Mar 07, 2017 Scene Report: Maya Soetoro-Ng at Cal Poly Pomona on Peacemaking
As soon as I found out AMaya Soetoro-Ng would be giving a talk about peacebuilding, I got ordered free tickets. Don’t we need peace more than ever? And who doesn’t remember her speech for her half-brother Barack Obama the DNC in 2008?
The current advisor at the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace & Conflict Resolution began by us to define peace, following up that it is not some ideal, impossible state but an actively kept balancing act that all of us contribute to by (1) seeking it within ourselves, (2) creating it with others, and (3) generating it in our communities.
And then she cited some anniversaries for peacebuilders to keep in mind: Chinese Exclusion Act (135th anniversary), Executive Order 9066 (75th anniversary),
Loving vs. Virginia (50th anniversary), Vincent Chin’s Death (35th anniversary),
L.A. Riots/Uprising (25th anniversary). Working for peace is neither new nor easy!
But it is worthwhile and effective peacemakers are all around us to provide stories and examples. Soetoro-Ng recalled that she saw her mother pioneer the use of micro-commerce to help underserved communities but she didn’t know how special that was until she was older. Such stories overlap, bind us, and make our work stronger. She challenged the audience: What actions will we take? What stories will we create?
The co-founder of Ceeds of Peace concluded the event by answering a few questions. When asked about how to handle disagreeing counterparts, she described a late-night airplane ride next to a self-proclaimed redneck who wasn’t a fan of Potus 44. But after she reluctantly engaged in conversation, they left on friendly terms and he gave her a bandana to remember him by. Her husband Konrad wears it often.
These days, all of us are empowered to work for world peace not just locally but globally. The actions we take through media and business can cross cultures and continents even if we aren’t sojourners in body, she shared.
Make peace, be open to new ideas, and follow Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too.