Getting Off Our High Horse ...

For Better or For Worse is written and created by Lynn Johnston

I love the comics. Every day I read my favorites, 'For Better Or Worse' being one of them. And what caught my eye came on the heel of conversations that have taken place across the Internet the past few days about acceptable conversations when working on peace issues. It made me realize that some of us need a serious reality check. We need to get off our high horses, down from our ivory towers and check ourselves at the door while engaging in the hard conversations that will take us through the storm to the calm shore on the other side.

It seems that we forget that we are learning from each other while engaging in conversations that aren't always easy and that sometimes the greatest lesson to be learned is that we don't know everything! No one person has all the answers. In this piece by cartoonist, Lynn Johnston, Elly is visiting with eldest daughter Elizabeth who is now teaching in the fictional First Nation province of Mtigwaki. Elly celebrates with Elizabeth's new family by atteding a powwow with the Ojibway community. At the end of a full evening, Elly realizes why this place has become dear to her own heart as it has for her daughter. The last line of the strip offers an insight for me as I continue to work at being a peacebuilder. Elly's epiphany is that while Elizabeth came there to teach, she also came there to learn.

I love the Pattersons. Although Canadian (Lynn is a Native), I see other Elly's here in America and even in my own family--which is African American. There are somethings common to all of us--difficult family situations, community relations-husband, wife trying to raise children in modern times. But, what is best about Lynn's characters is that they have real-life problems and she is not afraid to touch the hard subjects. In one series of cartoons, Michael's friend, Lawrence, tells Michael (Michel is Elly's eldest child) that he is gay. Lawrence is 17 years old. Michael urges his friend to tell his mother and ... well, it is a real story. What was interesting was the backlash that Lynn received in doing the series of cartoons. But, this is what she said, "I learned a great deal when we ran the Lawrence story. I learned that the comics page is a powerful communicator. I learned that people read our work and care about what we say. We all look forward every day to that one page in the paper where the small truths lie, hoping for a laugh, or a little sarcasm, or a punch line that will ease the burden just a bit. I learned that our work is taken seriously, and despite the reduction in numbers and size, the comics matter a great deal. Those of us who produce these panels have a responsibility to ourselves, our syndicates, our publishers, and our audience to use this space with conscience and with care."

We have an opportunity to lend our voices to the atrocities, conflicts, pain and sorrow that permeates our planet. But, we must do it with truth, integrity, compassion and grace. Oh, yeah -- humor never hurts. There are many cartoonists who attempt to comment on life and some are very successful. Others give me pause, but I read most of them. Of course, it is my opinion about which ones are the best as I am sure that many disagree with the cartoonists I so dearly love to read each morning. I can't wait to see what happens in the toon towns of 9 Chickweed Lane, Boondocks and Doonesbury (the last two controversies in their own right) and that's not all. I need to laugh. We all do. I'm hoping that we find that artist who will write the strip that takes peacebuilding into consideration. I wish I could draw. Hey, I wish I could write better.

We need to look at ourselves. This Decade has been a learning experience as we learn what it will take to build a culture of peace for the children of the world. I can't help but think that we've come a long way, and now I know why. When you stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us--Gandhi, King (to name a few), we have been given some mighty powerful tools for bringing this world into the 21st century and ending WAR! in all its forms. But, the paradigm shift has got to include ALL of the tools, including humor that also has commentary. I understand that this is just one glimpse of the world through another's viewpoint, and I am blessed to know that quietly I can agree or disagree with them. But, like with anything that stirs our consciousness into action, I can't sit on my hands any longer when Truth beckons me to partake of it.

In the coming months, we have to get ready for the rest of this Decade of Non-Violence. There is an urgency like never before. Sometimes you get a better sense of the world through the eyes of a cartoonist. I know that we get upset with the political cartoons that come our way, but it is good to listen, and yes, challenge, the thoughts behind them with thoughtful considerations of our own. We must be willing to challenge one another with our different views because unless ALL of our different views are allowed at the discussion table, we will continue to fight about them. Unless we "Hear" and "Heal," we will never get to the place in the sun that says, "The world is a place where we can all learn."

I'm hoping that we can listen to one another, laugh and pray together, but also, get real comfortable enough with one another to argue and disagree with truth and integrity. Once we do that, we can get to that place where we won't need to argue as much because we will finally learn how to trust.

Laugh a little. Even get angry, but don't throw punches. In fact, perhaps reading the comics today can give you some insight. Perhaps you can practice on some of the fictional charactes of toon town. Peace...for real!