Is the Human Species Capable of Peace?

Today is International Day of Peace, as declared by the United Nations in 1981. “The International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world each year on 21 September. Established in 1981 by unanimous United Nations resolution 36/37, the General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.” 

I found this Facebook post I had made on September 21, 2014.

“Interesting irony. Yesterday, when driving home from an arts festival, I was listening to a sampler CD called Honeyspott.. There is a cover of the Edwin Starr song called War on it. As I was enthusiastically singing “War! What is it good for…absolutely nothing,” an SUV pulls in front of me with bumper stickers that turned my stomach. One said FULLY ARMED, another read Armed for Peace with the spokes on the peace sign made of machine guns and a third had a confederate flag with the lines “Civil rights or civil war” spewed on it. Had to take lots of deep breaths and beam love at the person in front of me. Considering that today is International Peace Day…it is quite appropriate to be challenged in this way May we all discover the peacemonger within. “

This weekend, my favorite radio station WXPN had their annual XPoNential Music Festival held at Wiggins Park in Camden, NJ. Across the river, the Philly skyline is visible and if the temps are just right, there is a feeling of ahhhh as the sun beams down and a gentle breeze wafts across the Delaware. Yesterday was such a day. In years past, I would spend the entire weekend at the festival, driving the hour and some minutes each way. Because I was working on Friday night when the festival began, I wasn’t there in person, but a cool thing that the station does is livestream the performances. I got home in time to hear/watch the legendary rock group War play their hits. The marvels of modern technology amaze me.

Yesterday, I packed lightly in preparation for spending the entire day, basking in the sunny 70s temps. I knew that I needed to be mindful that one hand would be occupied to hold on to the aluminum hiking pole that I would use to navigate the terrain there, so it was a backpack, a small cooler and a ground level folding chair and little blanket. By the time I parked, and got in line before the gates opened at noon, I was struggling to juggle it all. A couple (Ralph and Kathryn) was standing in front of me and Ralph asked it he could carry the chair for me until we got to to the entrance. My temptation was to tough it out and say I could do it myself and then I honored his request to be of service. I appreciated his kindness and returned it with hugs for both of them.

I was decked out in a t-shirt that read HUG DEALER, which was an invitation for willing folks to share hugs. The first man who approached me as I was walking in nodded at the shirt and asked “Is that legal?” I opened my arms and assured him that it was legal in all 50 states, Canada and likely all over the world. Since founding Hugmobsters Armed with Love in 2014, I have hugged thousands of people in several states, while visiting our neighbor to the North a few years ago and in Ireland in 2018.

Offering FREE HUGS is one powerful way I do my peace work. We live in tumultuous times in which people feel disconnected. There is an epidemic of loneliness. There is ideological division. When we hug, people often sigh and melt and tell me how much they needed it. Peace is contagious and I encourage them to share the love.

Throughout the day, and even as I was making my way out of the park around 8pm, hips and neck aching, fatigue setting in, I was bolstered by hugs from the security people near the gate.

A spontaneous encounter with Sadie Gust who won the 24-hour song challenge that WXPN held earlier this year. As a result, she opened the show on Saturday.  I told her that she was destined for greatness with a combined sound of Adele and Stevie Nicks.

Hugged a volunteer named Michael from the Subaru booth. Cosmically coincidentally, his sister’s name is Edie.

Who do you think this dreadlocked gentleman looks like? He gets mistaken for him often. I’ll give you a musical hint, “Don’t worry, be happy.”  I met him and his husband while strolling the grounds. Of course we hugged.

With my longtime friends Durwood and Heidi, peacemakers themselves.

This dude was at a music booth and saw me walking in his direction. He opened his arms and invited me to ‘bring it in’.

Throughout the day, I noticed t-shirts with messages expressing people’s political views, all that I agree with. In the parking garage I saw what I call ‘hippie bumper stickers’ two that made me laugh. They were on the back of a Tesla. One said, that they had bought the car before they realized that ‘Elon was crazy’. Another said that they loved the car but not the CEO.  Throughout the day, I experienced shiny, happy people having fun in the midst of music, fun, community, bubbles (I brought some to blow randomly), yummy food, dancing, and singing. I call these ‘pockets of joy,’ in the midst of the turmoil we face.

On my way home, Waze directed me to take the Walt Whitman Bridge to cross the river to PA and unfortunately, I missed the exit, so I circled back to the familiar path to the Ben Franklin Bridge. It was then that I realized that Waze was wiser since there was a many mile back up to get to it. I was grateful that it was not an accident, but rather, construction that had only one lane (of the normal three) to funnel likely thousands of cars. I took it in stride, glad that I had plenty of gas and was listening to replays from the concert that the station was broadcasting. I saw the best and worst of humanity in the mean time. Some were generous and let other people in line and others were honking their horns as if that would make drivers move faster. Quite simply, there was no wiggle room. As a tour bus pulled up to my left, the door opened and the driver started yelling and cursing. I let him in front of me. To the right, a car stopped in front of an 18 wheeler and the driver of the car started approaching the truck. Who knows what that was about? Behind the bus was another tractor trailer. I thought it the better part of valor to let that one in too. By the time I got home, it was 10:30. Hopped in the shower, washed off the grit, sweat and sunscreen with Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap and drifted into peaceful sleep. I have learned that peace begins within.

I could write about all of the terrible, horrible, hateful, bullying, verbally and physically violent things happening on the planet, but you are already aware of them, well informed readers that you are. I am not sure that the human race as a whole is capable of pure peace. I wish we were. I notice moments when the peace that passes all understanding, regardless of your spiritual belief and practice, or none at all, is present. Being peaceful is not about blithely accepting that everyone has the right to their opinion, regardless of who it hurts. Being peaceful is not about looking away when verbal or physical violence is present. Being peaceful can be declaring that you won’t be a party to the pain and that you will do all you can to ameliorate it.

No matter where you are, I encourage you to create peace in your hearts, community, and world. What if we were just one hug away from peace on Earth? Imagine that. I do every day.

Some songs about peace for your listening pleasure.

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This Post is republished on Medium.

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Internal images courtesy of author

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Photo credit: iStock