As I sat in the sixth row of the Minneapolis Convention Center on March 1, I marveled about how on Earth I had landed this amazing opportunity. I was about to see and hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and later, the author of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean. Both spoke at the Noble Peace Prize forum where the theme of the day was “Crossing Boundaries to Create Common Ground.”
The Dalai Lama began with a low chuckle and a mischievous little wave to the audience as he peeked around the curtain. He ambled on stage in his saffron robe, extricating his right arm so that he could wave as he talked. He started with a story. When he was younger, he said, he thought of himself as first Tibetan, then Buddhist and then Dalai Lama, but now, he sees himself first as a human being. His earlier way of thinking was one that emphasized difference. But, he said repetitively, “I am a man. You are a man. You are a woman. That is all we need to know.” He believes that when we dwell on differences, we create an attitude that leads to anxiety and pretension. The Dalai Lama says that the more we emphasize difference, the more we create a we/they mentality that excludes and makes universal compassion more difficult. Seeing oneself first as a human being – as one of 7 billion other human beings – reminds us that we are, first, related to one other.
When Prejean talked, she carried a similar message. She strode on to the stage, beaming and laughing. (Is it a requirement that good speakers, good people, have a sense of humor?). Both Prejean and the Dalai Lama exude love and warmth, forgiveness and tolerance, while at the same time, are well-educated in the systems we use and the politics we endure.
Prejean recounted her realization that “waking up is everything.” She described her journey as a young nun, awakening to her understanding that charity alone (without justice) is not enough. She came to believe that she has to tell the story of the death penalty and those facing execution in the United States. She spoke forcefully and beautifully, condemning a system that “fails to respect human dignity, one that is detrimental to all who participate in it.”
And then this week at Fort Lewis College, Dr. David Cortright, peace scholar from the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, came to campus to speak on “The power of non-violence.” In my class, he also told a story. Cortright joined the military during the Vietnam War, during which he had what he calls a “a crisis of conscience” and found himself thinking the war was unjust and evil. As a result, he joined the GI peace movement, and has worked on behalf of peace ever since. Cortright says he has respect for the military and often works with its policymakers.
With my students, Cortright was passionate in his argument that each of us has the capacity to make a difference in the world. He said that while we may all not be a Gandhi, a Martin Luther King, or a Sister Helen Prejean, each of these leaders had thousands of people who worked behind, in front of, and alongside them, without whom progress could not have been made. He urges us to be agents of change and suggests a template for success: conviction, courage and communication must be in place for us to respond to those “magical moments in history” that offer unexpected opportunities for progress. We need to be ready to respond to the moment, he says, so that we can make our own mark on the world.
I was lucky enough to attend these three events because of my work with FLC’s Peace Initiative, the school’s peace and conflict studies minor, and the Common Reading Experience. The Peace Initiative works to inspire conversation about nonviolence, conflict and mediation – ideas so important to our national and personal health. The very young peace and conflict studies minor is also successful. Students enrolled in the minor participate in local projects and nonviolent activism. Its graduates have gained employment in mediation, Peace Corps and City Year, and a number have gone on to graduate school. In October 2006, with the selection of Folding Paper Cranes by Leonard (Red) Bird, as the first Common Reading Experience, FLC dedicated the Hesperus Peace Park, a space dedicated to world peace.
On Oct. 21 2014, Prejean will help connect these ideas once more when she speaks to the college and community. The college, the foundation and private donors have helped us host a number of events that feature justice, fairness, tolerance and social activism.
We should be grateful to the college (I certainly am) for so many opportunities to study, be engaged in and prepare for this work in the world of peace-making. It is desperately important.
Bridget Irish is assistant dean of arts and humanities at Fort Lewis College. Reach her at irish_b@fortlewis.edu.
