News from Peace Begins With Me

There is a growing consciousness that using force to create peace does not achieve the desired result. Yet knowing what not to do does not guide us in how to respond to discord in a positive and peaceful way. What peace-making strategies might move us from divided and combative positions to positions of mutual trust and support?

Authors Francis Westley, Brenda Zimmerman, and Michael Patton chronicle numerous innovative strategies in their book, Getting to Maybe. How the World Is Changed. (Random House, 2006). Their book contains amazing stories of personal and community transformation to inspire us that a different world is possible.

One of their tales instructive to our desire to create a more peaceful world is the story of Jeff Brown. Brown is a minister in Boston's inner city, an area known for homicide, violence, and gang warfare. Brown would regularly preach sermons about the unacceptability of violence, yet in spite of his preaching things remained the same. Reverend Brown's sermons were clearly not making a difference.

After dialoguing with fellow ministers Brown and others decided to form a "street committee". Their goal was to go out on to the streets of Boston and connect with gang members. Every Friday from midnight to 4:00 am the members of the street committee gathered in the inner city neighbourhoods and walked around. The initial street walks were frightening experiences. This was a world Brown had made every effort to avoid.

After weeks of walking and observing the youth gangs from a distance Brown reported that something shifted. The ministers saw that each gang was like a family and that the members were kids creating and defending their families. This shift in perception opened up the possibility of communicating with the gang members. Within weeks the adults of the street committee were engaged in rich discussions with the youth to understand their world and their experience. The result was a spectacular decline in violence. The change was so spectacular the New York Times described the event as the "Boston miracle".

What did Reverend Brown and the others do? They changed the way they acted and thought. Brown now recognizes that he had been living by a set of rules and assumptions, given to him by his culture, that impeded his ability to solve this situation. He describes three rules that resulted in behaviours that reinforced the violence:

1. The Rule of Separation - there is a difference between the street gang and the rest of us.

2. The Rule of Avoidance - the gangs are dangerous and should be avoided.

3. The Rule of Intolerance - condemn their violence and make no effort to understand it.

Through the innovative and courageous actions of the street committee and the gang they began to connect with one another. Through this connection they reevaluated their assumptions about each other. They discovered that they were more alike than they were different. They discovered they valued the same things - loyalty, respect, safety, dignity, and quality of life. They discovered they could work through the challenges of their circumstances in a peaceful and respectful way.

We can learn from Reverend Brown and his colleagues. This story offers us hope in our efforts to resolve conflict in a peaceful way, whether it occurs on the world stage between nations, or occurs in our individual worlds of family, colleagues, and community. When we challenge our core assumptions, when we open up to behaving in different ways, when we seek to understand and accept, miracles can and will happen.

Where in your world do you hold assumptions and practice behaviours that reinforce the rules of separation, avoidance, and intolerance? Are you courageous and committed enough to try something new? This is how the world is changed. Be an agent of peace.