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War is horrific. There is nothing glorious in its brutality. No matter how hard you try to gloss over the slaughter of a beloved child, her mother, father, sister or brother with power bragging and victory speech making, the horror of war remains.

Even with our eyes sealed in patriotic denial, the making of war remains the unspeakably worst of what it means to be human.

John Steinbeck wrote, “All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.”

English writer Robert Fisk said of war, “It represents a total failure of the human spirit.”

That it’s a spiritual matter is unquestionable, but it goes deeper than failure, it goes to an unfed, starved spirituality that knows only its hunger.

In Washington we watch a lost spirit spend itself trying to fill its inner void. Another sexual conquest, more money, more power, more glory. More golden trophies, more insults, more self-flattery, more bullying – the list is long.

Of all these needs, none is more dangerous and more tragic than grandiosity, the need to feel chosen. It is the quickest route to intolerance, and in its kneejerk intolerance of diversity, resides the wormhole to war.

We, the chosen, are the anointed. The others, in their difference, range from the deluded to the demonic.
True negotiation dies in the golden mask of grandiosity. Kings get their way, they alone hold sway, kings do not bend. From their regal throne there is no platform of respect from which to legitimately and earnestly listen. It’s my way or the highway!

When today’s kings are thwarted, more missiles are launched, bombers are sent out, blood is shed, hearts are broken and more enemies are made.

A culture of domination leaves our planet’s largest problems in the dust raised by battlefield glory. We see this today in the Middle East.

On our own city streets paramilitary mercenaries rudely manhandle, sometimes execute, our hardworking brothers and sisters who came here to find peace, and a better way of life. In another age they would have been slave hunters, returning their quarry to the plantation. We watch in horror a spiritless, unquenchable and ugly quest for domination.

There is another way. A way practiced by many Native Americans. The Navajo use the word Hozho, “Walking in Beauty,” to describe living in pursuit of balance, peace and harmony.

The Lakota say Mitakuye Oyas’in, meaning “We are all Related.”

The Ojibwe try to live life based on the principle of Gidinawendimin, “We are all Family, we are all one.”

The Quakers, a non-violent, peace-loving people put it like this, “Love thy Neighbor – No Exceptions!”

As family, all are worthy of love, of respect, of being spoken to with honesty, of being heard and treated fairly.

Think on this for a while. Compare this to the angry, name calling, violent and bullying nation we have become.

We have a Department of War that we support with a budget of around $960 billion each year. This exceeds the military spending of the next six highest spending countries in the world: including Russia and China. 

President Trump wants $1.5 Trillion next year. Where is our Department of Peace? 

Why is warmaking our only option? Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence, called for a Department of Peace in 1793. Since then, there have been at least 13 serious attempts to pass bills authorizing such a significant department, not counting a large flurry of attempts between 1955 and 1968. None of them have succeeded.

Perhaps we should ask those whose wealth is in the building of war machinery why there is no presidential cabinet seat for the peacemakers? What does the fact that we don’t have a Peace Department say about our country?

As caretakers of this planet and out of gratitude for our opportunity to walk upon it, should we not demand a well-funded Department of Peace based on the principles of Hozho?

Should we not learn to “Walk in Beauty” in the full awareness of global, familial love? Certainly our recent vision of earth from space tells us we all are indeed one, very fortunate, planetary family.
A recent experience pulling invasive garlic mustard with staff from Wausau’s Parks Department leaves me with great hope. 

Along with several other volunteers we were joined by a class of youngsters from a local school and their parents. No video games, no tablets, only nature to interact with and the kids loved it. Their chatter, laughter and cries of excitement showed us all how easy it would be to teach the next generation to take care of the natural world.

One of them found a Jack in the Pulpit and spontaneously hollered out his discovery to the world. Every one of the children ran over excitedly, and almost reverently, to witness this special plant. Would it not be easy to build on this joy, this love for nature?

There was absolutely no bickering, no bully appeared, just mutual glee at play in Mother Nature’s garden.

I am convinced we are not naturally violent people. I am convinced we thrive best on cooperation and mutual respect. Is this not a reality to build on and foster? Would the world not be a much better place if we nurtured love, respect and care for one another and the earth?

Would we not be so much better off if we followed the principle of family love rather than illusions of superiority and dominance?

Would not a strong, cabinet level Department of Peace help us become a more peaceful people. Would a Department of Peace not be a much more uplifting role model for our beloved children, and the rest of the world?

If we must have leaders, let us not follow those who divide us; let us choose those who “Walk in Beauty,” who follow the family path laid out by the Navajo, the Lakota, the Ojibwe and the Quakers. Leaders who clearly show that they love and honor all nations deeply, who care for and want to help all people thrive, and who gratefully respect and lovingly steward our one and only Earth.

Leaders of this sort will insist on a strong Department of Peace.

What direction will your precious vote take our national soul this November?

These are not foolish words. It is said that “There is no way to peace; peace is the way.”

Only as a peaceful people will we stand proud with lightened conscience. Only then might we finally find the global community we long for. Let us have a strong Department of Peace to inspire us to peacemaking.

Dan Barth is a retired social worker from Mosinee, Wis., and writes for the Middle Wisconsin News (an online volunteer publication). He lives with his wife, Kathleen, on an old farm where they garden and drive an EV powered by sunshine. His great grandfather was a Metis from Canada and he is proud of his Ojibwe genes.