* In
1987, when I learned of the contest called "Imagine Peace," I became
very excited. I quickly decided to enter and eagerly worked on my submission.
The task was to choose a single international "conflict" and describe
a possible scenario for resolving that conflict. I chose the Cold War conflict
between the United States and the Soviet Union. The winner was to participate
in the creation of a television or movie screenplay. Although I didn't win the
contest, I think my ideas were--and remain--worthy of serious consideration.
© 1987,
Stephen E. Linn, Ph.D.
By Stephen E. Linn, Ph.D.
I
|
n the face of his
being upstaged by Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and arms limitations initiatives
and by Oscar Arias' Central American peace agreement and Nobel recognition (as
well as the tarnishing of his reputation by "Iran-Contra-Gate" and
the Bork nomination), nineteen eighty seven is an agonizing year for Ronald
Reagan's hopes to be recorded in history as a great president. In its October
19, 1987 issue, Time magazine reports that "as Reagan's political
power inevitably fades, White House Chief of Staff, Howard Baker's goal is to
carve a niche for Reagan as a national political teacher during his final
year." In early 1988, in a last ditch effort to assure his place in
history and to score a "coup" for himself--as well as for his party
during the upcoming election campaign--Ronald Reagan creates the blue-ribbon
Presidential Commission on Peace. Among its members are three peace activists,
a statesman from each political party and three psychologists (all of whom are
already well-known for their commitments to peace). Three representatives from
the Soviet Union also accept invitations to participate. The Commission's mandate
is to investigate all that is known so far about achieving peace (the state of
the art about the "Peace Process," as it came to be known) and, by
July 4th, 1988, to report its recommendations for implementing a plan
for achieving nothing less than a lasting peace, first between the two super
powers and ultimately throughout the world.
The commission draws several significant and striking
conclusions:
1. Peace is not merely the absence of war. The peoples of both the
USSR and the USA have been living under the threat of war for so long that
their individual and collective consciousness are characterized by mistrust,
suspicion, and apprehension.
2. In order to achieve peace, they must be helped to transform this
"imminent threat" consciousness into a "harmony"
consciousness, to transform an 'adversary' consciousness into a "fellow
man" consciousness (a way of being which had gained some ground around the
world in the 1960's). In order to live in a world of peace, they first have to
be instructed in peace: Just as there are skills requisite for living at war,
there are skills essential for gaining peace and for living in peace. These
include: self-esteem enhancement, listening, self-disclosure, and win-win
negotiating skills, as well as the skills necessary for "projecting"
themselves into that world, to imagine or visualize how it is to live in such a
world, and even to practice doing so.
3. This mistrust is not merely of citizens of the other country; it
extends to relationships with one's own countrymen and derives from cultural
mores learned throughout childhood. An example of this is the injunction that
it's not acceptable to reveal to someone that that person's behavior disturbs
you. This gets communicated by such exclamations as, "Don't you dare talk
to your mother like that" or "Don't be disrespectful. Such mores are,
themselves, based upon this threat consciousness (which, in this case, resides
in the belief that the disturbing person will disapprove or harm you if you
express your distress).
4. Most of the world's political leaders are simply not aware of or
choose not to engage in win-win negotiating and communicating; instead, they
participate in such threat consciousness acts as posturing, threatening,
deceiving (e.g., the assertions by the US that it was not trading arms to
Iran), and name-calling (e.g., Reagan calling the USSR the "evil
empire").
5. There must be a reeducation of both populations, including their
political leaders, on a massive scale. While this must include the sharing of
"facts" (about peace consciousness, enhancing self-esteem, effective
communicating and win-win negotiating), as is done in traditional educating, it
must also be heavily laden with "experiential" learning, involving
both the ventilating of unexpressed angers, fears, hurts, sadnesses, and
desires, as well as the imagining of peace, including relaxation, visualization
and role-play.
6. Therefore, extensive training in self-esteem enhancement and
communication must be instituted to teach skills of self-valuing; listening,
self-disclosure and win-win" negotiating.
7. The body of knowledge and the skills required for executing this
program already exist; there is an easily accessed pool of well-trained
professionals available.
8. The agency responsible for carrying this out, as well as for
communicating to both the Soviet and American people the seriousness of these
intentions, is a cabinet level Department of Peace, headed by a Secretary of
Peace. It is to be established as soon as possible and to be funded by both
Federal funds and monies contributed separately by private individuals.
9. The time is ripe for such an undertaking, since many of the
peoples of both nations are weary and frightened of wars and threats of wars
and are yearning for peace.
Of course, the "hawks" in Congress are very suspicious
and, on the heels of the dissemination of the Commission's findings, a great
debate springs up overnight, both on Main Street America and in the halls of
Congress. There's hasn't been anything like it since the Vietnam debates.
Nevertheless, by the middle of October, in spite of some threat of filibuster
in the Senate, Congress enacts the law establishing the Department of Peace and
setting in motion further research into peace as well as making way for a pilot
Peace Consciousness program.
The neophyte Department of Peace becomes, in effect, a
"think tank" devoted to both the study of and the implementation of
the Peace Process. The best minds in America are drawn to it. Although there
are still many skeptics, there is a surprising ground swell of excitement. Many
of those people who were active in the search for peace in the 60's but have
since disappeared from the public scene, with their own children now grown up,
have again become articulately and energetically involved: The Phoenix arising
from the ashes, as it were.
School kids around the country
collect and contribute nearly $50 million to the DOP. Not surprisingly, the
song, "Give Peace a Chance"
is revived and heard everywhere. An often-heard refrain is, "If we can
send people to the moon, then we can find a way to achieve peace." One of
the early projects of the DOP is the formation of Peace Sections in libraries
across America. This is soon followed by the creation of Peace Science
departments and peace science majors at many of our colleges and universities.
(Eventually, peace science studies filter down into the secondary and
elementary schools.)
Within six months, the DOP develops the Peace Game, based on its
newly developed maxim:
Truth ¾® Trust ¾® Satisfaction ¾®
Safety ¾® Peace
It's both a board game and a field game (the DOP's answer to the
Survival Game, which has been so popular among the hawks).
At the urging
of the Secretary of Peace, Congress passes a "Peace Bill" which,
among other things, makes provision for taxpayers to dedicate a modest portion
of their income tax to the Peace Fund. In addition, as both enticement and
compensation for participants in the Peace Consciousness program (the actual
events have come to be called Peace-Ins, large-scale training events
reminiscent of such consciousness raising programs as LifeSpring--at least in
their form), it provides such benefits as income tax credits and deductions,
scholarships and low interest loans for college attendance (particularly for
studies in peace science), no down payment purchases of homes, and mortgages
guaranteed by an agency of the federal government (similar to the Veteran's
Administration).
The Peace Bill also establishes a nationwide contest for a Peace
Monument, which is to be a memorial recognizing the contributions of those who
participate in the Peace Program. By the spring of 1989, some 300,000 Americans
have already participated in the Peace-Ins.
Not to be upstaged by the success of the Reagan initiative,
Chairman Gorbachev creates a similar Soviet organization, By the fall of 1989,
The DOP begins an open Peace Dialogue with its Soviet counterpart on live
television, broadcast simultaneously in the USA and the USSR (on ground broken
by ABC's 1987 "Capitol-to-Capitol" broadcasts).
This dialogue between the Americans and the Soviets does not
focus on arms limitations, but on the means for providing lasting peace. It's
stated aim (just as in the Peace-Ins) is that each nation's participants strive
for mutual satisfaction, rather than their own satisfaction at the others'
expense. This is based upon the understanding that mutual trust, which constitutes
the ground for peace, is the outcome of 1) dialogue--real-talk--over an
extended period of time, and 2) each providing the other with a track record of
being trustworthy.
Among the many positive outcomes of these extended dialogues are
greatly increased tourism in both directions, increased trade, an augmented
student exchange program, a Peace Exchange, which provides for the free
exchange of data, ideas, and Peace Products between the US and the USSR, a
Peace-In Exchange Program (wherein Soviet and American citizens are free to
choose to participate in each other's Peace Programs, almost at will), and a
Peace Work Exchange Program modeled after the U.S. Peace Corps.
By the
end of 1990, the Peace Program is being adopted by many countries around the
world, particularly western countries, such as Canada, Great Britain, France,
Sweden, Denmark, Japan, and even The Peoples' Republic of China. The
ever-increasing excitement about the growing possibilities for peace is a
surprise to everyone. The growing rapport between the United States and the
Soviet Union is also a surprise (except to those who remember the sudden
turnabout in our relations with China).
This rapprochement turns out to have
unexpected influence upon the other countries of the world, particularly on
their ability to trust and therefore to take a less belligerent posture in
their involvements with one another. Another surprise is that the reputation of
the US as a warmonger has been transformed: Many of the world's people are
pleased to discover that they are trusting that both the US and the USSR are
truly committed to peace.
n n n
I submit that the above scenario is possible. It's based upon
well-known (at least among experts in communication) and well-tested principles
of both psychology and communication. Among these are:
§
No one wins until everyone wins; that is,
successful communication is possible only if no one is made "wrong."
§
Ultimately, successful communication and
negotiation can occur only between people who believe they are worthy and
adequate individuals (that is, who come from an "okay" position
rather than from a "not-okay" position, characterized by a belief
that they are flawed and unworthy of love ).
Information and processes for
effectively and safely enhancing self-esteem are well described in Dr. Nathaniel Branden's work on self-esteem
and in Dr. Sidney Simon's work on
"values clarification" (as well as in the work of many
others).
Skills, information, and processes for effective listening,
self-disclosure, and "win-win" negotiating can be found in the work
of Dr. Thomas Gordon (and others).
In my
judgment, this scenario could be presented most effectively in the form of a
television mini-series or as a movie. That is, in phase II, I would be writing
a screenplay for either television or a movie. It would be an instrument by
which viewers could gain in peace-consciousness (they could "imagine
peace") as well as learn new skills while watching one of the world's most
important dramas unfold on the screen. The advantage of a television
mini-series is that viewers could tape it while watching, in order to practice
the skills depicted at later times. In so doing, they would be taking the first
steps in the very process they are watching.
n n n
For more than
11 years, I've been a licensed psychologist in private clinical practice and Director
of the Caring Place. The Caring Place is a "growth center" offering
classes and workshops aimed at helping participants achieve effectiveness and
satisfaction in their relationships and in their work worlds.
For 14 years,
I have been specializing in communication and relationship skills training as
well as in relationship counseling. I also consult with businesses to help them
achieve peace within their managerial ranks. I believe I've become keenly aware
of what it is that helps create trust and, ultimately, satisfaction and peace.
In addition, I've
done a modest amount of writing for the Allegheny Journal (a newspaper)
and for Lifestyles magazine and have been a guest on many radio programs
and on such television shows as AM Pittsburgh, the Marie Torre Show,
Pittsburgh Today and Weekend Magazine.
I've long
been concerned about the state of the world and interested in the process of
peace. But, until now, I've not found a vehicle through which I might
contribute in more than a peripheral way.
n n n
peace
organizations online
Peace Action | Nonviolence.Org
| International Peace Bureau
Traprock Peace Center | Win Without War
special topics
Toys are for fun, not fighting (A War
Toys FAQ)
Another
Mother for Peace: Peace Homework
n n n