ThePeaceCompany.com
Title
The Peace Company - Peace Merchandise & Services
Description
In 1988 I started working as a professional peacebuilder in places of ethnic conflict around the world. I soon realized that the dynamics that provoked and sustained such horrific cycles of violence in other parts of the planet were present in our own society here in the U.S. as well, though not, perhaps, to the same degree.
I used to come home from peacebuilding trips to places like Bosnia or the Middle East and say to my friends, ‘Bosnia R Us.’ They would either look at me as if I were totally strange, or quickly change the subject. No one wanted to talk about the fact that polarization in the national discourse, intolerance of differences, the glorification of violence, a reliance on force for solving disputes, the inability to heal the historical legacy of festering wounds, ethnocentrism, and an economy heavily reliant on building a military arsenal – characteristics we can easily identify as being ‘the problem over there’ – are also all too easily descriptive of our own society.
From that, I came to the realization that what is needed for ‘Peace on Earth’ to be more than a holiday greeting card sentiment is for there to be a transformation in this country from a culture of violence to a culture of peace. I determined to turn my attention to fostering that shift, and this company was born. As a business, it stands on two legs: the belief in the need for a peace economy, and the belief that everyone can be a peacebuilder, making a difference in their own lives and in the world.
Languages
English
