Peace is Everyone's Business

Too often, its assumed that peace mostly refers to good relations between warring or competing peoples, and that all of us individually do not have much that we can do to make peace more likely.  The key aspect of the presentation was to make the case that all of us as third party “bystanders” are terribly important in creating and sustaining peace in our communities. 

 

Using the framework of Bill Ury of “Ten Roles of Thirdsiders,” (a copy of which is shown below) the presentation emphasized that how a conflict is addressed, or how a social justice issue overcome, is often more dependent on how the bystander acts than it is on how the disputants or persons locked in conflict respond.  In other words, the bystander, who has no legal obligation to act, is often the most important key to peace.   Ury argues that if the Ten Roles are present in a community or country, then violence is less likely, as bystanders will take steps to prevent harmful issues from spinning out of control before they result in a conflict, resolve the conflicts if they cannot be prevented, or as a last resort, contain them before they escalate into violence. 

 

The presentation then examined how each of us have benefited from “bystanders” who have cared for us when we needed it, and how we have often been “bystanders” who have had an important impact on others.  The talk ended by discussing how the multiple projects the Kitchener Grand Rotary Club funds contributes to fulfilling many of the Ten Roles, thereby making peace more likely in our community, and violence a less likely possibility.  Understanding how the Ten Roles of the bystander collectively add up to peace can help each of us see how our individual lives matter to others, how our employment or place of business can promote an ethic of peace, and how the projects our Rotary Club supports create a climate of more peace in our region.