peace4uandme
peace4uandme
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Nov 12, 2009 (16 years) |
- | 4 | 3 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Nov 12, 2009 (16 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 4
- Replies created
- 3
Bio
My name is Jim and I want the same thing you want – to live a peaceful life of freedom, engaging with my family and friends, and maybe making a contribution to society. It sounds so simple, but having peace and freedom is an impossibility for some people on this planet of ours.
I was fortunate to be born in the United States in New Jersey in 1954 to a nice middle-class Italian-American family. My two older sisters, Bernadette and Monica, and I had more than enough. Mom loved to cook and she was able to stay at home while Pop ran his art gallery. Pop made sure I had interesting experiences and an education that would allow me to make choices in my life. I took peace and freedom for granted as any young kid whose thoughts were mainly about having fun.
My family’s idyllic existence was sorely shaken when Bernadette was diagnosed with a rare swift cancer in 1966 that took her from us only a few months later. She was just 16. The neighbors tried to be helpful and there was extended family always nearby, but nothing could lessen the pain of such a tragic loss. I watched helplessly as my parents cried. I saw how it affected Monica. It wasn’t until I expanded my mind in various ways that I began to grieve for Bernadette and regretted what I felt were missed opportunities to be a loving brother.
Meanwhile, the number of soldiers killed in action (KIA) in Vietnam was being reported nightly on the news at dinner tables across the nation. We were faced with the faraway images of innocent children starving or being maimed, their homes burned, their families killed. The young people here at home, especially those eligible for the draft, were getting riled up. Political rebellion was suddenly a part of the emerging culture and demonstrations shaped the landscape.
I watched all of this and wondered why anyone would want to waste even one second of the short time we have on this earth at war when we could all live in peace and harmony if each of us tried to be nice every day. I thought of all of those families who were losing sons, brothers, and husbands daily in the senseless fighting going on. I felt sorrow for those distant foreign mothers who could do nothing as their children died right before their eyes. I knew what it was like to lose a loved one. I could not fathom the magnitude of loss caused by war. It was then I realized it wasn’t the citizens of these countries who wanted war; it was our governments who found reasons for it and our families and friends were the ones paying the ultimate price.
That was a long time ago. I went through an introspective period, grew somewhat spiritually, and sought out the leather belt making, music loving, mellow ex-hippies who’s lifestyle I felt most comfortable with. I had been too young for the peace rallies and be-ins, but I tried to make up for lost time. Unfortunately, the momentum was gone. The ex-hippies went on with their adult lives, some joining the very corporations that were involved with war support. I also had to move on. Life happens. I met a girl, got married, had a daughter, got divorced, and struggled like everyone else on the treadmill. Many years later I married again, adopted pets, continued working for the house, and wore myself out until I was too tired to think beyond my front door.
Then I had back surgery. I gave up working, fishing, bowling, and golf and spent a lot of time alone at home, watching too much news, and thinking. I dusted off a previously unpublished essay about my pleasant upbringing, which won the 2009 Arizona Authors Literary Contest. I started to write more essays and articles. I kept coming back to the same idea; it would be so easy to achieve world peace if each of us on this shrinking globe tried to be nice to one another. I know most of us want world peace, but we get caught up in our routines, but we don’t have to go out and stage demonstrations. We could start with small kindnesses at home, in our neighborhoods, at work, or wherever we travel. Maybe it will catch on.
I wanted to make it easy for everyone to participate in the peace process. I hope we will succeed together through The Peace Journal Project. Check it out at www.thepeacejournal.com.
Peace to you and your families.
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