At Emerald Necklace Martial Arts, I require all of my students to complete some kind of "peace education project" as part of their training for Black Belt. The project can be almost anything: an individual may choose to learn about nonviolent communication, build interpersonal skills for negotiation and peaceful conflict resolution, or study techniques for anger management. Some may choose to read about and study the lives of peacemakers such as Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or MLK. Individual projects vary based on personal interests.
September 21 is the International Day of Peace. So this month, I'm embarking on a peace education project of my own: I've just finished reading "Will War Ever End?" by Captain Paul Chappell. Mr. Chappell will be in Boston in November, so I've reached out to him to invite him to visit the dojo when he is in town so that we might talk together about how martial artists can creatively act as peacemakers. Will see if he responds. I'll next be reading Mr. Chappell's second book, "The End of War."
I believe we martial artists have some responsibility to engage in creative ways of peacefully resolving the conflicts — large and small — that occur in our lives. After all, we spend a great deal of time studying "the arts of war," and we generally claim to put our knowledge to some positive use, So in the coming days, I'll be dropping in at my "peace dojo:" the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA, in order to spend some time in reflection on peace and on the true human costs of war and conflict. I'll be posting photos and video from the Peace Abbey in the next weeks.
Lastly, I'm hoping to hold a Peace Day Event at the dojo — for both my students and for members of the community — on Tuesday the 21st. More on that soon.
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