Overview
 
A love letter to your congressman (Text)
Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step
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A love letter to your congressman

In the peace movement, there is a lot of anger, frustration, and misunderstanding. People in the peace movement can write very good protest letters, but they are not so skilled at writing love letters. We need to learn to write letters to the Congress and the President that they will want to read, and not just throw away. The way we speak, the kind of understanding, the kind of language we use should not turn people off. The President is a person like any of us.
Can the peace movement talk in loving speech, showing the way for peace? I think that will depend on whether the people in the peace movement can “be peace.” Because without being peace, we cannot do anything for peace. If we cannot smile, we cannot help other people smile. If we are not peaceful, then we cannot contribute to the peace movement.
I hope we can offer a new dimension to the peace movement. The peace movement often is filled with anger and hatred and does not fulfill the role we expect of it. A fresh way of being peace, of making peace is needed. That is why it is so important for us to practice mindfulness, to acquire the capacity to look, to see, and to understand. It would be wonderful if we could bring to the peace movement our non-dualistic way of looking at things. That alone would diminish hatred and aggression. Peace work means, first of all, being peace. We rely on each other. Our children are relying on us in order for them to have a future.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step
Peace Pilgrim, Her Life and Work in Her Own Words (Document)
Peace Pilgrim walked back and forth across the United States for nearly three decades, covering more than 25,000 miles, string her vision of the transformative power of non-ideological, simple love. She never told details of her life that she considered unimportant, such as her original name, age, and birthplace.
J. Krishnamurti, On War (Document)
The First and Last Freedom, Question 10
J. Krishnamurti, Killing (Document)
Commentaries on Living, Third Series
Feodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (Document)
Part II, Book Six: The Russian Monk. 2. From the Life of the Elder Zosima. (c) Recollections of the adolescence and youth of the Elder Zosima while still in the world. The duel. 295-301.