As we watch the world around us, I see so many struggling for peace. We want it; we crave it. We keep looking for peace, albeit often in all the wrong places.
We look for peace in human history, but the pages are littered with centuries of war and conflict. We look for peace in current events, and yet…
… there is no peace in the racial unrest, seen vividly via protest (some peaceful — some violent) around the country…
… there is no peace in the religious unrest, seen vividly via violence around the globe (possibly motivating this week’s hostage siege in Sydney, Australia).
Just last week four children — all under the age of 15 — were beheaded by ISIS, the raging, radical Islamic group. What was the supposed sin of the four murdered in Iraq? They refused to renounce the name of Jesus Christ.
There is no peace in the conflict with ISIS. If we were one day able to fully thwart their barbaric behavior and future capability, halting their cruelty still fails to change the heart of the radical who still savors savaging the infidel. Stopping ISIS does not solve the unrest; it does not create permanent peace. And if peace is not permanent, I question if it’s truly peace.
There is no peace in the current racial tension. As rallies swell in the streets from San Francisco to New York City, this lack of peace is gut-wrenching; people are hurting. We hear the understandable chants of black lives matter — and they do… They do! But now it has become disrespectful and politically incorrect to acknowledge that “all lives matter” — which they also do. But until we get that — until creed or color is never seen — until we all stop empathizing only with some — assuming another side is ignorant or stupid or some other derogatory term — there will be no peace. Again, there will be no condition that’s permanent; and that’s what we truly crave: permanent peace.
So I ask: can peace on Earth truly exist? And if so, how?
Surely it’s not by shouting at one another, demanding others must “think like me”… surely it’s not by declaring how right “I am” and pouncing on the presumed sins of another — how wrong they are… surely it’s not by any means of intentional dishonor or disrespect. Where then does peace come from?
I find it eerily ironic that here we are with so much obvious unrest in the world — from the streets of Ferguson to the deserts in the Middle East — and yet it’s hard to escape the “peace on Earth” mantra that is continually piped into our ears this holiday season. This time of year, seemingly all around us, from the constant car radio to the musical tracks subtly echoing in the local mall, we hear that bold, prominent proclamation, a promise of hope and of lasting peace… a peace that’s permanent… “Peace on Earth… good will to men.”
As I think of this unrest and despair on planet Earth — in these conflicts in which we clamor for peace — I’m reminded of the that “old familiar carol” that plays, as penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the latter half of his song:
And in despair I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong and mocks the song , Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.”
Till, ringing, singing, on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, Of peace on earth, good will to men!
We hear the refrain in the music in the malls. We hear the claims of available peace amidst all conflict. I want a peace like that.
Respectfully…
AR