authentic peace isn’t just a clinical, geopolitical evaluation that can be measured by whether or not a nation is in an official state of war.
Peace is needed at every level of society right down to the individual.
But it’s unlikely to come about as a kind of top-down directive.
And that’s something in which each of us have a say.
Peace has to be freely chosen by each individual who sees its value over violence, in a given situation.
Naturally, this is much harder to put into actual practice.
We live in a time where even the most minor divisions are exaggerated and inflated to create conflict between us.
Whether or not we allow ourselves to be baited into contention is entirely our own choice.
We can be conduits for peace or for conflict in the lives of those around us.
We can minimize conflict by seeking to find common ground and choosing to set aside minor differences.
Individual peace starts with the concept of acceptance without conformity that we already practice in so many of our daily decisions.
We all drive different cars and wear different clothes and no one feels the need to force others to accept their choice.
That same deference should apply to the peaceful decisions of each individual.
And while disagreements will always be a part of life, it’s still possible to disagree without resorting to force.
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