COMMENTARY: A Commitment To Making Peace

How did you spend your September 11?

I spent mine with my daughter, Katheryn Faith. She’s a member of a group called Conflict Resolution Crew (CRC), which is part of the theatre company. They were invited to perform several skits called Soul Stories, which demonstrates peace-making skills to solve conflict, for the Peace Learning Circles opening ceremony at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Racine.

Peace Learning Circles, a nonprofit educational organization, held an opening ceremony to invite the community to become more at peace with themselves and others for the next 10 days. The goal of the project is to promote safety and goodwill.

“We wanted the focus to be on what have we learned since 9/11 and on how we can bring about a culture of peace to our communities,” said Sue Hollow, executive director for Peace Learning Circles.

What I found interesting was how the group is using Sept. 11 as the ‘kickoff’ day for a sort of ‘live 10 days in peace’ challenge.

For me, the idea of becoming a peacemaker initially sounded kind of odd. How does one become a peacemaker? And what’s so un-peaceful about my life? That’s where the kids from CRC and the speakers, all leaders from various religions, came in handy. Here are a few points I got out of it:

• Rev. Tony Larsen, pastor at Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, said: “If you want to make peace, you have to stop thinking, I’m right and everyone else is wrong.”
• Larsen also said that making peace also includes committing to: not hurting people (doing no harm), doing something good for people, and taking something bad and transforming it into something good.
• Dr. Anton Somlai, co-founder of the Original Root Zen Center, rang a bell and had the audience read The Peaceful Path Sutra. The ending struck me as particularly meaningful: “I vow to create conditions for peace. I take whatever appears and use it as a conduit for love, compassion and wisdom….”
• Pastor Michael Mueller, of St. Andrews Lutheran in Caledonia: "We are people of peace."
• In the Soul Stories, the kids acted out a conflict and ask a series of questions: “Stop, what story are you telling yourself? How do you feel about that? What are you going to do about it?” By the end of the skit, their response resolves the conflict within themselves and they are able to show empathy, not anger to people. They also learn to help people, not berate them.

Katie Dawson attended the opening ceremony because her nephew, Scott Johnson, of Racine, died on Sept. 11 during the terrorist attacks. He was working on the 89^th floor in the Twin Towers when the building collapsed.

“This was a lovely event,” Dawson said. “I especially liked the idea of turning something bad into something good. Having just gone through this anniversary and having lost a nephew on 9/11, I think it’s time for something positive to happen. And I hope everyone is praying for peace, not only on 9/11 but for those affected by the war.”

Dawson said she had attended church earlier in the morning and the priest spoke about forgiveness.

“We all have a hard time forgiving, but we need to forgive in order to have peace,” Dawson said.

What was amazing was the conversation I had with my daughter afterward. When we were walking out of the church, which is across the street from the county jail, an older man was walking out of the building with a younger man. And as the older man screamed, my daughter yelled, “Practice peace!”

I told her that I could relate with the older man being angry with his son for getting into trouble, I said. “He probably just got of jail.”

“He probably did,” she said.

“It’s frustrating watching someone you love getting into trouble,” I said referring to some conflicts Katheryn and I had a few years ago.

“I know,” she said. “It scared me to see you so angry, but I was at a place where I just didn’t care.”

“I know,” I said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

We talked more about that unpeaceful time between us, but now I see how she's learning to cope, make a difference, and care about herself, her family, her friends and her community.