True Peace (writte December 3, 2006)

"What does peace mean in a world in which the combined wealth of the world's 587 billionaires exceeds the combined gross domestic product of the world's 135 poorest countries? Or when rich countries that pay farm subsidies of a billion dollars a day, try and force poor countries to drop their subsidies? What does peace mean to people in occupied Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Tibet and Chechnya? Or to the aboriginal people of Australia? Or the Ogoni of Nigeria? Or the Kurds in Turkey? Or the Dalits and Adivasis of India?What does peace mean to non-muslims in Islamic countries, or to women in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan? What does it mean to the millions who are being uprooted from their lands by dams and development projects? What does peace mean to the poor who are being actively robbed of their resources and for whom everyday life is a grim battle for water, shelter, survival and, above all, some semblance of dignity? For them, peace is war."
-Arundhati Roy

I have had this quote on my wall for a while now, but when you think about it, is peace truly just the absence of war?...I aint talking about an Iraq kind of war where people's subsistence is directly attacked...I am talking about the indirect attacks on people inherent rights, safety, essential existence. I would argue that the suppression of people's inherent rights in indirect ways might in some ways be even worse than that off direct warfare in the sense that direct warfare is recognized around the world as a sin (even though they dont dare use the word)...Indirect warfare is often...relativized (never said may English was good) and made to look like it is someone else who is portraying the crime....but we all are part of the greatest sin of our time....the tremendous amount of wealth among such widespread poverty and injustice......I believe with Wolterstorff that "If we know of someone who is starving and have the power to help that person but choose not to do so, then we violates the starving person’s rights as surely and reprehensibly as if we had physically assaulted the sufferer."
We aint gotta save the whole world ....CHRIST already did that.....however we do have our part to play in making true peace reign on earth......