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An Active and Personal Peace
Many forms of peace exist. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote that White moderates, who should have been pro-civil rights, seemed to favor “a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice” (King 9–10).
Peace may be either active or inactive. Active peace involves addressing root causes that create turmoil, disturbance, upset, or any other quality that distresses us. This is positive and requires continuous maintenance, exploration, and action.
Negative peace addresses only the symptoms, and in so doing, in not being proactive in dealing with injustice or any myriad of causes of distress, an inactive peace creates more distress. The peace is temporary. It does not have to be.
Nations may declare peace and some may celebrate and prizes are awarded. Politicians working intricate compromises believe they deserve such recognition. Most of the time, they have effected a negative peace.
I am encouraged the Black Lives Matter organization has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. They are the definition of active peace, a positive peace, a peace that addresses the cause of distress.
Perhaps my literary background may shed some light on this distinction between an active and personal peace and an unsettling peace, temporary, tenuous, and prompting…
