Letters to the Editor 9-22-16

Day of Peace
Editor:
Do you know that Sept. 21 is the United Nations International Day of Peace?
We are writing in the hopes that everyone reading this letter would do at least one thing for peace this year. Many people we speak to about having a cabinet level Department of Peace and a Secretary of Peacebuilding agree that it makes sense. In fact even our first president, President Washington, following the war for independence, had asked Benjamin Rush to write the first proposal for a Department of Peace in 1793 and similar Congressional bills for the same have been introduced more than 100 times since then.
Do you know that Representative Barbara Lee introduced legislation HR 1111 for a Department of Peacebuilding which was unanimously endorsed by the California Democratic Party in 2013 and 2015? Do you also know that the Sonoma County Department of Peacebuilding campaign delivered an important global resolution to the Sonoma County Democratic Party which was unanimously endorsed by both our county committee and the California Democratic Party last year?
You may ask what resolution was this? It is a resolution urging the establishment of departments and infrastructures for peace within the government structures of the 196 sovereign States of the United Nations to support a culture of peace. A similar resolution has been created for delivery to the United Nations General Assembly.
So we ask that you please do one thing for peace this year. Please read the resolution at www.peacenow.com and become one of the billion signatories for peace by signing the global petition at www.peacenow.com.
Please know that our campaign transcends politics although in California and elsewhere we have only been able to reach out to one party being rejected by others and unable to move it forward in parties without infrastructure.
Remember for peace to be observed it will not be successful if practiced for just a season or for just one day, and we all know that a temporary cease-fire does not work. It is up to us to make it work by practicing peacebuilding every single hour of every single day in every single relationship, at home, at work, in our community and most importantly during election campaigns.
You shall be making a huge step for peace when you read the resolution at www.peacenow.com and sign the petition.
Sent in the spirit of peace.
Margaret Koren
Windsor