Vote as if Your Peace Depends upon It — Because It Does

If you haven’t already voted by mail, I hope you’ll be voting on Tuesday. I hope you’ll be voting for Peace.

Let us remember that Peacemaking and Voting are actions we take in order to make the world safer, healthier, more just, and more delicious. That’s right, delicious. Discovering life’s deliciousness demands an awareness of the abundance of the world’s beauty, of life’s beauty, and of love’s beauty. Envision the beautiful world in which you want to live, then vote for that.

When we consider the content of most political ads, it’s difficult to believe that life can be delicious. Most of those ads are based in fear. They want us to believe that if one group or another gets their rights, our rights will be diminished. When did we start believing that rights are exclusive rather than inclusive? Why do we think that you getting yours means we won’t get ours? People’s expressions of their freedom and rights offer more Possibilities for Peace and Inclusivity.

Currently in our society, there is despicable hatemongering going on towards religious groups, ethnic and racial groups, GLBTQIA persons, and economic classes. That hatemongering is attacking our neighbors, our friends, and members of our families. If we align ourselves with that reasoning, we not only endanger our neighbors, but we conveniently forget our local, national, and world history to suit our needs. Forgetting history puts us in dangerous territory. 

Peace is invitational. Peace invites everyone into a safer and more delicious experience of life. Peacemaking, at its most elementary, is extending a welcoming and supportive hand, especially to those who do not look like us, speak like us, or share our beliefs and political affiliations. Peace is discussing how other people can be invited, included and made comfortable.

As humans, at some point we experienced exclusion. We know how painful and isolating that is. Emerging from the pandemic, many of us are struggling with isolation. Some political candidates want us to believe that to align with the despicable religious, racial, homophobic, and misogynistic hatred currently in fashion in parts of our society will make us safer and ensure our rights. They want us to believe that being part of the politics of exclusion will protect us by making us part of a cohort. In reality, it further isolates us from neighbors. It makes us less safe and separates us from Peace. How is that ever in our best interest? Whatever our religious or spiritual tradition, the Golden Rule, to treat others as we wish to be treated, is foundational. 

Voting for Peace is a vote for the safety and well-being of us all. It is a turning toward possibilities for a world of inclusivity and justice. It is an acknowledgment of the world’s abundance and our responsibility to protect it. It is a challenge to look for the world’s deliciousness. And so I ask you to Vote for Peace. Vote for the deliciousness of Possibility.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace. Blessed be.

Ann Keeler Evans, The Priestess and Peacemaker is in! Find me at https://annkeelerevans.organd sign up for my daily musing.