Dear Reader,
To some, the idea of world peace seems cliche’, an idealistic fantasy. In the mainstream media we encounter a world awash in violence, division and the threat of mutual oblivion. We see the unrest and terrible suffering.
Most of the world’s ‘peace work’ is unreported however – in the countless NGOs working to address the underlying causes of conflict, in communities working at every scale to create more resilient peaceful lives; and in each of us who rejects violence, commits to a path of inner peace, or simply ‘touches peace’ regularly in the beauty of nature, the play of children, the wonder of a star-filled sky. Then there is the peace work of the earth itself, quietly transforming from one season to the next, growing, giving, regenerating. Peace is not a destination or a goal, it is the road we travel, or as the Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh says, ‘peace is every step’.