We here at Peaceworks wish you and yours joyous, peaceful holidays, whichever ones you might celebrate. We hope, as it grows colder outside, that your home will be filled with the warmth of loving, caring family and friends.
We also hope that the holiday season can be a time of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All."
We know that our world today is rife with conflict; that massive commitments of money and human lives are continuously turned over to war and the preparation for war. What is saddest is that we have grown to take this for granted. Like a frog in a pot of water that is heated gradually, our society has, to a great extent, come to take an Orwellian state of Permanent War as the norm, even as it is destroying us.
Continuous war not only costs far too many lives and leaves so many more physically and psychologically scarred. It also threatens our very survival.
- It does this in part because it makes enemies, and this then feeds a cycle of violence.
- It also means failing to come to grips with the nuclear threat. By failing to abolish nuclear weapons in a universal, mutual and verifiable fashion, we make nuclear war, at some time in the future, far more likely.
- Throwing many hundreds of billions down a non-productive rat hole is perilous to our economy as well. By failing to invest in people, infrastructure and appropriate technologies, we do a disservice to the nation. By fighting these wars on borrowed money, we run up our children's and grandchildren's credit cards.
- Finally, by normalizing aggressive war-making and its tragic consequences for millions of people, we compromise our basic shared ethical framework. By accepting this illegal and immoral behavior on the part of our government, we become collectively complicit in the crimes.
On a more positive note, when we keep the vision of a peaceful future alive, and work for it day-in and day-out, we have a basis for hope. When we go beyond holding the vision to sharing it, we make an even greater difference.
We encourage you to share with others the notion of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All." And, when you do, in some kind way, let your loved ones know that this is not an idle cliche, but rather a statement of what is needed now for our collective survival and betterment. May this heartfelt affirmation of peace and justice for all spread far and wide.
