People Want Peace So Much

Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke the words that are the beginning of this song in London in 1959: I wonder when governments will listen to the people? Or, I wonder when the people will insist that their governments “get out of the way” and let them have the peace they want.

It’s a round and it is truly a round between governments and people.

What would it be like to have peace? How long has it been since there has been peace around the world, and no war going on anywhere?

Google that one——but it certainly isn’t now.

So get ready to insist.

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Can you be one? A peacemaker?

I love the last verse: Move toward the vision of peace now created. Stands in its center, move toward the dream. Touch the stranger. Banish the fear and feel wholeness, healing, there is a singing: Blessed are those who make peace for they shall be called the children of God. May I be one of them!

It’s almost a prayer. The last line is a prayer but it’s also a word of determination. A word of commitment.

In my book it promises: I will love my neighbor—even the one across the world that threatens me. I will love my enemy and yet in a way since I love my neighbor I will not call anyone enemy. I will take action wherever I am that is peaceful. I will join with others. I will BE peace.

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WOMANSONGS AND PEACE SONGS

The songs on the CD “Womansongs, Peace Songs and I Didn’t Know” are now available via CD Baby and distributed on I-Tunes, and Spotify.

Amazingly these songs were written and recorded in the 80’s. By now I expected some of them to be irrelevant. But many are about the human condition and consequently they are still with us today.

We Need Plowshares—–Reconciliation is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. As it was once spoken in Biblical times, it is now more than ever—time to beat the swords into plowshares. For it is time to decide against war—anymore.

People Want Peace So Much—–In 1959 in London, Dwight D. Eisenhower said the first 23 words of this song. I wonder when governments will listen to the people? Or, I wonder when the people will insist that their governments “get out of the way” and let them have the peace they want.

Peacemakers—–The talk of peace is lofty, but the action of peace is specific, beginning with me. The excitement of it is that as each of us begins to live in concrete ways as a peacemaker, the fears begin to fade and we feel the healing and the wholeness. Blessed are those who make peace for they shall be called the children of God. May I be one of them.

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I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana and as a child and young person Memorial Day on each May 30th meant little to me except that it was the day of the Indianapolis 500—the big auto race.

But in these four or five days of posts about Memorial Day and its subjects, I want to share with you a hymn I wrote years ago about peace. I have now come to believe that wars do not accomplish peace. In Zinn’s book (posted yesterday), he quotes A. J. Muste, the pacifist, who said in 1941, “The problem after a war is with the victor. He thinks he has just proved that war and violence pay. Who will now teach him a lesson?”

The Gospels tell me that the peacemakers are blessed and shall be called the children of God. My hope is that I can do small things, persistent things, and perhaps prophetic things to make peace. Even that I write a song that encourages persons to be peacemakers.

—

Peacemakers

—

Where is the hope in the midst of the conflict,

Turmoil surrounds us, Tensions increase,

Trust has vanished,

People despair and feel helpless, hopeless,

There is a whisper:

Blessed are those who make peace

For they shall be called the children of God,

May I be one of them.

—

Deep in each person the spirit lies waiting,

Dormant, yet ready, Waiting for life.

Flames rekindled

Bring forth a birthing of goodness, caring,

There is a shouting:

Blessed are those who make peace

For they shall be called the children of God,

May I be one of them.

—

Move toward the vision of peace now created,

Stand in its center, Move toward the dream,

Touch the stranger,

Banish the fear and feel wholeness, healing,

There is a singing:

Blessed are those who make peace

For they shall be called the children of God,

May I be one of them.

—

© Copyright 1982 by Ann Freeman Price

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