October, 2006

Weapons within Our Hearts

Mary Yuen Mee-yi

"Then he will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation; no longer will they learn how to make war." (Isa. 2:4)

The statement quoted from this Bible verse, which hangs outside the U.N. headquarters, reflects that peace is not only the desire of Israelites of the Old Testament era: it is also the hope of people in our contemporary age.

Although people today always talk about the uncivilised acts of our time, peaceful means, rather than violence, should be employed to solve conflicts. However, hatred and wars between nations and ethnic groups occur continuously. Numerous examples tell us peace is a faraway dream that is almost impossible to achieve. This pessimistic appraisal can be seen from the conflicts in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and Palestine, the suicidal attacks of Islamic extremists towards the West and the occupation of Iraq by the United States in the name of destroying "the terrorists." Recently, we witnessed the attack of Lebanon by Israel and the plan to attack airliners departing Britain for the United States. All of these violent acts lead to death and injuries to innocent civilians.

Our world is facing different kinds of "terrorist" attacks. Suicidal attacks, of course, are frightening, but is the terrorism unleashed by the West in the name of combating terrorism, racial and religious discrimination, the suppression of freedom of speech and freedom of the press not equally frightening? Revenge, violence and war, indeed, cannot solve our problems today. They only continue the conflicts, bringing never-ending hatred. Many political leaders, in fact, employ various kinds of obvious and subtle violence to reinforce the feeling of hatred among their people in the name of patriotism, ignoring the freedoms and lives of civilians.

Very often we in Hong Kong think that racial and religious conflicts are faraway international problems: we are not the ones who create them, and we cannot do much about them; thus, we do not need to shoulder any responsibility toward them. However, have we ever thought that we are creating and reinforcing violence and injustice unintentionally? In her article "The Tridents Within," American feminist Jeanne Clark notes that "tridents and all future weapons of destruction can be stopped only when we look deeply enough within ourselves to discover that there are Tridents within us." These weapons within us are those things which disrupt our right relationship with ourselves, with one another, with the earth and its creator.

Weapons within us originate from our inability to accept differences, giving rise to a desire of control. For many people, one way to treat difference is to make you like me, or I will destroy you or neglect you, making you like some kind of non-existent human being or name you as an enemy. Once an enemy is created, I do not need to suffer from the anxieties of struggling with differences within me. The differences are in you; good and evil, right and wrong, are clear. Everything is in my control.

Such a desire for control not only exists in the hands of strong powers; it also exists in each of us. We want to be winners—above everyone else—in everything. Apart from the political and economic arenas, this kind of desire and temptation occurs in the relationship between parents and children, friends, partners and even in our faith. For example, when we think that we are more holy and faithful, hold more truth and do better than others, we may neglect, exclude or ignore those who are different from us.

On the other hand, subordinating ourselves to reality and abandoning the power to bring change to the world, giving it instead to the dominant powers, is another kind of weapon within us. Some people also believe that only heroes and leaders can bring hope. Such feelings of helplessness and hopelessness deter us from taking up responsibilities. It is this kind of submissiveness and passivity that give violence a chance to continue, leading us to see the harm that others bring to us but not seeing that such attitudes may bring harm to others as well as ourselves.

Today violence continues and expresses itself in various forms. Before it occurs in the form of war though, it grows and flourishes deep within us. As Christians who accept the Gospel of the Son of Peace, Jesus Christ, are we willing to examine the various kinds of weapons within us? Are we willing to repent and become peacemakers? In view of our reality, the peace message of Isaiah is not easy to achieve in today's world, but the faith we share with Isaiah is exactly where we can find hope for peace.