Peace
How can we have lasting peace in the world? Teach our children to let love guide their actions, not money.
Sounds simple. It is, but it takes awareness first.
Let’s do a brief exploration of The United States Institute of Peace (USIP). “Making Peace Possible” is their motto. Overjoyed with gratitude that this organization exists and they are doing wonderful things for the world since 1984. Look ‘em up! I’m happy to have found out about them, and I intend to learn from their peacemaking efforts!
When it comes to tools for countering violent extremism, the USIP says, “Extremist causes germinate in communities seeded with grievances of marginalization or exclusion. They grow and turn to violence where peaceful solutions seem elusive. While policing or military force aim to contain or defeat such movements, these tools cannot dry up the emotional and social wellsprings of radicalization - and indeed can worsen the problem. Any real resolution of violent extremism requires a peacebuilding approach.”
As we’re seeing today, not only “can” these approaches “worsen the problem” they “do worsen the problem!”
Here’s what the USIP is forgetting: The basic needs of life. More on that later, first we need a little explaining.
If you have a conflict, it was caused by events. If you follow the trail of events leading to the conflict, and go back further, you’ll find the root cause eventually. You might be quick to assume it is due to religious differences, land squabbles, revenge, money, etc...That’s all fine and good but let’s keep in mind the basic necessities of a peaceful community. Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter. There are more, but let’s start here for now. If people don’t have the basics, they will bring conflict often leading to violence. Wouldn’t you? Put yourself in their shoes. We have to be able to see things from their perspective.
Look at the people on the USIP International advisory board. You have some brilliant minds, internationally acclaimed speakers, CEOs, Board Members, Veterans, Entrepreneurs, Congressmen and women. Big decision people. It’s a huge list and you could read about their credentials for weeks!
All those amazing people forgot the basics? Or maybe they thought someone else would handle that? You haven’t seen a hangry husband if you think you can have peace without Food, clothing, water, shelter. It seems silly to remind the CEO of a multimilliondollar corporation, but let’s just take a quick look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs.
Bottom of the triangle (or pyramid) is the most basic, and also the largest part of the triangle. Food. Physiological needs like sleep. Maintaining body temperature. Oxygen.
Above that: Health, safety and security, freedom from worry.
Level 3: Love and Belonging
Above that: Esteem, accomplishment, Honor, respect, prestige
The top: Self Actualization, serving others, creativity, growth, being a good person.
The USIP is filled with self-actualized people that forgot the bottom of the triangle, and it’s the most basic fundamental part! A peaceful community is not filled with people deprived of the bottom 4 levels of needs.
What should the USIP do to reconcile? Provide the basic needs to ALL who seek violence as a response to their current conditions. This isn’t missile science, it’s mostly food. But not slim fast or other processed crap. Give them fresh, delicious, healthy food. Give them enough to cook big, wonderful, culturally-inspired meals for the entire community. THEN help them set up community gardens and food forests everywhere possible, to create future short-term and long-term abundant sources of food in every town village city. THEN TEACH them to become mostly self-sufficient by harvesting clean water, creating rich soil, saving/trading seeds, and growing a huge diversity of plants and animals.
These actions will help anyone jump up maslows hierarchy. When basic needs are met, loving kindness comes more naturally, and you increase the potential for self-actualization.
Of course, abundant delicious organic homegrown food isn’t the only key to a happy, peaceful life. But it is the first basic step that “can” be solved. It won’t be solved by the thinking of those listed on the USIP International advisory board (although I hope it does!). Not even Mr. Glickman has any extensive sustainable gardening experience. The USIP should hire organic food distributors, logistics experts, THEN teachers and permaculture designers and Mark Shepard.
Violent Extremists should trade in their weapons for a lifetime supply of the basic essentials. It won’t happen overnight. Nonetheless, in the process of establishing these essentials, they will automatically feel more secure, build community bonds, develop respect and honor. Then the USIP can learn from them, and we can all grow together!
Efforts to resolve conflicts are going to be tailored for each situation. The complexity of each issue will require constant adaptation, but we can’t forget to satisfy the basic needs of life. There are ways to build a level of resilience that most people in the U.S. haven’t ever seen. Imagine (1) teaching this resilience to our“enemies”! (2) having them teach us how to build more resilient ecosystems! These should be the goals of USIP, not to “prevent, mitigate, and resolve.” We have the responsibility to design better global relationships. As Neri Oxman says, “technology catches up with the imagination, and so, therefore imagination has responsibility.”
We don’t need more business opportunities abroad. We need to build trust with people unlike us, by showing them love and respect. When we show up with weapons, it reinforces their deeply ingrained beliefs that the U.S. is full of war mongers. When we show up with food and a cooperative attitude, it can be the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship.
The USIP is proud of their partners and the wider impact they can attain. They know that peace strengthens the security of the U.S. They claim to test “new ways of addressing challenges” and “share...knowledge, techniques, experiences, and resources to help others build peace.” They value being “curious, creative, and agile.”
What better way to prove these values than to try the simple solutions I’ve outlined above?
We have the resources. The USIP is not a government organization, but maybe the U.S. Military can share a tiny portion of the U.S. Military budget.
The U.S. spends about $1Trillion every year on militarism. Imagine using 1/4 of that money to build sustainable agriculture infrastructure throughout the neediest parts of the world. $250billion for an experiement to see if meeting humans’ basic needs abundantly can produce a more peaceful world. Again, no canned food or processed BS. The U.S. is already the wealthiest country so let’s lovingly share the bounty.
We can change the way we approach the most violent areas in the world and help them establish self-sustaining human settlements. A one-time gift. No strings (or weapons) attached. A peace offering. You can get a LOT done with $250billion, just a 1/4 of one year’s U.S. Military spending. That money will be saved later on anyway, when we realize we don’t need offshore military bases anymore.
Let’s do the math. Assuming you have a little land, you can set up a community garden/farm/pasture to feed 1,000 people for life for $20,000 with modern design if everyone chips in a little labor.
$250billion budget divided by $20,000 per settlement is equal to 12,500,000 settlements of 1,000 people each. That’s 12.5 billion people that can be fed for life, using sustainable agricultural practices, permaculture principles, and advanced gardening techniques, uniquely designed to serve their communities. Have you checked the world poplulation stats lately? Even if the numbers are off by a few digits, anyone reading this should be disheartened by the extremely wasteful military spending and unimaginative peace-building strategies still widely accepted by our leaders today. We can do so much better for humans on Earth! There really is plenty for everyone with modern design strategies and technology.
The obvious lesson here is that world peace can be attained, but our wasteful government and peace-making organizations have yet to prove through their actions that they know how to create a world guided by love. When will our leaders wake up?