This last week Coretta Scott King made her transition after almost fourty years of speaking out for peace and equality.  Continuing the work of her husband Martin Luther, she repeatedly advocated freedom for all, peace for our world and non-violent action and communication in resolving our differences. 

Today the United States and most of its allied first world nations are still caught up in the role of imposing our will upon the rest of the world.  I say ‘our’ because ultimately we as individuals of this nation are responsible for the actions our country takes.  And ‘no action’ on our part is an act of acceptance.

I am not for a moment refuting the moral stance of these nations.  There will always be an arguable yet never justifiable moral stance for violence. The whole purpose for multitudinous nations; it seems to me, is to protect the moral stance of the people as a whole, and as difficult as it may be, part of that freedom is to allow the moral complacency of a population until they are ready to act in a personally empowering way. 

The driving force behind the colonization of United States and Canada was the search for freedom of expression.  That did not make our way right for all people, yet it was right for the majority of us.  We, Canadians, are far more powerful as an example in this world than we could possibly be by any action we impose upon another nation. 

Killing thousands of innocent people while chasing down a few terrorists is not nor ever has been a solution, yet it appears to be becoming the accepted policy.  The solution is not to invest more into mechanisms of war which can easily destroy the world many times over.  The solution is to live and act beyond reproach in our global village.

This last weekend I took in a workshop in ‘Non-violent Communication’; through practical application it highlighted the need to speak authentically.  The workshop illustrated to me how in our own homes we perpetuate the patterns of violence which ripple up into our global relationships. 

I witnessed in my own life how I used manipulation and coercion to motivate my son simply because I had not developed the vocabulary of authentic communication.  Even with my years of training in communication, when I thought I was speaking my genuine feelings I found myself to be manipulating. 

After going through my role playing exercises in the workshop I came home and discovered that my new level of authentic communication, being in touch with my real intentions, needs and feelings allowed my son and me to discover new opportunities with each other.

This wonderful discovery for me underlined the belief that global change, a true movement toward peace starts in our own homes and relations.  It is everyone’s responsibility to educate ourselves in peaceful resolution.  Until we embrace this as the most important personal development in our lives we can not expect to find peace in our communities, countries and world.  It really is up to us.

In Love and Light,