love – Engaging Peace

A personal pitch: The Untouchables

Posted on September 5, 2013September 5, 2013 by kathiemm

I just fell in love.

The object of my affection is the French film The Intouchables. It has just received the nomination to be my all-time favorite.

The Intouchables is not ostensibly about war and/or peace, but it pulsates with all the human strengths and frailties that can lead to war or peace. At the most simplistic and surface level, we could say that the film is about a rich quadriplegic and a black street-wise personal caretaker, but such a description totally fails to convey the gifts one can find in the film.

It is about race and class, difference and similarity, trust and mistrust, gains and losses, going forward and going back. It is about empathy and most transcendently, it is about love.

The power of the connection I felt with The Intouchables probably is linked in part to the story of one of the main characters, Philippe, who became a quadriplegic in an accident at age 42. Although his accident was far more serious than the one that left me paraplegic at age 25, he wouldn’t want to hear this. He wants no pity, which he associates with hopelessness; he wants life—and a new life is what he gained from his caretaker, Abdel Sallou. I can identify completely with these feelings.

The pervading theme in my favorite films is redemption, and The Intouchables is about redemption.

The power of that theme for me probably stems from my own personal failures through the years—and I remember some from when I was a pre-teen—failures in empathy, tolerance, kindness, and the like.

I imagine that in part it is my own need for redemption that led me into the fields of nonviolence, peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness. Whether you are looking for redemption or not, I recommend that you see The Intouchables. It is superb.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

P.S. Help redeem America by visiting this site and viewing a preview of the dramatic and challenging documentary being made by a frequent contributor to this site–Ross Caputi, Iraq war anti-war veteran:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/570302124/fear-not-the-path-of-truth-a-fallujah-veterans-doc

and think about how you can help his project as well as engagingpeace.com

A bouquet of stories: Valentines for peace

Posted on February 13, 2012February 5, 2012 by patdaniel

Malbin peace sculpture — "Vista of Peace" sculpture by Ursula Malbin. Photo by Guillaume Paumier / Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-3.0.

For the second Valentine’s day in the life of Engaging Peace, we want to re-share some posts that have been among the wonderful gifts our readers have given us. The following selection focuses on messages of peace and love.

(1) A few years ago I joined “Checkpoint Watch,” an Israeli human rights organization of women who monitor and report human rights violations towards Palestinians who move from the occupied territories of Palestine to Israel. Continue reading → (Dalit Yassour-Borochowitz, October 21, 2010)

(2) It has been a privilege for the Paraclete Foundation to bring the Benebikira Sisters to Boston and to tell their story of courage and love during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that claimed over 800,000 lives in 100 days. Continue reading → (Sister Ann Fox , November 8, 2010)

(3) In a way that only being physically present in this country could convey, I’ve realized that the genocide is a very difficult thing for Rwandans to talk about. If people do speak about the horrors they have encountered, it is only under very hushed circumstances or around people they trust. Continue reading → (Andrew Potter, June 23, 2011)

(4) The framework for my reflections is constructed from Dr. Martin Luther King’s Speech delivered at Riverside Church in April, 1967 (a year before his assassination). Continue reading → (Dean Hammer, July 21, 2011)

(5) My father was born and raised in Basra, Iraq. Graduating from Baghdad University, he earned a government scholarship to study in the United States. He completed his graduate studies at Georgetown University. While in DC, he met and married my mom, a nice Jewish girl from New York. Her parents had fled their homeland … Continue reading → (Dahlia Wasfi, September 19, 2011)

(6) I have just returned from the demonstration to support Occupy Boston (10-10-11) and can happily report that it was a successful march of probably two or more thousand people. Continue reading → (John Hess, October 17, 2011)

(7) Over the past few weeks we have heard stories of bravery, courage, hope, happiness, and grief from Palestine. The stories accompanied the news that just over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in exchange for … Continue reading → (San’aa Sultan, November 3, 2011)

(8) Eva Mozes Kor, a “Mengele Twin” who survived the genetic experiments at Auschwitz, chose the non-standard route to recovery: forgiveness. Continue reading → (Elina Tochilnikova, December 26, 2011)

(9) From the time of… Moses, who helped guide the Israelis out of slavery and oppression to freedom, to Jesus, who preached equality and love and changed the whole human understanding of power structures, to … Continue reading → (Majed Ashy, January 12, 2012)

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology, and Pat Daniel, Managing Editor of Engaging Peace

Raise a roar

Posted on August 15, 2011August 29, 2011 by kathiemm

Continue reading “Raise a roar” →

Martin Luther King, Jr., champion of peace

Posted on January 17, 2011July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

Illustration of Martin Luther King, Jr. — MLK by Engaging Peace staff illustrator Margo Bendery

Today, we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and an exemplar of moral engagement. He demonstrates all the criteria for moral engagement:

He provided moral justifications for peace, fairness, and justice.
He used accurate descriptive language when referring to the evils of racism and war.
He compared segregation, injustice, and war to better alternatives.
He demonstrated personal agency, accepting the responsibility to help make America a more just land.
He was aware of the negative consequences of governmental aggression and indifference to the social problems created by unjust policies.
He humanized and exonerated the victims of oppression and preached forgiveness for the oppressors.

His moral engagement is reflected again and again in his words. Today we present just a few examples of the lasting messages he gave us all:

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

What have you or your friends or family done to speak out against war and injustice? Send us your stories.

Finally, to listen to examples of MLK’s stirring speeches, check out these videos:

Martin Luther King – His immortal Vietnam speech

Martin Luther King preaches against war

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology