As someone who believes in the possibility of a more peaceful world, Kathie Malley-Morrison of Engaging Peace knocked my socks off when she appeared as the featured guest on Oneness and Wellness, a local access cable show out of Dedham, MA.
(You can view the segment by going to the show's website: www.onenessandwellness.com Click on the "shows" link and look for Engaging Peace through Book and Blog.)
Malley-Morrison has communicated with people all over the world hoping to learn their views on war and the possibility of creating a world culture that uses nonviolent means to solve conflict. I was so impressed with the work of Malley-Morrison that I went immediately to her website (www.engagingpeace.com) after viewing the show, foregoing my usual practice of putting it on a list of sites to check out sometime in the future.
Her mission is to educate about alternatives to warfare, and to foster engagement and activism for the cause of world peace. Her blog, as well as the award-winning monthly newsletter, Choosing Peace for Good, offer articles that bring academic peace studies and stories of activism to the general public.
For me, this website is like a treasure chest of resources! It includes not only research and articles, but also books and films about war and peace. Even if you never read one book or article on the site, just watching the movies would give you an education on the place of war in our culture, in our national psyche, even in our hopes and fears. Some of the films, most notably for me Beyond Belief (the story of 9/11 widows who go to Afghanistan to help poverty-stricken women and form a tremendous bond with them), show the possibilities for peace through individual person to person interaction.
I urge you to check out this site if you are interested in any of their goals:
1. Promote optimism concerning the possibility of peace
2. Explore how people in power and the mainstream media persuade citizens that various forms of government-sponsored aggression, such as war and torture, are justifiable
3. Present examples of serious conflicts that have been resolved without warfare
4. Demonstrate that a major pathway to peace is through responsible activism
5. Translate into user-friendly language the best of relevant scientific and academic work contributing to the understanding of war and peace. In particular, we will periodically mention some of the major results from our own international research team.
6. Help readers find useful tools and important resources to support their own efforts to seek and promote peace.
7. Encourage readers to share their opinions and contribute their own stories and examples of “engaging peace.”
As a matter of fact, I urge you to go to this site even if you are not particularly interested in the topics listed above, because I am pretty sure you will find something on this site that peaks your interest if you happen to care about the future, the present, the environment, veterans, children, or families.
If for no other reason, I would go there just to see the ticker at the bottom right of the home page that keeps updating the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My enthusiasm for the work of Kathie Malley-Morrison and the Engaging Peace website stems from my beliefs ~
I believe the world can and will move to a culture of peace in which war will be the rare exception.
I believe when people understand the environmental impact of war, the urgency of peace-making will become more evident.
I believe we owe our veterans a better life than the one so many of them face when they return home from military service.
I believe non-violent conflict resolution is a possibility at every level from individual conflict to national conflicts. We will never rid the world of conflict, but we can rid the world of war.
I believe each individual can and should make a difference.
I believe that none of this is simple or easy.
I believe in you and me and our power to make a difference.
