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| Thursday, 17 October 2002 |
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Peace within 'Peace within, makes beauty without.' (English proverb) Many international air travellers talk about a man with a toothy grin who after the 'fasten your seat belts' sign has been put off, walks over from seat to seat and greets each passenger whatever his nationality, with the words, "Hi I'm Jimmy Carter, am I glad to meet you!" How wonderful that the same man with that same toothy grin has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! Carter was one of the few presidents who did not win a second term. He lost against Ronald Reagan, who with his B grade, film star looks and cow boy bravado won the votes of the American electorate. James Earl Carter however did not go into a sulk or into hibernation, he founded the Carter Centre in Atlanta and went about becoming a broker for peace. During his presidentship itself he brought peace between two sworn enemies, Israel and Egypt. A peace that has lasted till today. After that Carter promoted peace talks between Ethiopia and the Eritrean rebels. He headed observer teams to oversee general elections in Panama and Nicaragua, led a delegation to Haiti, to persuade the military junta to step aside and then conducted a self assigned peace mission to North Korea to defuse a potential nuclear dispute. But if you ask those air travellers whose hands Jimmy Carter has held, they will tell you not about the handshake they got from an ex president nor that of a man who has won the Nobel prize, but a of a simple man who filled with a peace that came from within himself. A peace that seemed to come from a cauldron of warmth and love. A love that automatically spread to those around. Jimmy is not just another Kissinger or a Robin Cooke who did or are still doing a peacemakers job, for the sake of showing the world their negotiating skills, yet who lead personal lives that are in shambles. Carter's rhetoric is not clever, his discussions not cunning and his settlements come from the heart..! 'Peace demands a mentality and a spirit which, before turning to others, must first permeate him who wishes to bring peace. Peace is first and foremost personal, before it is social' (Pope Paul VI)'Peace is not made at the council tables, or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.' (Herbert Hoover) I hesitate to write the next few lines but I must do so to amplify the point I wish to make: John Newton wrote a great hymn which is sung even to this day-'Glorious things of Thee are spoken'. When he wrote this wonderful song, he was in actual fact sitting in the sunshine of a ships deck, while in the hatches below slaves were groaning in anguish, shackled and being taken to be sold in some hellhole in London or America. He talked about God's love and peace while there was agony and misery just below him, and he was doing nothing about it..! Didn't he hear those cries from down below? Why didn't he tackle the problem below before he told the world of a solution above? Broker a peace when you have a peace within, till then remain silent and work hard at bringing that peace within yourselves..! |
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