Culture of Peace in Our Hearts

(Excerpted from "UDHR 1948: A Cause of Celebration," the first chapter of Demands of Dignity: Developing the Discourse on Philippine December 10th Declaration a Decade After, by Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, 2008. Entire book may also be read via http://demands-dignity.8m.net.)

Human dignity is the underpinning of all advocacies for human rights, and all human rights advocates deserving of this honorable title would see in this the very essence of human rights being inherent, inalienable, indivisible and universal.
Human harmony has to be the underpinning of all advocacies for real peace, not just for “the absence of war,” or “peaceful coexistence.” In addressing the root causes of war and, on this basis, promoting a culture of peace is therefore crucially important in the peace advocacy.
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......... According to one of the 15 empowering paradigms being developed by the Lambat-Liwanag Network of academe-based research centers, human dignity can only be upheld and exalted in the context of human harmony, and human harmony can only be fully attained in the context and on the basis of exalting and actualizing human dignity. Because of this complementarity, human rights advocates and peace advocates would do well to work very closely together.
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......... To put it in the words of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace laureate, “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
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......... It should therefore be deemed and felt dehumanizing for all humans that billions of people making up the majority of the world’s population live or half-live in conditions of systemic oppression, exploitation, deprivation and even destitution. It should also be deemed and felt dehumanizing for all humans that some of us consistently behave like pigs, wolves, and snakes, with due apologies to these animals.
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......... By adherence to these principles, the signatory countries were not supposed to find themselves at war with any other signatory. Well and good. The aim has been to attain the absence of war or of tensions that can lead to it. But this is of course wanting in the context of innate human capability to unite dynamically and productively than merely co-existing and tolerating one another. Instead of creating a world atmosphere of mere polite tolerance, peace advocates can emphasize the themes of teamwork and harmony in our efforts to help build a culture of peace.
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......... Mutually-beneficial dynamic interactions, diversity appreciated as wealth instead of as obstacles to be surmounted or as liabilities to be suffered, indefatigable pursuit of earnest dialogues for win-win resolutions – these are all very important components of a culture of peace that needs to be built up in families, neighborhoods, formal and informal associations, local communities, nations and ultimately in the whole wide world.
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......... It is fairly easy to rant against war or chant for peace. It is also somewhat easy to initiate and undertake dialogues to resolve disputes to prevent or to end wars. The hard part is building a deeply rooted culture of peace within the heart and mind of each peace advocate, among the hearts and minds of the majority of human persons.
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