PEACE. Sometimes it feels especially elusive. And today, the day before the election (because I am writing this Monday afternoon), peace eludes me. I am so unsettled that I am binge-eating potato chips. I can’t recall the last time I had a bag of potato chips in the house or engaged in this type of eating behavior. This just is not me, someone who tries to eat healthy. But I am stressed.
I hope I feel differently in a few days. Feelings about my personal peace aside, I hope peace washes over the entire nation. We need it.
We need a calming, a break from all the negativity and barrage of craziness (a word I don’t often use and don’t particularly like, but it fits here). We need a return to normalcy and decency and respect.
We need to start caring about one another again, to stop the attacks and finger pointing and all the behavior that spirals us into discord. There’s been way too much bullying, too much name-calling, too many lies, too much degrading and hateful rhetoric. Too much. I want it to end. And I imagine I am not alone in feeling that way.
Peace. I’m talking inner peace. I’m talking peace within families and neighborhoods and schools and communities, where, even if we disagree, we can get along, set aside our differences, listen, compromise, work together.
When I was coming of age in the tumultuous early 1970s, peace was a buzzword. It was everywhere. On protest signs, in fingers flashed, in words spoken, on clothing, in pleas made… Looking back to that time period, I recognize that peace felt elusive then, too. But somehow we found our way back, until we didn’t.
NOTE: As the creator of this blog, I moderate all comments. This post is not meant to spark political sparring, but rather reflects my thoughts and feelings.
© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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