As they walked, they didn’t attempt to change anything or anyone. Their plan wasn’t to teach, or preach, or protest. Instead, as they walked, they themselves practiced embodying peace. Each step was an invitation to pray and an opportunity for their own nervous systems to slow down and heal. Their compassionate hearts ache for the wider world so in need of peace, but attention was placed on their own practice of it.
As I followed the Walk for Peace, I kept thinking of the song “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” This is what the monks were about as they walked.
In this noisy and chaotic world, there is a need for protest—do speak up and shout out. To demand change and to demand justice. The world also needs the gentleness of the Walk for Peace. These monks made their way through small towns and large cities, and as they did, the people who saw them were so touched that many of them broke down, crying. It was amazing to see the impact of their peaceful, gentle, and non-demanding presence on others.
