Give Peace another Chance

 LOVING AND LEARNING

The other day an intellectual friend and I decided it was time for one of our philosophical discussions to help us attempt to figure something out: “Why is society ailing?”

We met at our favourite nature walk area — Deer Lake Park. The ambiance there is almost spiritual in that we meander to and from water, and pass through wooded areas and spot an abundance of birds and ducks. It is quiet and serene, and we walk and talk the entire time.

The topic of the day was particularly timely in that our region had just experienced a few actual earthquake shakes, on top of a metaphoric gigantic  “earthquake” from our once loving and friendly neighbour to our south. Both rattled all of us; but, the latter blindsided and choked us more than the former. This event became the focus of our discussion.

We started by pulling apart the word “loving” and placed it in the context of being patient, kind, thoughtful, attentive, caring and protective. People who were brought up in a cohesive family setting would have learned and lived together harmoniously in that context: Family unity. Family pride. Family love; learning how to get along, problem solve and respect one another. They would then carry those skills forward in all future aspects of their lives away from that home setting — their relationships with personal friends, relationships at work, at post secondary schools, on teams, in groups, with neighbours, teachers, acquaintances etc. Loving and learning, learning and loving, and then carrying all of it forward.

When we stop and think about past wars or conflicts that started and ended before ultimate invasion, the positive ending was the result of both sides applying the definition and principles of loving — listening, hearing, peaceful discussion, collaborating, cooperating and setting boundaries. In Canada, French and English live in tolerable peace. In Aruba, Arubans and Dutch live in tolerable peace. Same goes for the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and the Basques and Catalonians in Spain. That happened because of a mutual loving, peaceful, respectful approach to problem solving.

Fast forward to 2025 to the “earthquake” that has shattered and choked Canadians shockingly and disturbingly. It was completely void of any semblance of loving; but, overwhelmingly driven by selfishness, greed, envy, anger, jealousy and fear. 

Whether it is within families, schools, workplaces, communities or countries, wars and conflicts that do end well, bloom from the strength and power of loving, and of understanding the value and significance of peace, friendship, respect and unity. Tactics like bullying and intimidation are juvenile and so, so silly. It is totally shameful and embarrassing to live at a time where grown adults are giving themselves the very power that shames them and devalues them as people, and drags others with them. 

When it comes to big scale world impacting problem solving, let’s look at the moderately successful peace loving efforts of Greenpeace, Give Peace a Chance, Tree of Peace, Seeds of Peace, World Peace Foundation — these are a few examples of international efforts to make acquired learning and peace the most valued pillars of life and living on Earth, not only for humans, but for animals, plants, the climate and the air we breath. Their efforts have inched society forward.

Peace, acquired learning and loving go hand in hand  … it really isn’t rocket science…in fact it is not science at all —it is called harmony. It is called commonsense and  responsible decision making. It is called LOVE. Will this ever be learned?

Why is society ailing? Because LEARNED has not kicked in!