Day 7- If Peace was treated like an infant, Nature Vs. Nurture?
When it comes to Peace or Parenting, for that matter, for me, it's no longer about the age-old debate on nature vs nurture. It must be both, in abundance, for lasting peace to be sustained and for children to flourish.
When Peace falters, or children inevitably fall or suffer somehow, they remain resilient & strong enough, with the appropriate support and foundations, to get back up or be built back up, learning, growing, and improving at each juncture.
Contrary to so many so-called Peace Initiatives, Agreements and Efforts, I would now argue that Peace and our societies are not sustainable or even genuine if built or crafted using only, human-centric models. We, humans, are beautiful and complex links in a chain or system but are not the only or the best, and so all other parts of our geo/nature-based systems and cycles must be given attention and opportunity to shine and contribute in the way we as the human components can.
From assessing all the peace initiatives that I have either born witness to or been a part of from a distance, and from my lived experience as a parent over the last few years, it's apparent to me that it's the human flaws, frailties, and complexities that have always challenged the integrity, or led to poor modeling and ultimate harm or suffering in one way or another or in the case of Peace Processes specifically, somehow warped them into unsustainable aspirations which inevitably lead to human withdrawal and destruction.
With the rare exception of some very notable, and quite incredible examples from our world indigenous communities, who, despite challenges and often violent efforts against them, seem to be so far ahead of our time (by Western Standards) by using embodied, relived, and remembered methods from the beginning of our time, adapted for dealing with peace and community building in this time..., where are all these examples out there, micro or macro of real efforts being made to bring in more of a geo and human balance to Peace, Parenting and Education? Where natural cycles and methods to rebuild, repair and replant are used as integral models to lead or even be incorporated into human-generated models?
I move on with hope and optimism and a desire to learn from, share, and promote beneficial models out there.
Shane O'Connor
