PEACE is a 5-Letter Word

By Anselmo B. Mercado

COOPERATIVE PEACE SYMPOSIUM

November 3, 2016, Deluxe Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City

          

PEACE is a five-letter word. Let me suggest some meanings to each of the letters.

P is for PEOPLE. Peace starts with people, with each and every person, our families. The song reminds us: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” If we have peace, we can share it with others. If we do not have peace, we cannot give what we do not have.

 P also stands for PRAYER. We know we are nothing without the Good Lord. God Himself says, “Where people are gathered together in my name I am there with you.” A favorite prayer of many people is the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Here are some lines: “Lord make me an instrument of your Peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury pardon… where there is darkness light, where there is sadness joy… Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand…” etc.

   

 E is for ENLIGHTENMENT. As the saying goes, “It is better to light a candle and have some light than to curse the darkness.” People must seek the light of peace. Yes, the prayer says, “seek first to understand, than to be understood.” In a sense, this is enlightenment. And this is the right step to deal with conflicts, big and small, and to pursue PEACE.

 E also stands for being an EXAMPLE to others. Pope Francis suggests three ways to lead by example: 1) Humility (an antithesis to arrogance, egoism, pride), 2) Gentleness (this negates impatience and bad temper that hurts others), and 3) Magnanimity of heart (which negates, prejudice, unkindness such as being gossipy).

 A stands for ACTION to reach out to others. St James said: “What good is it to profess faith without showing works? … Faith without action is totally dead.”  It is the same with PEACE. For example, today we are fighting many “wars”, the “war on poverty” which we have been fighting for since time immemorial; the “war against graft and corruption and dishonesty of whatever nature”, which has also been a lingering, haunting war. Recently, we are confronting and challenged by the “war on drugs”, which creates violence. We know “violence begets violence”. It is satanic, evil, and it negates peace.

           

          In all these evil “wars”, we cannot remain uncaring, or bystanders or onlookers. All of us must reach out to those in need of help, the victims of “wars”. The national government, the local governments, the police, various churches, the schools, the NGOs, the business sector, the cooperatives, everyone must be involved and do (act) their respective roles in order to win or overcome these “wars”.     

 C is for COMMUNITY. A community is a “neighborhood”, a “village”, a “sitio”, a “municipio”, a “city”, a “province”, a “region”, a “nation”, the “world”. In a sense, we are all “one family”. As the saying and song goes: “No man is an island. No man stands alone”. “United we stand, divided we fall.” “We are in the same boat. We either sail together or we sink together.” Our work for peace must break down barriers of prejudice, hate and misunderstanding in all our communities. Pope Francis strongly advises saying: “Let us build bridges instead of putting-up walls.”

 E stands for an ALL-ENCOMPASSING work. Peace must encompass the development of all peoples, rich and poor alike, an all-inclusive development to be sustainable. The Papal Encyclical of Pope Paul VI says: “The New name for Peace is Development”. “There will be no Peace without Development, and no Development without Peace.”

 Indeed an all-encompassing (all-inclusive development) is crucial to our communities. The Lord says: “I have come that you may have life in all its fullness.” (John 10:10).

 An all-encompassing development must include the following: P = People Participation and empowerment; E = Economic development + Education to develop people’s skills; A = Agricultural development and Assets development; C = Community organizing (e.g. cooperatives, social advocacies for betterment by civil society), E = Environmental development for Ecological integrity. These combined are our initiatives for PEACE.

 One of the Beatitudes of the Lord states: “Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers for they will be children of God.” (Matthew 5:9).

 We in the cooperative movement, the people of God -- let us continue to seek to understand and be enlightened about what disturbs peace in our communities. Let us lead by example in our cooperatives and communities, in the actions that we do to promote peace. And let us pray for peace.

 In the beginning, we said that PEACE is a five-letter word. Each of our hands has also five fingers. Let us offer and extend our hands to others, and from the depths of our hearts, say: “Peace be with you.”

(Dr. Anselmo B. Mercado is the Chairman, Cooperative Development Advisory Council, CODAC, City Government, Cagayan de Oro City)