Peace Heroes

Where media has failed, this museum would carry the torch.

by Bruce Schimmel

Making peace is hard. Take the case of a young man who called me last fall. He told me of his plans to get on a ship to break Israel's blockade. He had to do something to ease the suffering in Gaza.

He sounded sincere, though good intentions can take bad turns. So, I asked what might happen.

"Well, the Israeli Navy will probably stop us."

"And then?"

"And then, well ... I don't know."

Considering what did just happen in similar circumstances — the deception, the deaths and the unjust demonizing of Israel — this wasn't a good way to promote peace.

Making peace is hard. It takes planning, and it takes courage to lay down arms and search for humanity in the heart of your enemy.

So, blessed are the peacemakers, about a hundred of whom assembled last weekend at Moore College of Art & Design. Unrelated to, though in the shadow of, this violence, we spent a couple of days planning for peace here at home.

For hours, we scribbled ideas on giant Post-It notes, talking and debating — usually peaceably — about a new $80 million Envision Peace Museum in Philadelphia.

We were blessed twice, actually. First, by Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, who reminded us that "peacemaking is in the city's genes" — to say nothing of the actual DNA of many who attended from the Quaker community.

And we were blessed again by Mayor Michael Nutter, who offered warm encouragement with a refreshing splash of reality.

The hundred or so peacemakers came from all kinds of communities. Our overall goal was to plan a place to showcase the heroism of peacemakers, to tell the stories that journalism overlooks. "If it bleeds, it leads" hasn't been a formula to promote peace. Where media has failed, this museum will have to carry the torch.

But it soon became clear that telling tales would not be enough. Not when the City of Brotherly Love is drowning in hate.

If we were going to talk the talk, we'd have to walk the walk. The Envision Peace Museum could also be a clearinghouse, a Greater Philadelphia Peace Alliance. To go into schools roiling in violence. To send "Peacemobiles" to communities in turmoil. And to celebrate the unsung peacemakers — the mothers, fathers, preachers and teachers — who struggle heroically, often in obscurity.

Nutter arrived as the conference concluded to offer his benediction. "We're broke," he announced, forestalling the hope that the city would pitch in financially.

But when asked if the new museum should get into the business of making peace, Nutter concurred: "The real work you'll do will be in the streets."

Under the thumb of drug dealers who terrorize neighborhoods, many Philadelphians can't imagine anything other than violence.

"When disagreements end with a smack across the face," said Nutter, "that's all some children learn."

Peace is hard. It'll take planning and the courage of many hundreds more.

(bruce@schimmel.com)

For more information, visit envisionpeacemuseum.org.