Can there be peace?

Can there be peace between Palestine and Israel? After everything we have heard and seen and continue to witness, can peace really be restored, given all the history and issues between these two nations? Will these two nations ever live in peace with each other? Do they belong to each other?

Can peace be restored in my own heart where there is so much anxiety and tension? Can I truly be at peace with myself while agonising and fretting about past bad decisions and actions I have taken?

Can I really be at peace while planning on revenges I still want to take on people who have hurt me? Can peace really be restored in my own heart if I have forgotten who I am and who I belong to?

Can peace be restored between my spouse and me? Can peace be restored between me and my lover? Can peace be restored between me and my parents? Can peace be restored between me and my child? Can peace be restored between me and my in-laws? Can peace be restored between me and my siblings?

Can peace ever be restored between me and any of these people who are so close to me but who have hurt me, who have neglected to invite me, who have not been there for me when I needed them most, who fail to visit me, who talk ill of me, who have used personal information against me?

Can peace ever be restored if I no longer feel that these people belong to me and that I belong to them?

Can peace be restored in my group or organisation? Can peace be restored between me and my colleagues, between me and my boss, between me and the board? Can peace exist in our organisations when bad decisions are taken which  affect the lives of people?

Can peace exist in our organisations given the jealousies and tensions that exist and given the lack of recognition given to those who do the work? Can peace exist in our organisations where there is no authentic, honest and open communication when it matters most? Can peace ever be restored if you no longer feel that you belong and are part of your organisation?

Can peace be restored in the community where I live? Can I ever move around in peace knowing that at any moment I might be attacked, hijacked, raped or even killed?

Are we at peace with each other in our neighbourhoods with high walls, electric fencing, fierce dogs and security and alarm systems? Are we at peace in our neighbourhoods, not knowing who our neighbours are, not caring about the widow living alone, or the single mother struggling on her own?

Can we be at peace in our community if we feel no sense of belonging there? Does this widow or single mother belong to me? Do I in some way belong to them?

Can peace be restored in our country? When we know that peace is not just the absence of war, can we live in peace with each other in our country where the gap between the rich and the poor is among the highest in the world?

Can we live in peace with each other when there is so much emphasis on the difference between race, colour, ethnicity, religion, culture and gender? Can we live in peace when every six minutes a woman in our country gets killed by her intimate partner?

Can we live in peace in a country where the language of “them” and “us” is so deeply entrenched? Do we feel a sense of belonging to each other as a nation?

Whether on the world stage, or in my own heart and family, these words by Bl Mother Teresa of Kolkata are so soberly true: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”