We are an inventive lot, us people. But we are also incurably imitative. And there is no more worn out a method for gaining peace than asking for it directly. If asking could work, we would have a nuclear-free world, guns would be history, and sugar plums would fall from the sky on demand. That's overdrawn and what follows may strike you as utterly crazy, but bear with me. The premises may be correct and you may come up with a better execution.

The premises are: Asking for peace doesn't work. Large demonstrations for peace have not worked. Governmental efforts do not work unless there is rare unanimity which does not at present exist.

So on to my crazy notion.

Individuals

The world is moving to the individual. The signs are all over. Institutions are declining in trust. Corporations are losing loyalty. All we need to do is look at the street and we will see people with their heads down staring at god knows what on their very personal phones. I am not against this move to individuals, just arguing that it is happening.

The positive thing about the current seeming retreat is that it spurs the recovery of the authentic person we all are underneath everything else. I further guess that if we see that each of us is the center of power and action, that we can operate as individuals, we have a key to a much better future than we might imagine.

Singing to oneself

Eventually, we may all sing together but this article is about using a single word drawn from the earliest teaching of Jesus to be our individual lyric. The song I propose is, "Blessings, blessings, blessings, blessings, blessings on our way." I sing it to myself in various situations. You can make up your own song.

My thought is this. We become comfortable with this and begin to see how powerful it can be.

It establishes us as ambassadors. As peacemakers. As nomads of the universe. It is indirect. It is universal.

A new peace effort

I see a new peace effort as being part of an effort to declare violence taboo.

This is not a political act. It is a universal motion to adjust our mentality to the preclusion of extreme force as a viable means of reaching consent. We have never advanced without a struggle. When we win it is tolerance, helpfulness, and democracy have held sway.

Because these values can only rise within individuals and inform individual actions, their force is ultimately indicative. When enough individuals own them. We then can indicate where we stand.

When we become a blessing people we are placing ethics -- universal values -- at the center of our being. It is the task of all of us to make this happen. All ideas should be considered.
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