Peace begins with you and me

It feels strange to be far away from my home (America, Minnesota, St. Paul) when so much is happening there. Living in a rural village in Ethiopia I could easily choose to be shut off from current events around the world, but I've always been the type of person who wants to know what's going on even if it's painful. I have a few news apps on my phone so when the network is functioning I'm able to read some news stories from America or elsewhere in the world. It is impossible to make sense of all the craziness. Feeling disconnected is one of the challenges of Peace Corps service that I struggle with the most.

"If they mean to have peace, let it begin here." - Sargent Shriver, the first Peace Corps Director

Here. H e r e. With me. With you. With 'us'. With 'them'. Wherever we happen to be. I don't believe that means putting a bandaid on things and moving on. I believe it means having the difficult and uncomfortable conversations; the ones that are meaningful and powerful because they are difficult and uncomfortable. It means slowing ourselves down, being strong enough to admit that we don't have all the answers, that we actually need each other in order to find solutions. To me it means embracing a willingness to see things from another's point of view - to open our eyes, minds and hearts wider. And wider still. We need to hear each other's voices which requires listening, paying attention. Can I listen and genuinely hear what you have to say? Am I willing to give my full attention? Am I willing to bear witness to your reality? And somehow, through it all, managing to find peace within ourselves as we examine hard truths about the way our society is set up, about things that we are taught to believe that we don't question, about pain that we perpetuate quite often unconsciously, about our role and responsibility in all of it.

"Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us." - Sargent Shriver

We are all different and yet we are all the same. It's not wrong to acknowledge our differences - we have our own cultures and traditions, unique experiences, thoughts, feelings, ways of being - sharing our differences is an opportunity to learn from each other. As an American living in Ethiopia for the past 7 months, I am intimately aware of my 'difference' and 'otherness'. But what I am struck by is the way that I am treated as the same. When the landlady prepares a plate of food for me, brings it to my room and tells me "nyaadhu" (eat!), when I'm walking past my neighbor's door and she calls out for me to come in and share buna (coffee) with her, when I'm walking down the street and a woman I don't even know calls out to welcome me into her home, when the neighbor boy calls my name 20+ times a day, everyday, to show me something that he finds interesting because he wants to share his world with me, when the staff at the health center invite me to join in their events and activities even though we don't fully share a common language - so I don't actually know what's going on - but yet I feel included. It certainly feels to me like they accept my differences *and* see my sameness. I have the same wants and needs; I'm just like them, only different. 

I wonder if minorities (or those who on the surface we might see as 'other') in America are made to feel the same way? Knowing the answer I am actually asking myself: how can I pay forward the gift that I've been given? 

"We are not separate beings, you and I 

We are different strands of the same being

You are me and I am you

and we are they and they are us

This is how we're meant to be,

each of us one

each of us all

You reach out across the void of Otherness to me

and you touch your own soul!"

- Leonard Peltier

I wonder how things would be different if all the energy that is spent in conflict, arguing, vilifying, spreading hate, and dividing ourselves was instead directed towards curiosity, exploration, reflection, and a genuine interest in finding common ground?

'It is possible.' Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Sending love and peace from me to you...