(image from posters.ws)
PRESIDENT BARTLET: Did you know that two thousand years ago a Roman citizen could walk across the face of the known world free of the fear of molestation? He could walk across the earth unharmed, cloaked only in the words "Civis Romanis" -- I am a Roman citizen.
So great was the retribution of Rome, universally understood as certain, should any harm befall even one of its citizens. Where was Morris' protection, or anyone else on that plane? Where is the retribution for the families and where is the warning to the rest of the world that Americans shall walk this earth unharmed, lest the clenched fist of the most mighty military force in the history of mankind comes crashing down on your house!? In other words, Leo, what the hell are we doing here?
LEO: We are behaving the way a superpower ought to behave.
This dialogue, first televised on Oct. 6, 1999, may have been an exchange between a fictitious American president and his chief of staff in the political drama The West Wing, but its subject matter still holds true today, almost 16 years later.
It's not easy to exercise responsible restraint when we are attacked. Or it can be hard to stay calm and compassionate if you're an European politician with thousands of migrants showing up at your doorstep. Most are Syrian war refugees, some are economic migrants jumping on the bandwagon, and all are desperate for the better life that Europe promises.
I've felt conflicted about Europe's migrant crisis. At heart, we're all immigrants in some shape or form. Even if we still live and work in our homeland, chances are our forefathers left the land of their birth in search of a better or safer life for themselves and you. Being angry with immigrants is akin to being angry with a part of ourselves.
And yet, my mind turns to notions of patriotism, or of our identity with country and culture. America, for instance, has spent more than 200 years forging a sense of nationhood. European countries have been at it much longer, post-colonial Asian and African nations less so (there are tensions between ethnic loyalties and national identity that persist to this day). I empathize with nationalistic Europeans who are protesting this unexpected wave of foreign faces and unfamiliar customs. But my heart also warms at the humane welcomes that have been extended in support of these desperate migrants.
I needed some compasses to make sense of these contradictions. So I began my mini-quest for understanding on Sept. 21, which happens to be the International Day of Peace, established by the United Nations and first observed in 1982.
Why peace is confusing
The International Day of Peace is typically marked by ceasefires, humanitarian campaigns or public celebrations of sport and song. But what exactly does peace mean to us? When discussing the barriers to peace, we could each be thinking of issues as varied as gun violence, military interventions, gender-based violence, inner emotional and psychological turmoil or even an abusive boss. What aim or aims are we shooting for when we advocate for peace, and how can this advocacy be applied to a real-life situation like the current European migrant crisis, or when a superpower like America has to balance the instinctive urge to defend itself or its values with the responsibility to maintain post World War II global order? Is it passive or idealistic to be a peace advocate? Isn't it right and just to activate, as The West Wing's President Bartlet puts it, "the most mighty military force in the history of mankind" just because we can?
Some ways of defining peace
The word peace literally means "agreement making" (from the Latin pax + facere). Being a pacifist, or loving peace, is often an active state of being and should not be confused with being a passivist, i.e., someone who doesn't resist evil. According to philosophy professor Duane Cady, there are two sides to pacifism: the negative, anti-war, anti-violence side; and the positive, offering peaceful, nonviolent alternatives, side. The two sides of pacifism exist on a continuum -- most of us believe that going to war is justified under some circumstances, and most of us would participate in peaceful alternatives to war based on our comfort levels with activities like picketing, boycotts or civil disobedience.
Peace shows up in our life in many forms. Entire countries pursue peace through diplomacy with each other, by establishing free trade or by shoring up military power to act as a deterrent. Communities, organizations and teams champion peace through the rule of law, the art of negotiation and conflict resolution, by inculcating common human values and in maintaining systems that promote social justice and psychological well-being. Individually, we cultivate and exhibit inner peace through self-awareness, self-leadership and self-growth.
Each of these makes a positive difference to peace on this planet, so don't for a minute think that your individual acts of kindness don't matter. They do. (More on this later.)
How to harness peace holistically
You can add to the global mosaic of peace as an individual citizen, a concerned family member, a team leader, or if you hold a formal leadership role in your community or country. Here are some examples:
Read a contemporary book about pursuing peace
World-renowned negotiation specialist Dr. William Ury's Getting To Yes With Yourself offers six proven steps to get what you really want in life. As William writes in the book, he used to believe that the quest for inner peace was utopian and unrealistic, which is why he'd chosen to focus on the more practical matter of negotiation strategies for most of his career. More recently though, he has come to realize that he was perhaps unrealistic in believing that we could arrive at a sustained peace in the world without also doing the necessary work within ourselves. This book helps light the way.
Be inspired by peace activists
This article showcases 15 peace activists from the last century or so. Some have famously won the Nobel Peace Prize, while others have gone about their activism in a quieter but equally impactful way.
Be more thoughtful with our pacifism
When it comes to the current Syrian war and refugee crisis, it can be very tempting for our inner warrior to say "strike them right now." But military force is only one tool in our toolkit. And as Professor Cady discerns, if it does come down to exercising military force, we must be justified in going to war, we must exercise moral restraint in making war once we go (e.g. limit civilian casualties), and America should do so via an allied coalition to uphold its role as an exemplary superpower.
To my amateur eye it appears that, between evidence of the Syrian regime using chemical weapons and the unrelenting sea of fleeing refugees, we are justified in going to war. But given the fluid situation of 21st century urban warfare, it gets ever harder to limit civilian casualties. And war-weary citizens in coalition countries simply don't want their governments to participate.
Evidently, this doesn't give us much to stand on at the moment. There are no easy answers here, but I'm finding solace in beginning to ask the deeper questions, and in recognizing that there are many interests for each country to consider in the name of peace.
3 simple steps to invite peace into your life right now
The journey of a thousand peaceful miles begins with a single step. And peace begins with each of us. If thinking through the larger problems of world and regional peace give you a royal headache, let's end this article by focusing on things that we can control -- our own lives and how we show up for them. Here are three simple steps to personal peace.
1. Who will you make peace with? is this year's #PeaceDay video. Watch it and then make peace with a friend or loved one.
2. Read & reflect on this poem about peace.
3. Take this 30-day Inner Peace Experience and begin making peace with time, one of our most precious commodities.
Wisdom begins when you live a life of choice, not circumstance.
Choose peace.
Maya is an inner peace coach who helps leaders and organizations reinvent themselves with more self-awareness, grace and conviction. Enjoy her writing? Support it here. She's also the creator and host of the Executive Book Club Podcast, where she shares practical wisdom for soul-searching leaders.