I was asked by MCV Egan to participate in a Peace Blitz as part of her commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of the air crash of the G-AESY, the British second world war plane which came down in Denmark in 1939 in mysterious circumstances. This crash is the subject of her book, The Bridge of Deaths. Below the post, you will find the list of bloggers participating in this Blitz, as well as a link to a Rafflecopter giveaway.
The subject of world peace has always seemed a little too final-question-in-the-Miss-Universe-pageant to me, particularly because it deals with a pie-in-the-sky concept that is, to my jaded authorly disposition, fully unattainable. We will never have world peace. We will never all get along. The world, in all its wonderful variety and differentiation, will never mesh harmoniously into a Kumbaya crescendo.
Are you depressed yet?
You would think that, as a mother, I would wish for nothing more than world peace and harmony. And, in a way, I do. But I wish it in the same way that I wish to win the lottery, a sort of wouldn’t it be nice if it happened (but I know it really won’t) way. What I wish for, most of all, is for inner peace.
If we all had inner peace, I believe world peace would be a much more realistic concept.
The problem with the idea of world peace is that it deals with the external circumstances: the bullets, the abuse, the broken promises, the venomous rhetoric, the evil. No one ever asks themselves why these things exist in the first place.
Strife begins from within.
Think about it for a minute. Think back to the days when you have been happiest, when you have been most at ease. Those are the days when your inner peace levels were at their apex. On those days, your interactions are positive, your acceptance of others heightened. Rather than grimacing and rolling your eyes at the idiosyncrasies of those around you, you smiled. Rather than attempting to change things to suit your thwarted needs, you rolled with the punches.
Those who start and continue wars, as small or big as they may be, are filled with inner strife and personal hate. When you hate what you see in the mirror, that hate will reflect itself not only on what you see, but also on those who see you. If that hates gets big enough, and you have enough power, you eventually choose to inflict your inner pain on others. Do that enough, and you have war. War begets war. And that’s how we find ourselves where we are now.
World peace starts with inner peace. Look at yourself long and hard in the mirror. Accept what you see, warts and all. Understand that raging against yourself is akin to screaming into the wind–largely ineffective, and only guaranteed to aggravate you. Consider your circumstances. Accept what you have been given. If you are displeased with it, rail not–instead, aim to become better. A mind in pursuit of greater things has no time for petty negativity. Eliminate the enemy of peace at the root, and peace has a greater chance of surviving the dawn.
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Who else is blogging on this one-day Peace Blitz? Check ‘em out:
A Piece of Peace
Amelia Curzon
Anne Chaconas, Writer
Book mews and tattle tails
Book Purses
B o o k s 4 T o m o r r o w
b00kr3vi3ws
christine bonner
Close Encounters with the Night Kind
Combermere Abbey
Devoted Mommy of 3
Diary of a Writer in Progress
Get Lenin by Robert Craven
Graciela Zozaya
Halley Elise
Heaven’s Garden Productions
Hope With Change
Joseph D. Smith
keeperofthesword
Lift You Up
Mallory Heart Reviews
margaret west
Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
Opus ‘N’ Pen
Paulette Mahurin
Pavarti K Tyler at Fighting Monkey Press
R. Russell Bittner
Rise of the Vampire
Russell Bittner
Simple Clockwork by Nancy Cudis
Tela’s Notes
Tela Wallen Fiction
The Author Zackary Richards
The Bridge of Deaths
The Journey
The Persecutio of Mildred Dunlap
The story of a girl…
Think in ink
Wendy’s Bookcase
Yvonne Mikell
Want to win some awesome prizes just by being peaceful?
It’s easy enough. Just click on the following link, which will take you to a Rafflecopter giveaway. You can enter to win by following blogs, posting comments, and tweeting about peace!
I agree and with inner peace you will achieve much more world peace.
Glad you agree, Vickieann! Thanks for stopping by and commenting–I hope you enjoyed the post!
I am such an admirer of the way you write. I think Inner Peace is the one attainable that can also be contagious…I realized this summer that I have always been a hopeless optimist so yes…today i will dare hope on path to peace and I will also buy a few lottery tickets as the powerball has hit numbers that make many of us dream…..
MCV, thank you so much for the compliment! More often than not, I think of myself as made of words–telling me you like my prose is like telling me you think I’m pretty. I’m blushing.
I’ll get a PowerBall ticket, too. Here’s hoping one of us wins!
Thank you for putting together this awesome blog tour!
Beautiful and thoughtful commentary, Anne. Had never thought of world peace in the way you presented…makes total sense. It reminded me of the prayer of St Francis…”let there be peace of earth and let it begin with me.”
Aunt Meb, what a wonderful corollary. I didn’t think of the prayer of St. Francis, but it really exemplies exactly what I’m talking about. Thank you for stopping by–I appreciate your support so much!
So many people are unhappy, unhappy with themselves and envious of others. They take their unhappiness and make sure others are unhappy. Acceptance is key. Accept who you are, accept what has been given to you, take that and make yourself happy!
I couldn’t agree moer, Yvonne! Thanks for stopping by!
We’re totally on the same wavelength today! I blogged about inner peace, as well, in terms of battling depression. How true that a healthy mind and attitude will have a positive effect on the world around us. Can you imagine if an epidemic of love and acceptance spread across the world? Silly as that sounds, it just points back to each individual, working on themselves from within instead of living in denial.
An epidemic of love and acceptance sounds just about perfect, Mysti. Your post was incredibly poignant and thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing your journey!
Fabulous! I can’t help but agree with all you say, I had to laugh when you opened with Miss Universe, or Miss world as we seemed to know it. My very thoughts, when world peace was first mentioned by Catalina ,were of this ludicrous competition when they all had various, totally unbelievable, degrees from suspect universities and their collective greatest wish was for world peace. Almost made a mockery of the subject.
Great post as usual, Anne. Well done!
Thank you, Amelia, my friend! I thoroughly enjoyed your post, as well!
I completely agree with you. Inner balance is the only way to get along with each other. In the measure that we are happy with ourselves, fulfilled, our search for external happiness will stop and our bickering at what others have will cease to exist. Amazing post!
Georgina Morales recently posted..Peace Hop Blitz
Thank you, Georgina! I can’t wait to read your post!
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