Perhaps peace is not, after all, something you work for,
or "fight for." It is indeed "fighting for peace" that starts all
the wars. What, after all, are the pretexts of all these Cold
War crisis, but "fighting for peace"? Peace is something you have
or do not have. If you are yourself at peace, then there is at least
some peace in the world. Then share your peace with everyone,
and everyone will be at peace. Of course I realize that arguments
like this can be used as a pretext for passivity, for indifferent
acceptance of every iniquity. Quietism leads to war as surely as
anything does. But I am not speaking of quietism, because quietism
is not peace, nor is it the way to peace.
~ Thomas Merton
from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
