“No basta rezar, hacen faltas muchas cosas para consequir la paz” are lyrics to a powerful song. My translation is “Do not stop praising/praying/raising up, there is never a lack of things that need done to secure peace”. The message of this song is so clear, that we must keep trying, by any means necessary, to achieve peace. So what is peace? Merriam Webster’s Dictionary (2015) provides many definitions for the word peace: 1) a state of tranquility or quiet as (a): freedom from civil disturbance or (b): a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom, 2) freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions, 3) harmony in personal relations, and 4) (a) a state or period of mutual concord between governments or (b) a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity.
A few words stick out- tranquility, freedom, harmony, and concord. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary (2015) rightfully does not describe peace as an absence of differences or a unidimensional form of existence. Differences exist; people are different for a variety of reasons. This reality is beautiful when diversity, differences, differing opinions, and multidimensionality come together in a state of concord, harmony, and tranquility in a way that guarantees freedom for all. Is that possible? Deep down inside, I believe yes, otherwise I would be a poet hiding in the woods like Thoreau. Or creating art with life’s throwaway objects and cans of spray paint in a small and hidden studio in some over-crowded city. Or even pouring over the romance languages and savoring each new word I learn to say, hear, or speak. So I will not stop praising/praying/raising up. I will do everything I can to secure peace because I believe in it. Let me say my heart goes out to France and ISIS simultaneously. The ability to inflict terror and the experience of terror are both states to be pitied. I wonder, what can we learn from this terrorist attack? What can we learn so that people will never stop praying for and working towards peace? Religious fighting has always confounded me, especially when it involves Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. From my reading and understanding of religious texts, it is all the same God simply manifesting itself in a variety of ways to connect with and be revered by people. This is explicitly true and not simply part of my beliefs or understanding, for the three religions previously mentioned. Same God, different prophets, rituals, and ways of praising. I say then let’s never stop praising, there’s never a lack of things needing to be done to secure peace. The absence of peace simply cannot be explained through religious premises. One must ask, what is going on politically or economically? Are politics and economy actually separate entities? As an undergraduate student, I aspired to be a Foreign Service Officer and even signed up to take the exam twice. Something always held me back from actually showing up to complete the exam. However, I was inspired by the European Union’s decades of sustained “peace” on European soil, none-the-less, and a commitment by many countries to replace a national identity with a European one. Aha naïve me said, Europe had succeeded in creating a model the whole world could follow, a model where national differences could be set aside in order to achieve a World identity. The more I learned about politics as intrinsically tied to economy, the more I came to understand that change could not happen politically. The European Union’s large expansion to include unprepared countries and their failing economies during my undergraduate years, further solidified my synonymous understanding of politics and economics as an opposing force to peace. So where does that leave us today, after such a horrific terroristic attack? It leaves us in a state of never ending prayer and praising to raise up peace. It asks us to set aside our differences, might I add appreciate those differences, instead of making joke or terror out of them. It requires a reminder of what happens when Europe exists in a state of discord… the whole world suffers. “Do not stop praising/praying/raising up, there is never a lack of things that need done to secure peace”. “No basta rezar, hacen faltas muchas cosas para consequir la paz”.
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