Peace Begins at Home

ReWrite the World Blog Challenge Day 2

I imagine a world in which peace begins at home.

So that conflict resolution is a common occurrence, diffusing and preventing violence and the emotional scars that remain.

So that families address conflict before it causes damage to hearts, minds and bodies.

So that healthy discussion enables differences of opinion to co-exist as a matter of course.

So that nation states focus on peaceful resolution of differences and unmet expectations.

Today,  35% of women globally, experience physical and/or sexual violence, primarily by their intimate partners. Children learn to deal with frustration and conflict using violence. It starts in the domestic sphere and is mirrored in the media. And of course in the political sphere, in global politics, resource turf wars that become military operations where terms like collateral damage are used to normalise civilian death and injury, not to mention the social and psychological impacts on occupied nations.

If peace begins at home, then we might see the day where the military holds bake sales to fund their equipment while schools and hospitals are given priority funding.

We might have the budgets for ‘defence’ freed up to fund public services because social values reflect this priority.

We might have children growing up with the skills to value diverse perspectives, prevent conflict and resolve differences in their schools, workplaces and communities.

We might even have more love in the world.

Can you imagine?