Quotes and Questions about Peace

             

                                     Dorothy Day                    Friedrich Nietzsche                Martin Luther King                 Mahatma Gandhi

  1. “Peace begins when the hungry are fed.”
  • How is this a true statement? 
  • How can poverty promote conflict? 
  • How can alleviating poverty reduce the amount of conflict in the world? How can you go about reducing poverty in your own community?

2.    "No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless.  There is too much work to do."  This statement was made by Dorothy    Day.  She made it in reference to peace activism and humanitarian work. 

  • What work is there to do for an advocate of peace? 
  • Where does one begin in his/her attempt to promote peace? 
  • What are some good resources to use in order to find direction in one's attempt to become a peace activist?

3.   "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."  Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche shared this thought with the world. 

  • What did he mean? 
  • What "monsters" are there to fight today? 
  • How might you "become a monster" by fighting a monster? 
  • How can you avoid "becoming a monster" and still overcome current monsters? 
  • How do you determine who "the monsters" are?

4. "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.  You must not only  refuse to shoot a man, but you must refuse to hate him." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

  • Have you experienced "internal violence of spirit?" 
  • What are some forms of "internal violence of spirit?" 
  • What are some things that influence us to feel unnecessary "internal violence of spirit?"  
  • What is the best way to overcome such influences? 
  • Does anyone ever commit external violence without first feeling internal violence? 
  • Explain your answer.

5. “You must be the change that you wish to see."  Mahatma Gandhi  

  • What does this mean to you? 
  • If you wish to see peace on earth, what must you do to promote that?  Be specific in your answer. 
  • What will you do TODAY to start this process of change?
  • How can you convince others to become involved in being makers of peace?