Peace, Love, and Understanding

 

On my Monday morning drive from Cedar Rapids to Boone this past week, I was treated to and inspired by a 1979 gem performed by Elvis Costello & the Attractions called, “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding.”

 

Peace, love and understanding.  Seems like a simple enough concept.  And seems like a worthy enough goal, doesn’t it?  Peace, love and understanding.  Imagine a home and a family with it.  Imagine our schools with it.  Imagine our communites, our country and our world with it.  Imagine every relationship with it. 

 

I gotta be honest with you.  I’m tired of the conflict.  I’m tired of the hostility.  I’m tired of the insults.  I’m tired of the lack of civility.  I’m tired of the, “I’m right and you’re wrong” approach to everything.  I’m tired of the violence.  Where does it end?  When does it end?  It makes me ask, like Elvis Costello did in his song, “Where are the strong?  Where are the trusted?  Where is the harmony?”

 

It’s easy to see the chaos on the news.  The Ukraine, Korea, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan.  Chicago, LA, New York, Texas.  It’s easy to see it, consider it far away and take false comfort in thinking it won’t touch us.  We can look from afar and be thankful it’s not us.  But then we listen to the angry shouts at school board and town hall meetings, the nastiness coming from the stands, the slurs used to describe those different than us, the vitriol in social media posts, and we realize its closer than we think.

 

I challenge us today to zoom in.  Yes, I want peace, love and understanding in the world.  But if that is ever going to happen, it has to start with each of us and it has to start in our own back yards.  I’ve been a part of Iowa since I came here from Philly to go to Simpson College in 1973.  I appreciate Iowa and am proud to have raised a family here.  And while there is daily evidence of “Iowa Nice,” unfortunately, even Iowa is not immune to the conflict, the hostility, the insults and the violence.  We do have beautiful people here doing beautiful things for each other.  We do have people doing amazing things with service.  We do have people who promote peace, love and understanding.  But how long are the rest of us going to leave that up to others or simply hope things get better?  Where are the strong?  Where are the trusted?  Where is the harmony?

 

Despite what our world tells us, it is possible to disagree and be civil.  It is possible to compete and respect our opponent.  It is possible to dislike something without attacking it.  It is possible to not get our way without lashing out.  Being the loudest, the crudest, the most insulting or the most hostile doesn’t make us the most right.  Worse yet, it makes us considerably less than who we are called to be. 

 

So where do we start?  Here’s an easy place…with words.  We used to hear that “sticks and stones can break my bones but names will never hurt me.”  That’s baloney.  Some words are meant to hurt and do a pretty good job of it.  Some words are meant to generalize, marginalize and depersonalize with the goal of making it ok to demean and mistreat others.  Take a look at history to see where that leads.  At a presentation to students when I was a high school principal, we heard a stern warning from survivor Dr. Jacob Eisenbach during his account of the Holocaust – it all started with hate and intolerance.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that if we understand the power of words and we are intentional about how we use them, we can create an environment in our communities where everyone feels respected.  The beauty of this world lies in its diversity.  Diversity in appearance.  Diversity in heritage.  Diversity in interests.  Diversity in beliefs.  Diversity in ideas.  It’s time to recognize that.

 

I often think of the quote from George Bernard Shaw, and referenced by the late Bobby Kennedy: “Some see things as they are and ask, ‘Why?’  I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’”

 

Where are the strong?  Where are the trusted?  They and it are in the classrooms and halls of our schools, in the offices of our administrators, in the locker rooms and competition areas of our athletic teams, in the rehearsal spaces of our performers.  And as school leaders, we have the power to lead change.  We have an incredible power – the power to choose.  We have the power to be strong.  We have the power to instill trust.  We have the power to create harmony.  We have the power to take respect to the world.  Let’s lead by example.  Let’s be strong enough to do the right thing.  Let’s be people who can be trusted.  Let’s be the ones who create harmony in our homes, our schools, our communities, and our world. I’ll pose the same question to you as I did frequently to students:  “If not us, then who?  If not now, then when?” 

 

What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding?  Nothing, that’s what.