One works and strives for peace Not only because one thinks peace is possible But because one knows that someone must make a stand for peace
There are many Who speak, stridently, about the inevitability of war And make a stand for being "realistic" about human nature
This stand justifies The actions of those who would continue to promote war As being necessary in order to defend ourselves in a "dangerous" world
It is clear That the world has gone along with this justification for a long, long time And the results are over a hundred million dead in the last century
Someone must speak out For to remain silent would be tantamount to confirming to the entire universe That we are incapable of even conceiving of being any better than we are today
Jesus Christ and the Buddha Two of the greatest promoters of peace to ever walk this good earth Dedicated their lives to peace, despite their acute knowledge of human nature
One must stand for peace Like the lone figure who blazes a trail to a possible future And places a marker there for the rest to see and make their way to
These lone figures May be scoffed at, as they make their lonely journeys through the jungles of hate In search of a place to plant their markers of peace for those who come after them
They may never see The fruits of their labors or the results of their actions But they may, someday, be remembered as the only sane ones in a world gone mad
And if the world Never finds the peace that they were compelled to strive for At least the universe will know that there were those who left a marker for peace
At least the universe will know That the kernel of something higher did lie in the breast of some Waiting to be born when humanity was ready to find it's way to peace
And perhaps Far from here, in some distant solar system, on some distant planet Someone living there will find the peace that we could not discover
Jim Bush is a 61 year old, Vietnam-era veteran, currently living in Katy,Texas. He was raised in a military family. His father received the Silver Star for directing troops while under air attack at Clark Field in the Phillipines, survived the Bataan Death March, and spent three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp. He also received the Purple Heart for wounds received while a POW. Jim served as an army photographer in Okinawa and Korea. In 1987 he traveled to the war zones of Nicaragua with a veteran's group dedicated to stopping the Contra War.
