Walking for Peace; A reflection

It is the Week of Peace. Throughout the country, various activities around peace are organized. For example, this week I walked along with the world peace flame that is carried over the Walk of Wisdom and organized a celebration around that flame. It was during that celebration that I wondered what it all contributed to.

An asylum seeker who had exhausted all legal remedies told an impressive story about his life and the reason why he had to flee. He also said that he was touched by the evening. He felt peace come over him. A big compliment. But it also became painfully clear to me that this evening did not give his compatriots more peace. My walking the next day did not mean that the people from Syria no longer had to walk. They must continue to flee, travel and walk until they reach a safe haven. They are the ones who are really running towards peace. What would I walk for peace? I walked for inner peace and thought deeply about how stressed my shoulders were. I enjoyed the clouds exaggerating and the sheep staring at us as we walked by. We write intentions on prayer flags and hang them in a chapel. We watch over a flame and exchange how special it is what we are experiencing.

Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful that I, that we can all experience what peace feels like. That we can carry out and attend all these activities in freedom and tranquility. But I couldn’t let go of the question of what those thousands of people who are fleeing can do to them. This afternoon I walked in silence for a while. Inwardly and outwardly I was silent. And then I realized, the peace and tranquility that I now experience, I must try to maintain it. It is a privilege to be able to experience them. That I can walk so carefree. Not on the run, not on the way somewhere. But it’s only useful if I can take that state of mind with me. If I can take my piece of peace with everything and transfer it, like a symbolic flame of peace. That’s the strength of this week. But the trick is to keep our attention on peace, even as we enter the week of loneliness next week, the week of the entrepreneur, the week of psychiatry, the Book Week, the week of the classics, the week of the… finally. Then the real work begins, I would say.

“Peace is a verb.” To end with a cliché. And not just one week a year. I’m curious what peace means to you. Leave a Comment on www.vredevooriedereen.nl