Commentary : A Nobel Laureate’s Route to Peace on Earth Is Simple and Personal

The road to world peace is through the gaining of inner peace. Be kind to people, especially your family and those closest to you, and you will find peace.

--Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate

As this holiday season surrounds us, I reflect on the gridlock, greed and gluttonous life style that is strangling so many Orange County residents, myself included, and I remember how I went elsewhere in the world to search for inner peace.

Several months ago I decided to attend the annual Peace People’s Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, reasoning that it would be a good vacation for me and that I could talk about the topic of “peace” with some interesting folks, including Mairead Corrigan Maguire--a Nobel Peace Laureate--who was scheduled to be there.

I knew I would begin to feel better once I found some answers about how to lead a peaceful life in our concrete city-jungle.

My mother, who joined me on the sojourn, and I were invited to participate, if we chose, in the 3-day conference fast for peace in Northern Ireland. But at the very first workshop, I met a dozen or more people who were on their 37th day of a 40-day liquid fast for peace, and I was reminded about how my life style in Southern California epitomized the opposite of self-denial.

As the days of the conference progressed, and I listened to nine lectures on a single theme: “Apathy in the Face of Relievable Human Misery Is Nothing Short of Evil,” I worried about how I would feel “back home” while driving my new red convertible and, in general, living the good life. After all, it was becoming obvious that these conference attendees were serious about their search for inner and world peace. In their presence, I felt shamed at my own lack of depth and world consciousness.

Mairead Maguire invited me for a chat. She kicked off her shoes and suggested we sit on her bed in the dormitory. Let me paraphrase what she said to me:

Kate, you traveled across the ocean to find a woman leader of renown in order to ask me how to develop inner peace. You thought that because I’ve been fortunate enough to talk with the Pope and Mother Teresa, presidents and queens, that surely I would have the answer and be able to help you on your mission. But now you’re shocked to find a regular lady in hand-me-down clothes who believes that the key to inner and world peace is the sharing of ourselves and our possessions with others less fortunate. You’re surprised to see that I’m the same as other people. I mend; I cook; I clean; I have dishes in the sink; I volunteer for the Peace People; I try to be a good wife to my husband, Jackie; I do some yoga; I pray all through the day, and I scold my children in between peace conferences.

Mairead reflected, and then continued: “There are two answers which seem quite clear to me in your case. Be a good mother to your children, and listen to God, perhaps several hours a day.”

Well, those were not the answers I had hoped for. Where was the flamboyance or passion or drive I was used to in my social circles? I prodded Mairead up until my departure for more insight.

I offer to you her parting words: “Relax. Rest your brain. Enjoy life. Smile. Be a good person and a good mommy. Be faithful to God. That’s all. Tell God you’re a vehicle for Him. If He wants you, He’ll tell you. He may want you to do dishes at a mission house. It’s not your job to figure everything out. Treat others with the deepest respect. Be kind to people, and warm. Do these things and you will be at peace. Inner peace is the road to world peace.”

So now I’m home, and I didn’t trade in my car for a lesser one. And my mother and I still smile when we remember how we raided the monastery kitchen for cabbage and potatoes when nobody from the “fasting group” was looking.

I still fall asleep when I try to pray for very long, but you know, I’m calmer for having gone and met people of a nobler cause, who for just a few moments every day help me remember that the road to inner and world peace starts at home with the one-on-one relationships, one day at a time.

I offer these comments as food for thought as you attempt, as I do, to cope with a spirituality of your own choosing and the hard realities of life in our bustling cities of Orange County, particularly during the holiday season.