Teaching for Peace

I want to learn how to connect the teaching ideas from Rhetoricians for Peace to this blog and my blog to their website. We're all a bit philosophical and some of us are also political. So I sometimes get frustrated with our apparent impotence to effect change and I want to find ways to teach peace. When I teach the political I get to "passionate" in ways that impede my intended results. I suppose that I can start looking for and practicing inner peace in order to teach peace. I've placed the RFP link on the sidebar of this blog.

A Worker for Peace Has Left Us

A Worker for Peace Has Left Us

Coretta Scott King had a spirited send off after her passing today, February 7, 2006. I’ve been so busy surviving my life that I hadn’t kept up with her work, which is monumental. So from the stories I heard yesterday and today I am reminded of the quote by MLK—not everyone can be famous but everyone can be great in service. I paraphrased that one. One fo the Main Stories on this is "Body of Coretta King Laid to Rest" I appreciated the question posed by Bill Clinton because it reminds me that we need to continue to work for peace and do what we can in our various corners of the world. As long as each of us does something to contribute to peace, understanding, and love for one another, King’s dream may yet be a reality for many who have been unable to live the dream he and his wife had for humankind. Two news stories about the funeral and about the fact that people desperate for healing must be careful in whom they place their trust. First, 10,000 Mourn Then, the story of King's Children's shock
at their mother's death.

Navajo Peaceful Resistance

This article from the LATimes, demonstrates a quiet and peaceful resistance to perceived injuries and unfairness by the USGovernment. This woman prays daily for the right to stay where she is. Whether or not one agrees with her point on the legalities of the situation, it is interesting that a small woman has not faced violence over her point of view. For my Native American women writers' class this may be a good model for a representation of women from the past.

ahistoricality: We need new Democrats

While surfing the blogs, I came across this entry and found myself intrigued. While the topic was that of the new supreme court justice, somehow the court's participation in the Bush coronation contributed to the lack of peace many feel. Perhaps the writer of the entry has a good point.
ahistoricality: We need new Democrats

Peace

I am a writing instructor and generally I ask students to think critically and analyze what they write. But I need a space where I can focus on peace. Peace, sorely needed during any era, but more particularly now, may need defining. I've gut definitions as: no noise, sea sounds, gulls calling, sea breezes. That'd be my ideal. However, I no longer live by the shores of the Pacific so I must find a new way to find peace.

I suppose most of us have a need for quiet but sometimes even the most ardent recluse can no longer be at peace in total silence.

Another gut definition would be no war. I'm like the idealistic person in Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance" or "Imagine." While many of my friends are active at marches and but to today's youth these activities seem to be not worth the effort or not their "thing." I suppose the generation gap may also contribute to the differences in the way many young people and many older people view the world. So peace may not be the final goal for people at either end of the generation gap because each group has its agenda.

Many formerly active in the 60's have lost their ideals now that they are members of the "establishment" they fought against. And many of today's youth are raised to be unconcerned about things not part of their immediate environs.

I find that there are many good young people who are busy just trying to figure out what to do with their lives. However, when made aware of issues they'll have to confront eventually they do make tenative efforts to figure out what they could do about those issues.

Of course, many live with violence and do not know about "peace" in their lives so how can we expect them to want peace for all people. Besides our society's economy is based on a very self-gratification system to consume, even those things we do not need. Instead of spending money on smaller school campuses, we spend money on war. Foolishly we call the war department the defense department and we have created the very military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned the country about in his 1960 farewell address.

So the ongoing definition of peace covers many areas--the spiritual renewal we need, the lack of war that may lead us to spend money and resources on positive things, the ability to decrease violence in our society's families, and the growth of a social consciousness to help those who ask for our help.

More ruminations on peace in later posts.