Peacemaking or Advocacy?

Even those of us who fancy ourselves us peacemakers have ways of setting things in opposition, of making something else “other.” Maybe, Roshi Bernie taught me, that’s just the dualistic way our brains work. Isn’t it ironic that one of the oppositions I set up is peacemaking versus advocacy?

Peacemaking and advocacy are different practices, different ingredients in the dance of life. Maybe, as we used to say in mental health, they are “phase-related.” Maybe advocacy is the dance of the young. Maybe peacemaking is the way of the elders.

Peacemaking and advocacy each has its own danger. For advocates, a big challenge is stifling any doubts that arise about the righteousness of our position. There’s always an equally passionate advocate who disagrees with you completely. Nothing enrages us more than an Other who shakes our confidence in our righteousness.

What’s the biggest challenge for peacemakers?  Is peacemaking always good? Aren’t there occasions when the desire for peace becomes compromise with evil, when peacemaking become appeasement? I spent most of my life as an advocate, personally and professionally. These days, focused on peacemaking, personally and as a Zen teacher, I’ve stepped away from advocacy. There are more than a few times each day when something comes up which prompts a pause: shouldn’t I be out there in the streets protesting?

Part of the story that I tell myself is that this is the time in my life for peacemaking. It’s more than just listening to my body getting older: “Ken, your days of running from tear gas are way behind you.” And it’s not just my body talking: “Ken, you’ve worked hard all your life; you deserve some retirement.” There’s always an answer of course: “Ken, there are a lot of people older than you at the barricades.” And yet there’s the nagging guilt of my inner advocate.

Is it just nostalgia? We do need peace. We do need to heal. Maybe part of being older is the readiness to make peacemaking the priority. At least part of my experience of getting older is realizing how little true peace in my life came from my righteousness.