Let’s move forward with community conversations toward peace

If you, like I, attended the recent Rotary-sponsored program on peace and peacemaking at the Longmont Museum, you experienced a laudable attempt to begin a conversation which, in my view, is supremely important. Kudos to all concerned for not asserting peace is only possible as a consequence of an armed citizenry and wellfunded military. A strong defense is important, but the peace we all seek is most productively pursued community by community.

This is why the most compelling part of the Rotary program for me was the call for action by Tim Waters. Mr. Waters gave much the same call in his op-ed piece published in the Times-call. I agree with Mr. Waters that for too long we’ve talked about violence in terms of our worst fears rather than about peace in terms of our best hopes. I agree, too, that we cannot legislate, militarize, or protest our way to peace. We can get there, as Mr. Waters argues, only by coming together as a community not only to strategize ways to create a more peaceful Longmont but to each commit to specific steps we’re willing to take to make peace happen. Peace will be achieved to the precise extent each of us, first, cultivates peace within ourselves, then takes specific, concrete actions to achieve peace in our communities.

The community conversations Mr. Waters is calling for are an ideal first step. Centralongmont Presbyterian, the congregation I serve, will be hosting such a conversation at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 4, 2023, in the church’s fellowship hall. Everyone is invited. But whether you participate in this conversation or in one of the other community conversations the next few months, I urge us all to lean in to this opportunity to work for peace.

— Rev. Dr. David Barker, Longmont