Welcome to KPFT, Radio for Peace.  While we use the word peace frequently at this station, I sometimes wonder what exactly is peace?

It seems easier to define violence - it is pervasive in our society, and we seem to have come to accept it as inevitable.  The World Health Organization estimates the cost of interpersonal violence (excluding war related costs) in the United States at over $300 billion a year.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the second leading cause of death (behind accidents) for people between the ages of 10 and 24, and suicide is third.  There are an estimated 31,000 gangs operating in about 4,800 cities and towns.  Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, and 22% of the women in the United States, more than 1 in 5, have reported being physically assaulted by an intimate partner.  Between societies, warfare has plagued humankind throughout most of recorded history.  With each technological advance in weaponry, the potential for irreversible catastrophic consequences increases.  The true cost of war to society is impossible to calculate. 

The United States currently spends hundreds of billions of dollars annually reacting to violence within our society, as well as inflicting violence on others.  We have invested in academies and laboratories designed to study the art and the science of violence, so that our weapons may be more efficient and more potent.

But what of peace?  It seems that the state of peace is comprised of two essential and interrelated components:  inner peace, a state of harmony within oneself; and outer peace, a state of harmony with our world and those with whom we share it.  If peace is desirable, and consists of a harmonious state within and between people, then how do we acquire peace, or increase the amount of peace that currently exists?    What are the great academies of peace in this nation?  Its churches?  Schools?  Businesses?  Perhaps all of these institutions foster peace.  Our national and individual conception of peace is difficult to even define.  Might it not be appropriate to dedicate some portion of our collective resources to the study and advancement of peace in our world?
 
Human beings are part of the animal kingdom, and as such our behavior is not all that different from many other species of animal on this planet.  Science has shown that our brains and our bodies undergo physical changes when we are exposed to stress, when we are afraid and insecure.  Exposure to chronic stress in animals raises levels of stress hormones and neurotransmitters, and commonly leads to one of two results: depression or aggression, neither of which is conducive to inner or outer peace.  Conversely, schools of behavioral study have shown that a foundation of positive behavioral modification in animals requires an environment that the animal perceives as safe and secure.  Many successful forms of animal entrainment rely first on the satisfaction of the animal’s basic needs, a secure environment, and relationships based on trust.  It is upon this platform that animals of every sort have demonstrated amazing behavioral feats.

We know much about the science of animal needs, about the relationship of stressful and insecure environments to aggression, about the relationship between security and trust to positive and useful behaviors.  It is surprising that we do not more diligently apply these lessons to human societies.   

How might we implement better processes that foster trust between people?  What actions can we take that will allow us, all of us, to see others as we see ourselves?  What can we as a society do to help produce citizens that view their fellow human beings as friends and family, rather than strangers or enemies?   This much is clear to me: while violence destroys capital and causes losses, peace develops capital and provides returns.  What extraordinary returns await a world at true peace?

I’m Leo Gold.  This is The New Capital Show.