Peace starts from me

I recently received a call from a person committed to spreading positive messages among young people, above all through a project that brings together the voices of many boys and girls who tell their experience of good. I didn't know him, but through mutual friends he asked me to write a small text on the theme of peace: I really liked the idea and it was a great opportunity for me to reflect.

The word peace arouses many thoughts: the first goes to Ukraine and to all the situations of conflict that the world is experiencing. Furthermore, I immediately saw in my mind the images of the Arsenal invaded by thousands of people last spring: many who did not give up in the darkness of war and threw themselves on the front lines to drop bombs of good. An incredible experience!

Today many new faces remain of that experience engaged in everyday life and in hiding, but on a general level I ask myself: are we used to it again? Does this terrible wound that continues to bleed Europe also risk being forgotten like so many other wars? We need to be vigilant, but above all continue to believe that peace starts from me, from my small everyday choices. I thought back to all those situations in which I, in my small way, could have been more an element of peace. And a new motivation was born: to make my square meter even more beautiful and flourishing with peaceful fruits. Starting from the centimeter in front of me. And centimeter by centimeter, meter by meter, peace travels the kilometres.

So, I say "thank you" to those who are doing everything they can not to give up, trying to spread a positive mentality. I feel a great gratitude that smacks of a tenderness that warms the soul for the person who called me and stimulated me and for thousands of silent peacemakers who with their gestures generate the possibility of a new world.


Roberto Lerda
NP January 2023