Flip the Script on Peace
Week Two: Flip the Script on Peace:
Day Eight: November 8, 2023
Flip the Script on Peace
“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples. It is not enough to speak out against war; the causes of war must be eliminated.” Rigoberta Menchú Tum
(Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a K’iche’ Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War, and to promoting Indigenous rights internationally.)
When I think about peace, the first thoughts that arise are songs about an ideal of the world I want to live in.
“I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” ~The New Seekers
“We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day so let’s start giving.” ~USA for Africa
How will I know…
I know because my heart tells me so.
~Beautiful World in Existence
People holding hands, caring, and living in peace and harmony was the fantasy world I lived in growing up, not the real world of my existence.
I was raised to be a good girl. To treat people with kindness. To share with others. To serve and help people who did not have as much as we did.
I was also taught not to speak about conflict; to keep my mouth shut; to ‘be peace’ even when the family system I grew up in was anything but peace. I learned to play nice, entertain and create distractions. I learned not to ask for what I want and that having needs means you are needy – a quality that is highly undesirable.
Peace involved “keeping the peace” by people pleasing, denial and avoidance. Never draw attention to any of the pain and suffering in the world. Be nice.
I was not taught how to navigate conflict, discord, speak up or how to handle fear, anger, jealousy, or grief.
The Vietnam war was the focus of the nightly news. If you google wars in the world during different decades, you will see that war is everywhere.
Warring in politics, human rights, gender, and race.
Warring in the family with alcohol, verbal and physical abuse and untreated childhood trauma from adults who are in charge.
Cultivating peace on earth is a frequency of energy that begins within.
There is still war happening in different parts of the world. There are people on the front line and others who are witnessing. You may have family or a lineage that is connected to a current war. You may be a person who feels the impact energetically.
In your home, war may be a divorce, an illness, or another life circumstance that has created an internal struggle where you are at war with yourself.
As Rigoberta Menchú Tum wrote in her quote: It is not enough to speak out against war; the causes of war must be eliminated.
This is where we begin the week of flipping the script on peace.
Share your experiences, as much as you want to, in the comments.
Day 8 Prompts:
*Where have you flipped the script on peace?
*What were you taught?
*What have you learned on your own?
*What do you want to change now?
*Write about a war that is happening now and how that is affecting you.
For more of Flip the Script posts go to my page on Medium: https://andreahylen.medium.com/