The Years that Ask Questions ...

The Decade of Nonviolence ...

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”

Zora Neale Hurston

“,,, years that ask questions ...”

I have often said that the Decade of Nonviolence is a time “when the impossible becomes possible; when the possible becomes probable; and the probable becomes inevitable.” This first decade of the 21st Century seemingly brought more questions than answers and I have to say that it was often frustrating. This week I spoke with a group of young people at a private school in Houston and one young woman challenged me because as she put it, “I was expecting more answers to the questions I had about peacemaking.” Oddly enough, I remember saying quite clearly that at this stage in my peacemaking life I have more questions than answers. And I'm finding that giving people answers is not the purpose in being a peacemaker. Even on my show The Peace Hour, I found myself sharing the stories of peace in action, which is some ways might be considered answering some of the questions on how we do this or that, but more it was an opportunity for discovery. Why does it work? How does it work? How can we get others to create more of the same (i.e., positive, integrity-filled, helpful models of peace)? I do now believe that this Decade was a chance to look at all that we've accomplished and didn't accomplish these past 20 centuries and question why or why not. These were the years of questioning.

 

“... and years that answer.”

And now we must move forward and answer some of the hard questions, the hardest question of all being how do we live together on this planet in harmony? The answer. With careful consideration for one another. Simple answer. No, I don't think so. Within that answer is no simple formula nor does it leave you with all questions answered, but it is the answer. We have to work at building a world that we can live in and we have to do it with due diligence knowing that we can't wait and that without having this answer as the ultimate answer for all of the questions, we cannot work out how we do it. We must first believe in the answer. Then we must do everything in our power to see that it happens.
     These are the years of answers. We have assessed where we are this decade and here's what we do know. We know that “War is not the answer for the world today.” We know that like the late Howard Zinn espoused, “Every war is against children.” What other answers make sense? Still, I know that eliminating war completely will take time (although we must make the decision to do it first) and I know that peace is NOT the absence of conflict. We must instead learn alternatives to war (the answers) and learn how to handle conflict without destroying one another. I also think that the answer comes from deciding to be a peacemaker. Then after making the decision, work on yourself because if you're a peacemaker whose goal is to change the world, you have to start with yourself.
     I want to thank my friend, Andrea, for reminding me of this quote. When you ponder on this quote, also think of the person who quoted it. Some might say that Zora's life bears scrutiny. She didn't succeed in life. She died a pauper. For those who might argue this, here is the answer. You can't argue with truth and you can't judge a person by how big his or her bank account is when he or she dies. If that's the case, I guess we should discard the words of Jesus, Rosa Parks, Gandhi, King and others who struggled in this life to harness the power of humanity for the earth. If you dissect their lives, some might say they failed. But, we're living the years that answer because they dared to ask the questions in the first place.
     Peace.