Walking Peace Into the World
by Rivera Sun
Last night, I dreamed of walking. In a thousand bodies, through hundreds of city streets, suburban neighborhoods, rural roads, industrial zones, wild and forgotten spaces.
I dreamed in images and true stories of real people walking for peace and a culture of nonviolence: in Wilmington, Delaware as residents marched to end gun violence and to be, in action, a culture of peace; in Coral Springs, Florida during the monthly Silent Peace Walks; in central Maine as the indigenous Penobscot community walked with drums and singing through all the streets of their island nation calling everyone out of the houses into the streets to join in prayers and healing; in the favelas of Brazil where Dominic Barter began walking to break through fear and violence by being human; the “Love Walks” in Los Angeles, where a group of women walked their neighborhood streets each night to stop violence and rebuild community. In my dream, I wove in historic marches: Gandhi and the people of India on the Salt March; Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers marching to Sacramento; Thich Nhat Hahn and thousands being peace as they called for peace and no war in New York City; and countless more.
All these images and stories poured together like the tributaries of a great river. In my dream, thousands of people walked the streets of their own communities saying, “peace is not an abstract idea, it is present here and now in us.” We exited the closed doors of our homes and walked shoulder to shoulder with neighbors, friends, family, and strangers. On these walks, we looked each other in the eye. We saw the invisible. We noticed the homeless. We greeted the wandering youth. We acknowledged the broken places, broken hearts, broken relationships.
We walked to be the peace we yearned to see. We could not wait for politicians to end the endless, borderless wars. We ended it with our footsteps. We announced with our bodies that we would not wait for authorities to fix our communities; we would heal them here and now. We walked to be present with one another, to break our isolation and fear. We walked away from the violence of corporate media blaring on our screens indoors. We walked out into the streets to embody a different world, a world of peace and nonviolence, presence and compassion.
The day before this dream, my friends and I at Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence were discussing Gandhi’s constructive program after listening to a talk by Stephanie Van Hook and Michael Nagler of the Metta Center for Nonviolence. What is our salt and spinning wheel? we asked each other, wondering about our modern-day equivalents to Gandhi’s programs. Local food? Small business? Renewable energy? The New Story? Childhood Education? All of the above?
Then my friend asked, “For the movement to build a culture of peace and active nonviolence, what is one constructive, tangible action that we can all do, right where we are, that lessens the stranglehold of violence and instead builds communities that actively practice peace and nonviolence?”
And that night, I dreamed of walking. Walking with our neighbors, listening to each other, resolving our conflicts, being present, solving problems, sharing silence, healing and strengthening our bodies, our relationships, our communities. Walking alone with commitment to a peaceful world. Walking with thousands to make it real. Walking to practice peace. Walking to be love-in-action. Walking.
This morning, I rose with a resolution. I will walk. During the Campaign Nonviolence Week of Actions September 18-25th, I will walk in the streets of my community, the place where I live. And I will invite others to do the same: you, your neighbors, our relatives, and organizations to which we belong. I will ask us all to take public action to be peace in this world, to demonstrate that it is possible, and to non-cooperate with the culture of violence. Instead, I will walk to build a culture of nonviolence. I will laugh with my community instead of just weeping over the news. I will build friendships instead of staying huddled in my house in fear. I will see the challenges instead of avoiding them, and with my fellow human beings, I will meet them. And, I will begin this process by walking, by being peace in the world, and love-in-action in my community.
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Author/Activist Rivera Sun is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection, Billionaire Buddha and Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, the cohost of Love (and Revolution) Radio, and the cofounder of the Love-In-Action Network. She is a nonviolence trainer, programs coordinator and social media coordinator for Campaign Nonviolence and Pace e Bene. www.riverasun.com
I have taken my filmscript, “Phoenix Colony: Dream of Truth” and written into the bio-novel of my dad, “Our Buddy” and the tale of “Gandhi’s Evil Friend” is told well at last. I have the first two novels of my quintet Tales of Panther Butterfly already up on my facebook but this one I need to finish editing and will soon be up also.