Peace is always beautiful.
This quote is often attributed to Walt Whitman, and it’s worth reflecting on most days.
The quote “Peace is always beautiful.” is often attributed to Walt Whitman, an American poet who wrote poetry during the American Civil War. What a thing to do! Reflect on peace and beauty and write poems about it during war, dangerously close to the battlefield…
I can’t stop thinking about it.
Whitman worked as a volunteer nurse during the war, caring for both Union and Confederate soldiers, constantly confronted with extreme division and human carnage… still found peace and beauty, then wrote about it.
And the more I think about this, the more it makes sense. What better place to understand what peace truly is than in the middle (or sidelines) of a battlefield? Where there is so much conflict, peace stands out. And in a place where you are constantly confronted with ugliness and carnage, beauty stands out.
You cannot truly know or deeply understand a thing until you are confronted with its opposite, yes?
With Whitman’s perspective in mind, I truly can’t think of anything that is peaceful but not beautiful. Consider a sunset. Consider silence. … Consider ___fill in the blank___.
While there are many things that are beautiful but not peaceful, I can’t currently think of anything that is peaceful but not beautiful.
Now, keeping Whitman’s immortal words in mind, I wonder: How can we find peace in our current world, then write about it? Do we go looking for it in the middle of conflict? Seems ironic, maybe oxymoronic, but true. Or should we go looking for things that are beautiful? Or choose to focus on those things that are beautiful?
I’m still reflecting on this…
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