The Readers Blog is a group blog, a collection of provocative, passionate people who represent a broad geographical, professional, personal and vocational range. New bloggers from other places and other points of view will join the conversation from time to time. Here, we invite them all to share their perspectives and opinions on the issues that matter to them most. And we invite you to respond. Let the dialogue begin!


Phoning It In

“They’re not saying the iPhone will . . . bring world peace, but that it will do everything else,” Roger Entner, of market-research firm IAG. Apple’s new cell phone debuts June 29. The quote above is from this week’s American edition of Newsweek.

I’ll need to apologize to the technowizards right away—this entry is not at all about the iPhone which did indeed debut this Friday. What intrigues me more is Mr. Entner’s pithy quote which, to my ear, pits “world peace” against “everything else.” This is a big part of the problem of creating world peace. Mr. Entner is not alone in holding world peace away from himself; lots of us do it. I’d venture to say that world peace sometimes feels as far away as the demi-planet Pluto.

Here’s the thing: it is that far away for as long as we hold it that far away. The flip side of that is: it is as near as we hold it as well. World peace is a huge concept. A lot will have to change in order for our small blue marble home to be thoroughly at peace. This is part of the reason people give up on peace.

The truth is much more accessible. World peace can start wherever one person in the world makes a commitment to peace. One person. And that one person has only really to commit to peace within herself or himself. This is the beginning of it. One person.

It’s okay with me if I’m that person right where I am. The thing that causes people to abandon peace is globalization. We say to ourselves, yeah, it’s all well and good that you’re committed to inner peace in Boston, but what about the Middle East? I truly believe that there’s someone right there who is also committing to peace for our planet.

What keeps me going in my commitment, and recommitment (because, believe me, I get impatient just like the next person and forget to be peaceful) is that I believe that eventually there will be enough “peace cells” that we will begin to sense one another, and in that sensing, we will link to one another, and soon that linking will create a matrix of peace. Then it will just be a matter of phoning it in.

Comments (2)

I'm with you, Alice. Thanks for writing. Susan Corso

posted by Susan Corso on 7/ 4/2007 7:54 am

Spot on! I believe as well that one can make a difference, one should search for other people, out on the internet, an author of an inspirational book, a brother, a sister, a neighboor, a passing stranger, to be inspired and to be inspirational, dont wait for some one to come along ....its been said so many times before: "Be the change" And then we can become the whole one, all one.

posted by Alice on 7/ 2/2007 1:19 pm

Post a comment

You must be a registered user to comment. If you are already registered Click here to login or Click here for our fast, free registration.



YES! Please enter my 1 year subscription (10 issues) to Ode magazine and bill me later at the low rate of only $29.95 - a savings of 40% off the regular price! As a part of my paid subscription, Ode will plant a tree to help stop global warming. If I am ever dissatisfied, I can cancel at any time and receive a refund on all unmailed issues.

Offer good for new subscribers only. Offer good in U.S. only. Overseas subscribers please click here. Newsstand price is $4.95 per issue. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for mailing of first issue. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years.
Ode Privacy Policy.