How Does a Peacebuilder Mark the Anniversary of War?

By Nealin Parker

This year, my country marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. 250 years since we declared war. How should a “peacebuilder” celebrate such a marker?  How, especially, at a time when the politics of our country are so conflicted? 

Maybe the obvious answer is to celebrate, as so many of us do, the ideals themselves: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The aspiration of equality.  Thanks to my time abroad, I know well that for all our shortcomings, these ideals are sacred. Magical. Pulling us ever toward them in subtle and dramatic ways. 

I once sat in a room of people who said “democracy has not given me anything,” and thought, “it is only possible to think that when you’ve always had it.”  

But I also think I shouldn’t just skip over the “war” bit, especially at this time.  War does not in and of itself achieve these ideals.  Having lived in countries at war, I will say it’s a nasty business that steals life, binds us in conflict, and enables some of the greatest injustices known to humanity.

At the time of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine wrote: "I prefer peace, but if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children may live in peace."  I live in our conflicted time of today and I share Paine’s sentiment.  But I reject the inevitability of violence.  As descendents, we don’t choose where we’re born, but we do choose what we keep and what we pass on.  

I will celebrate this 250th by holding dear the ideals enshrined in our founding documents. With every beat of my patriotic heart, I will offer us a different way to achieve them and take my part in authoring the next 250 years with the dignity of all.