Peace is the most precious gift humankind can ever give to itself. But peace is not control. It is not oppression. It is not coercion. It is not a war won. Peace cannot be forced. It can only be evoked. It can only rise to the full consciousness of mankind through the moral poultice of love of self, and then inexorably, of love of all others. It was 56 years ago that Martin Luther King, Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, and it was only one year earlier that he gave his stirring, utterly eloquent "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the summer of 1963. But more than a half century later, where does humankind find itself? It finds itself on the verge of extinction from existential threats of both catastrophic climate change and nuclear holocaust. But who and where are the global peacemakers of today? I do not see or hear them. I know dictators of totalitarian nations rob, enslave, and **** their "citizens." But I also hear the president of a democracy lie multiple times everyday to the people of his nation. Where on the horizon is another Lincoln, another Gandhi, another Mandela, another Martin Luther King, Jr.? There are politicians aplenty, but we desperately need women and men who have the courage and the wisdom to be leaders, not simply vote-getters. Without peace worldwide, we shall all die soon, I believe, along with all other living creations around the world. But I know where to search for peacemakers--in the heart of every human being now on Earth. Love begets love. If one is loved enough, that human being will not only love her- or himself, but will ineluctably come to love all others. That is how love works. And when love becomes the grand motif of human existence, sharing will supplant aggrandizement, caring will replace callousness, and peace eternal will preclude extinction.

Tod Howard Hawks