Musings: On Armistice, Peace

It's my favorite kind of weather, with the trees sighing and shaking, rain splattering against windows, squalls floating across the mountains like lacy curtains opening and closing, all driven by a ferocious wind that reminds us nature is bigger and tougher than all of us, though not our enemy.

“Happy Veteran's Day,” I said to my favorite kupuna, 95-year-old Miss Gennii, one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard, back in World War II.

“I remember when it was called Armistice Day,” she said with some distress.

Most people don't. Most people don't remember the horrific “War to End All Wars,” which left 20 million dead, nor do they remember the ceremony on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 that officially marked its end, at least on Europe's western front.

Nor do they remember the resolution that Congress passed on June 4, 1926:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed.

[This day] should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations."

Another act of Congress, approved May 13, 1938, made Nov. 11 a federal holiday, "dedicated to the cause of world peace.”

But all that changed after the slaughter of World War II, which left 50 to 70 million people dead, followed closely by the Korean War. In 1954, during the height of the “cold war,” Armistice Day and its crucial emphasis on peace became Veterans Day, a time to honor everyone who participated in military service.

Which is fine, they should be honored for their service, their sacrifice.

But in an era when the U.S. is still waging a full-on hot war in Afghanistan and drone wars in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and who knows where else; fighting its own citizens in the decades-old war on drugs, and engaged in an unending battle with a nebulous enemy under the catch-all “war on terror,” don't we need at least one day dedicated to peace — to the attainment of peace through good will and mutual understanding — more urgently than ever before?

In the absence of an official holiday or celebration, I'll share these words from Peace Pilgrim, a woman who “lived to give, rather than get,” and walked thousands of miles over 28 years, spreading a message of peace:

"When an evil is attacked, the evil mobilizes, although it may have been weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives it validity and strength. When there is no attack, but instead good influences are brought to bear upon the situation, not only does the evil tend to fade away, but the evildoer tends to be transformed. The positive approach inspires; the negative approach makes angry. When you make people angry, they act in accordance with their baser instincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people, they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally. Also, anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes has a life-long effect.

Or as she stated, even more succinctly:

"This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, 
and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love."

Because, of course, world peace begins within.

Mahalo to my friend Mollie Osborn for sharing Peace Pilgrim's book with me.