Peace has never come from War
Love has never come from Hate
Hate has led to War
War has led to Hate
Love will lead us to Peace
Peace will end in Love
Peace, War, Love, Hate
Posted: November 22, 2012 in inspiration, Love, philosophy, poetry, thought, writingTags: Activism and Peace Work, hate, inspiration, love, Peace, poem, poetry, Thought, war, writing
Comments
wordsofhonestunwisdom 
I just wish more people knew this. Love is the solution to everything.
I want to believe that and am working to believe that, but I think it is equally as much love that makes us fight as hate, for the two come together.
We hate our enemy because we love our families and our allies. We fight our enemy for that love, for the need to protect them.
Although I do firmly believe that violence cannot Solve anything truly, only put problems on hold, I do not think love can solve things either. We cannot be expected to love our enemy. But, we can perhaps be expected to fight with nonviolence instead of violence. I do not think nonviolence necessitates love. Nonviolence is a methodology and it has some relationship with love, but i am not exactly sure what that is at the moment. I’m trying to figure it out though.
Really thoughtful respons, howartheyfor. It’s not easy, is it? Perhaps it depends on one’s understanding of “love”. If love is a synonym for “like”, it hasn ‘t a snowball’s chance in hell. If it is a synonym for warm feeling or for romance, it’s power and scope are limited to the most intimate few about whom we have such feelings. If, on the other hand, it has to do with stretching, going beyond our comfort zone, pushing beyond our experience to view “the other” as a “neighbor” to whom we are called to BE a neighbor, “love” is the only thing than “will lead to peace, and peace will lead us to love” each other across the chasms of ethnocentricity and Narcissism. Love in this sense is a bold act of courage. E.g. Jesus, MLK, Gandhi. What do ya think? I love your honesty. This is not easy. It’s tough, and it requres tough mindedness.
I agree, but I think it’s important to be tangible and critical and concrete about what “love” is. It’s one thing saying love will change the world, and it’s another thing to be descriptive about the ways that conversation and forgiveness can lead to rehumanizing our enemies.
There’s a reason conflict keeps happening despite all the world’s best intentions and laws and etc.. I’m not quite sure, but I think it’s because the love you speak of, this “bold act of courage” is not being spoken about tangibly and methodologically.
Both MLK and Gandhi spoke about love and peace but neither achieved their goals in truly inspiring others to do the same. The liberation of India came at the cost of an unbelievable amount of violence and the modern black man is still villainized in every culture and country in the world. What is it that people can’t quite do? Why is it really so hard to care about people who look different speak different?
Iguess the problem is that Power achieves itself by marking Others, and labelling enemies that it will protect the voter base from… etc. etc.
The answer is not asking people to love, the answer is to propose frameworks and conversations and organizations that will allow for people to learn what it means to love… or something.
I don’t like war either…in fact war seems insane especially when we have weapons of mass destruction. I offer an alternative point of view from sage that lived in the 6th century B.C.
“The poet was a fool
who wanted no conflict
among us, gods
or people.
Harmony needs
low and high,
as progeny needs
man and woman”
“War, as father
of all things, and king,
names few
to serve as gods,
and of the rest makes
these men slaves,
those free.”
“Justice in our minds is strife.
We cannot help but see
war makes us as we are”
Fragments from Heraclitus