Let’s Create Peace

Today's guest blogger is Porsia Tunzi, who is originally from southern California, and is a sophomore at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California.  She is a Resident Advisor, Peer Council member, and a student liaison between Mission and Ministry and the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism.  As a member of the Catholic tradition, she is also a firm believer in power and love of the interfaith youth movement.  As of now, she plans to double major in Psychology and religion, with the hopes of attending graduate school after St. Mary’s.  She is unsure of her future plans, but knows that they will involve creating a major positive impact on the world.

These are her reflections from the Interfaith Youth Core 2009 Conference on Leadership in a Religiously Diverse World.

Chicago Bound.

I can slightly remember what it was like when I was around five years old. It was an age of innocence and playing in dirt. I was so unaware of color, class, labels, religious bigotry, racism. As a kid, all you see in people is another person to play with, that’s it. You do not pick and choose, you say yes to everyone, unless it was the little boy you had a crush on, but on a whole, you are pretty inclusive.

And then, all of a sudden you grow older, and slowly you learn about what makes people different from you. You form identity, you become an individual. The inclusion mentality you once had turns into assimilation, only sticking with the people who are the same as you. And then you form biases; some intentionally, some unintentionally. We become quick to judge, we forget that there is always more to a story, and we fear what is different.

And although we fear what is different, we must have courage; the judgment that something is more important than fear. If we do not have this courage we let the extremists win. If we do not look past our judgments, or if we forget that every human being deserves dignity, then we lose. But if we can educate ourselves and educate others, and if we can be open and empathetic to our brother on the right and our sister on the left, then imagine what a world we could have.

As I sat in the large room, where we began our IFYC conference, I looked around and felt quite blissful. Too often I am told by others that I am too much of an idealist, that I must be practical and realize that peace is a ridiculous dream. But if these people could only see what I saw. That room was filled with the most diverse crowd I have ever laid eyes on. Muslims and Catholics, Jews and Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, Christians and Secularists; just to name a few. People of all races, wearing all kinds of clothing. And I thought to myself: how dare people say peace cannot occur, how dare people say that Muslims and Jews cannot come together to create peace in the Middle East, how dare people say that our world cannot love. Because here I was in a room that embodied peace and love, a room that embodied togetherness, a room that was completely united. So my friends, I believe that we can do anything. So let’s do what the world says we can’t. Lets create peace.

Sometimes I realize that I talk a big game. I say I stand up for love, that I am an advocate for peace, that never in my life would I not stand up for someone else. I mean what I say, but how often do I walk the talk? If people are literally willing to die, and blow themselves up in the name of religion, then I must be willing to stand up against that, and live. I must be willing to act and not just talk because it is only through our actions where real change can occur. As important as it is to spread the word of religious peace, we must “do” religious peace. We must be the examples. Because if we aren’t, who else will?

I end with a quote from Mother Teresa, an Albanian Catholic nun and the founder of Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India:

"People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;

Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway."