Peace.Do you remember that word?

I do. Thinking back, the last time I experienced it was during the Big Dawg's time in office.
I mightily miss it.
I am more politically aware now, and infinitely more pissed off. Is that due to the internet(s) or the POS in charge?
Hmmmm.....

You hear stories about how people are ejected from places because they have t-shirts that simply say "Peace".

Or the implication that using that word means you're "anti-war" and therefore "anti-American".

Since when has eternal death and warfare been the ultimate goal?

Hasn't "peace and prosperity" been the standard for success in human society?

been awhile ago. Peace and prosperity? I dunno. Not now, surely. The economy is supposedly doing fine, but the peace is more ephemeral.

These days, it seems I am just more and more desperate for change. I feel like I am holding my breath and waiting for the day when I can breathe normally again, sleep normally again, find comfort in "normal" rather than distress in what we have come to reguard as "normal" in the last 5 and a half years.

Peace. How I long for it.


Thanks for validating what I am feeling and sharing this moment of peace with me. :hug:

Hugs, Sydnie.
That one little word means so much, and is so lost in anything anyone seems to be talking or thinking about now.
When did we lose sight of that? Things were so much easier when we had it, weren't they?!

after Bush was given the presidency by the SCOTUS. The Onion had an editorial that said, "Rejoice, Americans, your long nightmare of peace and prosperity is over." Well, that's as close as I can remember. They knew then, before "9-11- changed- everything "and allowed the administration to ride roughshod over the Constitution. Yes, I remember those days.

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I must've missed it in all the newpapers, but what did Clinton (or the U.S.) have to do with Rwanda? Are you talking about the tribal genocide? As I recall, no nation on earth intervened.

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It's fuzzy for me, but I do recall when we had something resembling 'peace'. Or, at least, I wasn't as distraught as I am currently.

There was a time when each and every beauty contest contestant finished her speech with wishes of world peace. Now they are discouraged, as they sound like left wing whackos, to the well-conditioned brainwashed American minds. It's sad, but at least people are waking up to the fact that the media is neither liberal, or on their side.

Funny thing is, sometimes I know they are brainwashing me, yet I still sort of succumb. Weird huh? But the less you watch the pre-mind-programming political shows, the better off you are. I might add that even shows like SNL, that used to be fairly honest, and thus, liberal, have strayed into putting on these right-wing type skits. Simultaneously, they've become unfunny, since conservatism has no sense of humor.

I am firmly inbedded now in finding truth, after witnessing the current bullshit for awhile.
I can watch, but I am no longer amused.

check these out on one of my posts: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1350943

"All people whose minds are healthy can desire peace, and there is an ability within all people, especially the young, to grasp and hold strongly to the principles of righteousness. Those principles of righteousness demand that all thoughts of prejudice, privilege, or superiority be swept away, and recognition be given to the reality that the creation is intended for the benefit of all equally. Even the birds and animals, the trees and insects, as well as the people. The world does not belong to humans -- it is the rightful property of the Great Creator."
-- The Peacemaker; Haudenosaunee

"there is an ability within all people, especially the young, to grasp and hold strongly to the principles of righteousness" Perhaps I'm reliving my youth, or grasping at straws?
I kid. That's a lovely quote.

I remember when Bill mentioned that we could go to sleep at night without worrying about nuclear war.

Not now. That promise has been stolen from us by a mindless idiot. That's enough to make the blood boil.

Thanks for mentioning 'peace.' It's a word we don't hear much of these days.



Julien Benda, as presented by Herman Wouk in 'The Winds of War' said:

"Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind. In this sense the most insignifigant writer can serve peace, where the most powerful tribunals can do nothing."


John Kennedy said at American University in 1963:

Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles - - which can only destroy and never create - - is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace.

I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war - - and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.

Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament - - and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must re-examine our own attitude - as individuals and as a Nation - - for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward - - by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the Cold War and toward freedom and peace here at home.

First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many of us think it is unreal. But that is dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable - - that mankind is doomed - - that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.

We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade - - therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable - - and we believe they can do it again.

I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of universal peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the values of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal.

Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace - - based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions - -on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace - - no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process - - a way of solving problems.

With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor - - it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors.

So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable - - and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly - - by making it seem more manageable and less remote - - we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it."

of the reasons I love to log on to DU. Keep it up, my friend! :hug: