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| Marianne Williamson's WPF Panel Remarks | | Print | |
Marianne Williamson*
Remarks at the World Peace Forum Panel on Creating National Departments of Peace Vancouver, Canada, June 25, 2006  We are here from many different countries, and that of itself signifies something extraordinary - the movement, the fundamental movement towards peace and humanitarian principles is an organizing principle for human civilization that will not come from a particular race of people, it will not come from a particular nation, it will not come from a specific part of the world, rather it is an uprising of the human spirit. This is the next evolutionary step for humanity, and so it necessitates an international conclave in which we join, not as people from this country or that country, but as people who have an ancient memory in our souls that calls us to lay claim to a new and future possibility for mankind. It’s easy enough to imagine world peace when we’re all here together with people who basically see the world as we do. It’s easy enough to recognize this as the only survivable alternative for future generations when we’re all here together - the work, the deeper work, both on external levels and also within our own selves in terms of our being able to stand resisting any cynicism or any marginalization that is thrown our way by others –that work will be made easier by the fact that we were here together, we were here with people who we respect, people who we know are just as smart as anyone we are going to meet who marginalize these views, and we are going to be able to speak with greater conviction when we go back to our own respective nations, when we go back to our own respective communities, we will be encouraged by what we heard here, and I believe this panel is the exact example of what I am saying. You will hear on this panel people from all over the world who are talking not just about dreams that are being held in their own country but about plans that are being executed in their own countries, about governmental actions that are already being taken, about people who already hold governmental positions in the parliament of their own nations who can report, not just an idea but an actual fact – this is what is being done, and any time there is movement towards social justice anywhere in any of our countries, it begins with a thought.  Mahatma Gandhi said, “If I could waken the women of Asia I could save India in a day.’” And the reason I think there is a specific conversation among women that is so important is because, I think, based on years of history that we are all very very aware of, I think sometimes as women we need maybe even a little more encouragement. We have not been given the social permission as well as the cultural and sometimes even the political permission in our own countries to lay claim to the possibilities we believe in. We live in a point on this planet today when hatred speaks with more conviction than love, when injustice is backed by more material power than justice, but what love and justice and brotherhood have, ladies and gentlemen, is you and me. Let us encourage each other. Men go out and be great men, and speak your truths. Women go out and be great women, and speak your truths. May women support women in this, may men support men in this, may men support us women in this, and women, I speak on behalf of the women in the room, to all of you men, we support you, we will do this for our children and our children’s children. * Marianne Williamson, author and lecturer, is founder and chair of The Peace Alliance, campaigning for a Department of Peace in the U.S. government. |