Bumper Stickers

Be well (John Spartan) Space Travelers. I was driving home today from work and I saw a bumper sticker, and its $3.00 message shook a thought loose in my head. The sticker read:

Teach Peace

I think it was meant to be understood to mean we should teach people HOW to be peaceful. I however took it differently. I thought about the way we teach history. I though about my middle school and high school history courses. The only way I can remember learning about two (or more) countries being in a related topic was in the context of war. sure the treaties at the end get a footnote at the end of the chapter, but overall, I think the focus of our history education has been about our struggles with each other, and not necessarily how we resolved them peacefully. I believe that what we choose to teach says something about what we value. Why not have coursework that examines the periods of our history in which we were more than just not fighting, but cooperating (for something other than war)? Do we think there is nothing to learn from those experiences? Can that history get a book too?

How we got along: A brief history

When does war get to go in the cliff notes? When does it stop being a casual topic? At what point, is it not spoken of in a matter-of-fact way? Why is it that peace is what creates "shock and awe?"

Today the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, and it went to President Obama. That's not what this post is about, but it's thematically relevant, so I might as well mention it. Some people are mad. Some people are very concerned with other people knowing how mad they are. How about this Space Travelers: Today, take 1 minute to think about a moment in your life where you rejected conflict and embraced a peaceful resolve.

Teach Peace, learn peace. Peace.