A West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, Paul K. Chappell is now Peace Leadership Director of The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He gave a powerful talk on the first day of conference on "Why Peace is Possible." His thought process is razor-sharp, and he has a "fire in the belly" about waking the world up to the real possibilities for peace. He is passionate about doing all he can to help us understand the urgency of making the transition now, before it is too late. I feel both inspired and challenged by his example. Here he is laying out some of his ideas in an interview with Tavis Smiley.
For more on Paul's work, check out his website: http://paulkchappell.com/
Hello Dr. Shailor,
ReplyDeleteFirst let me say/request this: Can you get me a copy of Mr. Chappell's book? Signed would be great, hint, hint, nudge, nudge.
Next, I really enjoyed the interview with Tavis Smiley. #1, because even though through his "journalism techniques" and his personal opinion oozing through, Mr. Chappell as not going to let him speak against the President. Regardless of how he would approach the idea of peace in the world (which by the way sounds exactly like The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community) he was going to answer his questions/ respond to his statements in such a way that was not contradictory to what he believes in.
I believe we are in a better place to be able to see World peace because of the all the human tragedy we have experienced. The underlying fact is that even though we want it, the problem is how some people want to go about getting it. Peace can be me with peace. Really, it can. We at least have to believe that it is possible and then after that half the "battle" is won.
Be well,
Ramla
Chappell's comment re: the conceptual shifts we must make from seeing war as a road to peace to seeing it as an outmoded view of conflict resolution reminded me of how deeply embedded our cultural perspectives are and how much work it takes to erode them. But I also see it as the kind of work we do everyday in our communication classrooms -- revealing the power of thought and language and raising awareness of alternatives ideas.
ReplyDeleteI will forever be impressed with Obama's courage to push forward with the Iran policy. He has bought us and the world crucial time to allow a peace alternative to evolve; and dialogue and negotiation takes time, reflection, examination and, sometimes, just a new generation of leaders for things to open up. I look forward to reading more of Chappell -- thank you for bringing him to my attention!