Peace comes to Red Bluff

Currently we are living in a world at war. We see it happening live on the nightly news ever more frequently these days. Perhaps we know of someone fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, a son or daughter, brother or sister, father, mother, husband, wife or someone very close to the suffering of war. It is definitely not a peaceful feeling! Most of us feel helpless to make it go away.

There is also a looming threat of a nuclear war happening somewhere in the world. This is not a peaceful thought, and it perturbs our minds and hearts even to imagine that this type of disaster could happen here or anywhere in the world.

Violence in our personal lives, whether we’re young or old, also creates a feeling of the absence of the peace we aspire to. This personal violence causes mental and physical suffering in ourselves and in those close to us.

Think for a moment of the violence that is produced when we discriminate against others because of their race, their sex, their religious beliefs, for economic or moral reasons, or when we mentally or physically do another harm. Treating others as we would like to be treated is a helpful attitude to diminish personal and social violence. It is a great tool for creating peace in your life.

War and other forms of violence are of great concern for people everywhere; but, you may ask, what can be done?

Currently a World March for Peace and Nonviolence is moving across the globe, participating in rallies, conferences, marches and meetings with dignitaries, including presidents of countries, the Pope, and Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Berlin, all to raise the awareness of the nuclear threat and a call for peace and nonviolence globally.

Red Bluff is one of a few cities in the United States the march will visit on its long journey that concludes on Jan. 2, 2010, in Punta de Vacas, Argentina, high in the Andes mountains. What an opportunity we have here!

At noon on Dec. 2, at Red Bluff’s Park of Study and Reflection, there will be an event in which participants from Redding who joined at the start of the march in New Zealand, in October, will talk about their travels and experiences. Chico and Red Bluff peace groups, students from Chico State University and Red Bluff High School, artists, veterans of war, and others will speak.

This is only the beginning of what each of us can do to bring peace and nonviolence to our lives, our communities, our world.

(For more information, go to www.worldmarchusa.net. To locate the park, go to www.redbluffpark.org.)