Grand Canyon | by Chensiyuan

Sometimes I think I chase this thing called peace because I can’t bear the thought of looking the ugly truth in the eye.

And the ugly truth is that peace will always be right behind some monster, some affront to everything we hold dear.

As we march forward in peace and love, there will be hard days. The odds will often be against us. We find happiness for a while, then something terrible happens. We try to keep our eyes on peace, but the monster blocks our view. It remains just out of reach. The wheel of fortune – she spins, she spins, she spins.  We stumble, we climb, we stumble, we climb. And so it goes.

So, then why am I here? Why even try? What can I offer? A companion on the road, I suppose. Someone who says, let’s keep going, one step at a time. Shoulder to shoulder, the journey is easier.

And what journey can continue without food?

This much I know: We break bread with each other because every movement, especially a peace movement, needs the fuel of fellowship. When we break bread it is a social contract that says: I see you, you are me, I am you. We are one.

More than ever, our world is hanging by threads of fear. We must march forward in peace.

What else can we do?

Nourish each other, mind and body, heart and soul.

Share a meal. That’s a start. Break bread with someone you don’t understand, with some marginalized part of your community, with someone you wish understood you. The path to peace has always been – and will always be – taking the time to understand.

Strip away your barriers. Seek to understand each other, to nourish each other.

Now is not the time for walls.