Making Peace and the Peace Testimony

by Greta Kirk Mickey
Gunpowder Meeting, BYM

Since the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine I have read numerous articles examining whether the Peace Testimony remains relevant in our times. As someone who carries a leading to work for world peace, my unequivocal answer is yes. Here’s why.

None of Friends' testimonies stands alone. Simplicity, Peace, Equality, Community, Integrity; they are all intertwined. Together, they lead us to a way of life that defines us as Quakers. If we each seek peace–not just an absence of war or violence, but that deep internal peace that our practice brings—then we are better able to live into each of our other testimonies. We are called to an immersive practice, a practice that defines the way that we live and interact with the world. Our inner peace is at the core.

We live in a world where crisis intervention is all too frequently the model on a global, community, and even on a personal level. We often wait until the very last minute, when there is almost no hope of rectifying a problem, to address it. This makes us feel hopeless; and from that place of hopelessness, we question the possibility of ever finding our way to peace. When we are truly at peace within ourselves and seeking equality for all, then we also have the wisdom, strength, grace, and discernment to listen, see, and feel the early seeds of unrest, and to act.

When we are at peace within ourselves, that peace begins to radiate outward to our communities and throughout the world. In 2008 I was blessed with a call to do peacemaking and conflict transformation within the country of Georgia. As a facilitator in the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) I carried my understanding of that work to Friends in Georgia. Over the course of three years, I made three trips to Georgia, running back-to-back AVP workshops while I was there.

This past summer I was asked to speak to NYYM’s Annual Sessions about the work that I had done in Georgia. As I prepared my talk, I thought about my understanding of peacemaking as the planting of seeds with the knowledge that we may never see those seeds bear fruit. I have stayed in touch with many of my Georgian friends, so I decided to reach out to them. I asked one question: Were you “able to carry anything that you learned from our time together into the way that you live and work now?” 

The responses that I received touched me deeply. Each person spoke of how the AVP experience opened their understanding of how they could use the tools that they already had within themselves to find peaceful ways to deal with conflict in their lives. For many it caused them to shift their career paths. Natuli was working as a bank manager and in an abusive marriage when I met her. After her AVP experience she left both her marriage and her job. Today she works with the UN as a coordinator of the UN women’s project “Stop the Violence”. Natuli shared that she “wanted to do more to spread peace…to show how amazing life is without violence”.

Others shared that they use the skills that they learned in their daily work. Davit uses them in his work with children. Anna works with international peacemaking organizations. Eliko remains in Georgia and heads an organization doing AVP both in Georgia and Ukraine. Tamuna shared “… AVP opened my eyes and I learned how we can reply to violence nonviolently. Thanks to [the] AVP program I started to feel life again, started to believe in myself again. I became emotionally stable (again), and the quality of my and my children’s life improved. Many thanks to this program and people who work hard to bring peace in the world.”

These are just a few of the people in the country of Georgia that I was privileged to meet and to work with. They are the living example of what our loving and caring outreach can do. They represent a small fraction of the seeds planted in Georgia; seeds that have sprouted, bloomed, and continue to bear fruit as they themselves plant the seeds of peace. It is an immense blessing.

As Friends, living into our testimonies can and does have the potential to change lives at home and around the world.