‘A toll on humanity’: How will we ever find peace if we can’t agree on a resolution? | Opinion

I just want to do something. I want everyone from our elected school board officials to the president to just do something. I want time to rewind to Oct. 6, 2023, and stop the events that have put us in this place of war, strife and discord. Of course, I would need to rewind time farther back than than that to truly stop the events that led us into the current war — a crisis that is growing in force and seems to be igniting and fueling violent conflict in so many places.

So, I asked a friend: What do I do? This wise woman told me, “Write a Peace Resolution. Write us into a better future and show us what we can be.” I am wont to follow the direction of wise women.

I wrote a Peace Resolution without a “resolution” — there was no ending, no call to action, no flourish to signal it is over. I can’t seem to find the resolved part of the Resolution. It’s out of my grasp. It’s there, beckoning at the edges of my imagination, my hope and my belief in the goodness of humanity. I just can’t reach into those depths to find the peaceful part. What does resolution look like right now?

My Peace Resolution has no home or place to be. I sent it to an organization, and the response was, “We don’t want to open that can of worms again.” I called my wise friend’s mother and she said, “We had a four-hour discussion on a Ceasefire Resolution and nothing passed, we just injured each other in the process. Please don’t pick at that wound again.”

So, my Peace Resolution is without a country. No one knows what to do with it. In the meantime, several folks who hold the power to make a real difference stick to canned speeches, declaring what side they are on as they are begged and beseeched to have awareness and compassion for all the dead — not just those on the side they have chosen for political gain.

Days drag on with more images of the ravages of wars; basic human needs such as medical care, water and food for the injured and dying denied and withheld as we move farther from the possibility of an ending or even an acknowledgment of the cost to all our humanity. The death toll rises to numbers that make our hearts clench into tight fists, all while I sit here writing a resolution about peace.

So here is my Peace Resolution without an ending. It may be “beautiful and heartfelt” as one supporter told me, but that is all my vision of peace will ever be if we don’t find an ending centered in basic care for all our fellow human beings.

Whereas, the (organization’s name) represents a wide range of constituencies that look, love and think differently, with differences reflected in how each of us vote at the ballot box, we are unified by our shared values and strong unyielding belief in the civil rights of all people near and far.

Whereas, we all believe individually and collectively that every life has value and no human’s worth is based on skin color, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation or geographic location. The loss of one life in warfare is a loss to our humanity, and we want to ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality in a healthy, peaceful environment.

Whereas, we recognize the toll on our planet as a toll on humanity, as all living things are interconnected and we are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including actions taken during warfare, and sustainably manage natural resources and take urgent action on war-related climate impact, so that the planet can support the needs of the present and future generations.

Whereas, we are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy peaceful, prosperous and fulfilling lives, and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature and other human beings.

Whereas, we are determined to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence. There can be no just and inclusive societies without peace, and no peace without just and inclusive societies.

Whereas, we envisage a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination; of respect for race, ethnicity and cultural diversity; and of equal opportunity permitting the full realization of human potential and contributing to shared prosperity. We envision a world which invests in its children and in which every child grows up free from violence and exploitation — a world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed and the ravages of warfare do not exist.

Whereas, we realize that the rising tide of global conflict impacts all peoples, especially those of Afghanistan, Colombia, Haiti, Iran, Israel and Palestine, Kosovo and the wider Balkans, Mali, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen. The global impact of harm to any peoples in these or any other countries endangers and harms all of our lives as we are interconnected and interdependent.

Whereas, the (organization’s name) calls on our members, our community and our local, state and national leaders to work toward ensuring all children grow up without violence, warfare, tribalism and exploitation and we use all measures possible to create and sustain a peaceful, safe, secure and stable existence for all people.

How do we find the resolution?

Dona Hare Price is a local activist, facilitator of Dismantling Racism From the Inside Out and writer.