Peace: A NON-Non-Entity

Last week’s poem addressed some common misconceptions of Hope: that it is naïve, blind, or vain. Continuing the theme, this week I have tried to refute some mistaken notions about Peace.

Too often, Peace is seen as a non-entity: merely the absence of war or pain or unpleasantness. However, the Hebrew word, shalom, contains so much more than this. It is fullness and wholeness and prosperity and harmony and completion. It is a positive change, not just the departure of a negative.

And, like Hope, it is not the flimsy self-delusion some seem to think it is.

Like Hope, Peace takes a great deal of work.

I was struck by a similar contradiction in Stephen King’s On Writing this week:

“ . . . there was a view among student writers I knew at that time that good writing came spontaneously, in an uprush of feeling that had to be caught at once; when you were building that all-important stairway to heaven, you couldn’t just stand around with the hammer in your hand. . . .”

Later, after meeting his future wife and hearing her read her poetry:

“Her poem also made me feel that I wasn’t alone in my belief that good writing can be simultaneously intoxicating and idea-driven. . . . There was also a work-ethic in the poem that I liked, something that suggested writing poems (or stories, or essays) had as much in common with sweeping the floor as with mythy moments of revelation.”

Yes and Amen, Mr. King, sir.

Of course, there will be moments of glorious inspiration and intoxication. In Peace, in Hope, in writing, I have certainly been swept up (up, and away!) from time to time on a tide of wondrous joy.

But, there have also been plenty of moments of labor:

~ staring at the blinking cursor and willing myself to punch out words for another thirty minutes, even though I don’t “feel” anything;

~ choosing to lift my eyes and contemplate the visions that remind me why I Hope, even when weariness and complacency are dragging my head downwards;

~ prayerfully disciplining my thoughts towards gratitude and thanksgiving, that I may be a vessel of Peace instead of a drain on those around me.

I don’t know exactly what “working for Peace” looks like for you – or even for me, to be honest. I have just been meditating this week on the fact that I can – and need to – participate in the work.

Understand: I do not believe Peace is work only.

I believe it is a gift.