KEEPING THE PEACE

You've seen it in the movies: a rugged cowboy draws his six-shooter
from a holster on his hip and exclaims, "This is my peacekeeper." But
it isn't true that firearms and violence keep the peace. True
peacekeepers and peacemakers are not weapons, but people.

Do you remember the famous feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys?
A squabble started between these families of Kentucky and West
Virginia
during the American Civil War. After the war, the feud was kept going
by disputes over a $l.75 fiddle and a stray razorback hog.

According to Stan Mooneyham, "Dancing on The Strait & Narrow" (Harper
& Row, 1989), by election day 1882 the situation deteriorated to the
point that three McCoy brothers killed Ellison Hatfield because he had
insulted them. "Devil Anse," head of the Hatfield clan, had the three
McCoys rounded up and tied to bushes within sight of their family
cabin; then he put fifty rifle bullets into them. After that it was a
life for a life -- sometimes two or three -- and even women became
just part of the body count. Hostilities didn't finally abate until
the second decade of the twentieth century. The cost to the two
families was immense. Almost thirty deaths were recorded in the most
famous example of "sweet revenge" turned sour in U.S. history.

You can hardly call any of the weapons used peacekeepers or
peacemakers. Widow-makers, perhaps. And orphan-makers. But not
peacemakers. Weapons are not peacemakers -- people are.

It was Albert Einstein who said so well, "Peace cannot be kept by
force. It can only be achieved by understanding." You and I are the
only ones who will ever keep the peace. And make it.

Blessed are the peacemakers.
__________

Steve Goodier Publisher@LifeSupportSystem.com is a professional
speaker, consultant and author of numerous books. Visit his site for
more information, or to sign up for his FREE newsletter of Life, Love
and Laughter at http://LifeSupportSystem.com.