The Art of Peace?

I've been getting fed up with ignorant people lately, so I came up with a new bumpersticker to make me feel better:

WHY IS PEACE SUCH A STRUGGLE WITH YOU PEOPLE?!

...and then right after I thought of that, I read this poem and it made me feel better. Here's a quote from it out of a book called "The Art of Peace", written by Stephen Longfellow Fiske.

By Being a Peacemaker

Peace?

Can we really know peace
in this world of distress?
Is peace just a fool's wish
that poets address?

Are we hopelessly bound
by war's travesty
like lemmings
helplessly bound for the sea

or can we rise
to a new destiny?

Has not history's rampage of war
made it clear
that the quest for peace
is the next frontier

and the maker of peace
the new pioneer?

Peace?

It seems rare,
elusive,
this peace

yet it is inherent
everywhere

within
the stillness of the heart

throughout
nature's symbiotic design

patiently calling from the soul

peace is

already here

already ours
if we would but awaken

to its presence

There is a peace powerful
there is a peace glorious
there is a peace majestic
which moves through the mountains and sky
and resounds throughout the splendor
of nature's magnificent and mysterious creation

It pounds in the surf
sifts through the sand
sings in the wind
is felt in the warm touch of a hand
is known in the silent stillness within

There is
a peace that nurtures
a peace that sustains
a peace that heals and restores
a peace that unites
a peace that rejoices
a peace that brings faith
in laughter
in tears
in joy
in a sigh
in sorrow
in forgiveness

There is a peace in birth
a peace in death
a peace in sleep
a peace in awakening
a peace that opens the heart
quiets the restless thoughts
and saturates the soul

A peace so powerful
we are humbled in its presence

A peace so powerful
that all our needs and deeds
are but grains in the sand of its tidal time
washed and rolled
turned and turned
again and again
surrendered in its current

We don't need to run after peace
but to accept it.

We don't need to protest for peace
but to live it.

We don't really need to "make peace"
but to choose it

We don't need to end conflict
but to understand peace

Now more than ever, let us build bridges
and create new possibilities
for ourselves and our world
by being Peacemakers
by knowing peace
by practicing, exemplifying
and teaching peace.