Peacemakers

"peace in the city"--painting by simeon gonzales

Peacemakers

“Man is made for the peace which is God’s gift.”

--Pope Benedict XVI

We have been told & taught many things about

the principles of peace--that every one of us

carries an innate genetic trait to seek freedom

first in order to extol the virtuous dignity of all

rational beings, becoming someone who embraces

both beatitudes & existentialism, with a willingness

to accept sacred responsibility for our own actions;

as the plastic smiles of beauty contestants freeze

their faces, standing there under the hot lights in bikinis,

wishing for “World peace in our time”,

even as we rise from our fitful slumber on this

September 21st, this International Day of Peace,

knowing full well that august body of the

UN General Assembly piously proclaimed

this Day in 2002, yet

the television news blares over my breakfast

that a vicious gang of Somalian gunmen

have just attacked innocent civilians at

a shopping Mall in Kenya, killing dozens,

wounding hundreds, and the egregious echo

of a madman’s shotgun that slew 14 people

and wounded 50 at the Washington Navy Yard

is still ricocheting in my head & heart,

so once more I am callously confronted with

the ancient perpetual dissonance, that peace

surely is not a utopian dream, that it is possible,

albeit transient as distinct dystopian notes

alternate within the blipping beat of the

wondrous symphonic cacophony playing

loudly outside all of our windows today;

for we clearly see the actual price of technological

globalization, & witness the violent conflicts,

the threats of war, glacial shrinkage, ocean pollution,

congressional partisan bickering, escalating urban

crime rates, international police & military murdering

protesters, the truncated state of our cost of living,

and we just wonder exactly how should we celebrate

this Day--perhaps promote peace within ourselves

& with our neighbors & with the earth itself? I mean

how do we lovingly & peacefully confront the blatant

inequality between the rich & poor, terrorism,

international crime, genocide--as fundamentalism

& fanaticism darkly distorts the true nature

of our familial, educational, & religious teachings?

The Dali Lama, the Pope, priests & presidents tell us

that all we need is Love, but hell, at the same time

we must keep in mind that anyone who loves peace

cannot tolerate attacks & crimes against life, liberty,

and the God-given pursuit of happiness, that yes,

potentially within every person there is a genuine

desire for peace as an essential aspiration

that will lead to a full & happy life--and that we must

always pursue the common good, the whole man,

for we are, after all, just one human family. 

A very tall order, wishful thinking, a blessed yet

tentative beatitude, a correct assumption, the right 

road--sure, yeah, damn rights, but

my neighbor’s stupid dog still needs a bullet to quell

its incessant barking, my boss is still a bilious bully,

too many women are still raped & battered behind

closed doors, and CNN still informs me of 

more chaos,

more injustice, 

more heartbreaks, 

more hypocrisy,

more dishonesty,

more dangers,

more in-climate weather

that can be expected in the hours to come,

so the irony of today’s global celebrations

mixes freely with the frothy milk on my cornflakes,

and my smile is as much sadness as hope,

twisting my wet lips

mercilessly. 

Glenn Buttkus

September 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets Poetics

Would you like to hear the author read this peaceful poem to you?