Article May 26, 2003 Issue

My effort for PEACE in the Middle East

By Larissa Snorek-Yates

There was a time when I searched for a peace that would help me appear calm and serene at all times, even if inside I felt anxious, depressed, or exhausted. I would watch the swans in a park nearby and long for their pure serenity.

One particular day, I remember realizing how, despite their calm serenity on the surface, the swans were sometimes paddling furiously underneath. I saw how I had been trying to maintain a picture-perfect image of myself on the outside, yet feeling inside as if I were paddling furiously to keep it up and at any moment it would crash around me.

Sometime later, someone told me a story. There had been a children's drawing contest in which the goal was to draw "peace." The winning picture was of a gigantic, roaring waterfall bubbling and churning at the bottom. Yet directly behind the rushing water on a tiny ledge sat a canary—singing. I thought about why this represented peace so strongly that the judges had chosen it as the winner. Perhaps it meant that peace was not about appearing to have everything under control on the outside, when inside it felt as if things were falling apart, but that peace was actually about being able to sing despite what's happening around us.

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About the author

Lari Snorek-Yates is completing her Master's Degree at the School for International Training in Vermont, focusing on peace and conflict resolution. She can be reached at larijs@earthlink.net.

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Prayers for peace
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