The first step to peace is knowing that “your side” is not innocent and that you are responsible for peacemaking. What does that mean, peacemaking? It requires actively seeking peace in the most difficult of situations, and it means, for the sake of peace, giving up all that you want. Too many in the West point accusatory fingers at others and declare that their adversary is unwilling to negotiate. Clichés are bandied about, such as “They only understand strength (aka more killing).” The truth is there is only one path to peace and it’s not more killing or more armaments or more sanctions but directly and purposefully pursuing peace. Christ Jesus in the New Testament asks us, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
In Ukraine, Western voices consistently demonize Russia without acknowledging the West’s insidious role in instigating and fueling a conflict that killed approximately 14,000 people between 2014 and 2022. Western elites and mainstream media sources have created a narrative of a Manichaean world, with all good on one side and all bad on the other. But that is an illusion, a tactic in fact, to create more conflict, which boosts profits for weapons manufacturers but leaves destruction and tragedy in its wake. If you are a citizen of a Western country, then you have a responsibility to speak out against the ills of your own government. The New Testament teaches us to remove the plank from your own eye before you take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Is your country free from the proverbial spot or wrinkle? Is your country promoting well-being, justice, fairness, and peace? Or are your leaders acknowledging these important values with their lips in front of television cameras, while bowing down and praying to military contracts and the green-eyed monster of greed?
We need peace. But true peace in Ukraine, just as in Yemen, Iraq, Somalia or any other war, will never come through the barrel of a gun; rather, it will come through respecting the dignity of the other. Christ Jesus instructed us to “love your enemies” and to “pray for those that persecute you.” Citizens of Western countries and supporters of Ukraine are advised to place themselves in the shoes of others. They must understand the plight of the people of Donbass, whose children hid in basements from Western-backed Ukrainian shelling for eight years. They must understand what it feels like to have your native language prohibited by your own government, your pensions stripped, and to be called terrorists for wanting your basic rights of self-determination.
Two roads now exist that go in opposite directions. The first is a narrow road with a large sign that reads “Peace.” To travel this road, one must use diplomacy based on genuine understanding of others’ interests and upholding the dignity of every human being. The second path is wide, heavily trodden with boot prints, and at its entry stands a large sign that reads, “Total Victory!” This is a winding road with little to no visibility going forward. Around the first bend you experience tragedy, sorrow, and destruction before your very eyes. Traveling this road, around each bend, you face increasing tragedy, sorrow, and destruction, until you reach an eerily familiar place, a fork in the road with two signs.