How Do You Pursue Peace?

I joined the November 6, 2008 Blog Blast for Peace. I was late but still, better late than very late, I mean, never.

My focus for this round of peace talks, I mean, blog posts about PEACE was about pursuing peace. Here is a part of my entry:

We pursue peace not by waging a war but through communication and laying out all the cards on the table. We pursue peace through compromise and understanding.

We pursue peace not by stockpiling arms and weapons but by building communities that will help each other, where people can live harmoniously. We help ourselves and other people be self-sufficient enough to live comfortably. We help each other have peace when we foster cooperation.

The Weekly Question would be about the last question that I have written in my November 2008 Dona Nobis Pacem post:

How do you pursue peace in your life?

My answer:

Pursuing peace is probably one of the most difficult things to do.

Why?

No matter what we do, we can not live in isolation and we are not immune to the ills of the world.

With everything that is happening around us, we are affected, not just with the way we live, the way others live around us but also with the way the others are affected by these things.

Take for example in our place. In our household, we try to live peacefully by not doing anything that will make those who live around us feel uncomfortable. Personally I should have peace, at least in my mindset, right?

Wrong.

How can I think peace when the house on the right side has lots of young men coming there early in the afternoon till night time to play video games? So what?

They shout, they cuss, they are noisy and the noise is being heard, every one of those words, in the children’s bedroom.

How can  I think peace when the house on the left side across the street has very noisy people drinking liquor a few times a week, well, mostly weekend nights. So what? Well, we can hear them in our bedroom.

I am bothered with this, yes, I am, and I must say I have called the attention of the barangay or the local government unit a few times for these things (and more).

My eldest daughter told me to just not mind these at all as along as they do not do anything to us. Just let them do what they want to do. When they do something that will affect us, only then should we be alarmed.

Is she right? Or am I just the neighborhood bully?