"And if any nation, tongue, or people should proclaim war against them, they should first lift a standard of peace unto that people, nation, or tongue."
Doctrine and Covenants 98:34
This would be hard... not only for a community struggling to become a Zion people, but even just for an individual. When someone attacks you, in whatever way, it is difficult to not get defensive, to calm down, and to offer a peaceful response. It also, to me, seems like one of the pinnacles of self-knowledge and free will... to choose peace while others wage war. I want to be able to do that, to be like that. Perhaps that is one of the things that we are here to learn... to not just respond to others' attacks, whether emotional, mental, or physical... but to choose our actions based on what is right, not on what someone else did. No matter how large an attack, we still don't have to retaliate. It is doubly hard when we are the ones who have attacked, and we have to apologize and reorganize our hearts and minds to deal with things calmly. Peace is worth it though... worth vulnerability and occasional abject humiliation. Perhaps in time we will learn to be more peaceful people, and to maintain relationships without the thrill of the landmines that we have planted everywhere. As a community, perhaps we will eventually attain the peace that we seek... if we can learn these same lessons as a society.
Doctrine and Covenants 98:34
This would be hard... not only for a community struggling to become a Zion people, but even just for an individual. When someone attacks you, in whatever way, it is difficult to not get defensive, to calm down, and to offer a peaceful response. It also, to me, seems like one of the pinnacles of self-knowledge and free will... to choose peace while others wage war. I want to be able to do that, to be like that. Perhaps that is one of the things that we are here to learn... to not just respond to others' attacks, whether emotional, mental, or physical... but to choose our actions based on what is right, not on what someone else did. No matter how large an attack, we still don't have to retaliate. It is doubly hard when we are the ones who have attacked, and we have to apologize and reorganize our hearts and minds to deal with things calmly. Peace is worth it though... worth vulnerability and occasional abject humiliation. Perhaps in time we will learn to be more peaceful people, and to maintain relationships without the thrill of the landmines that we have planted everywhere. As a community, perhaps we will eventually attain the peace that we seek... if we can learn these same lessons as a society.
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