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My previous article
was about living in peace. I'm writing this article as a reaction on the
news of today. It was reported that for 2012 there were 325 confirmed or
potential suicides among the US army. "Our highest on record,"
commented Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, deputy chief of staff, manpower and
personnel of the Army. What was more surprising was this number exceeded the
deaths of the U.S. Army (219) and total military death (313) in Operation
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. For more detailed information, go to
this website (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/02/us/army-suicides/index.html).
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Is this the price of
world peace that the US Army is fighting in foreign countries? According
to Paul Sullivan, a member of the board of Veterans for Common sense, "As the service members return home and as the
wars wind down, the mental trauma of war remains and there is an urgent need to
make sure every service member receives a psychological evaluation upon
returning home, and whenever a service member reaches out for help, the service
member needs to receive it immediately."
In the history of war in any
parts of the world, no one wins. All are losers. Sadly, the
innocent people suffer the most. This brings us to reflect on what is
really the real meaning of peace?
I remember my theology professor
defining peace in many contexts. Peace for military is the absence of
war. Peace in the family is the absence of quarrel. Peace in
society is the absence of criminality. However, he added that peace
is not just the absence of things. Peace is experienced if
there is the presence of love, unity and harmony. The real peace is the peace
of God.
Moreover,
I learned the meaning of peace when our other professor talked about the
Kingdom of God. He said that peace is the fulfillment of the Kingdom of
God. What is then is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is when
God reigns.
Indeed,
if we allow God to be our king, then His kingdom will dominate. There are
many kingdoms in our world today. Again, learning from my college
professors, the war is not about bad people. It is about oil. If people and
nations fight for the world resources, there could be no peace.
The
Kingdom of God is about sharing. It is not about accumulating resources
for future use, just like the war for oil, according to my professor. The
Kingdom of God is about love, unity and harmony. God's kingdom
is multiplying goodness to the world.
The world
does the opposite. Instead of multiplying love, guns are multiplied.
Instead of spreading the Word of God, lies and evil news are proclaimed
in mass media.
The
kingdom of God is about love. Love begets love. In contrast, war begets
war. Evil begets evil.
It's time
for world leaders to seriously think, reflect and to consider God in
their decisions and actions. It is time for them to listen to the Word of
God. It might sound impossible considering the culture of death that is
paralyzing the world today. But where do we go if we want peace?
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The price
of peace is not achieved through war.
The price
of peace is a result of the reign of God.
Peace is
making the Kingdom of God present and alive in all countries, in each one's
heart.
What
about our individual lives? Do we experience peace? Is there peace in our
family? Is there peace within us?
Last
week, Rudy, a friend of mine, shared about his being brokenhearted. For
two week, he did not eat well. He drank liquor, although he is not a
drinker in the first place. There was no peace in his heart until after
two weeks when he came to his senses. He cannot solve a problem with
another problem. How is he now? They are back again.
It's
difficult to talk about peace if we don't even experience it in the first
place.
May your
dreams be blessed.
Randy T.
Reference:
Watkins,
T. (Feb 2, 2012). 325 Army suicides in 2012 a record. Retrieved Feb 12,
2013 from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/02/us/army-suicides/index.html
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