A Glimpse of Peace Culture

It is pretty safe to say that interactions between other people and ourselves affect our disposition. I also venture to assume that you, at least once in your life, have had a brief and simple interaction with another person that “made your day.” That person did something small that put a smile on your face or made you laugh or just made you feel good. These interactions are the core of what Peace Culture (PC) is. Of course these instances have been occurring long before PC was thought up. The only difference is that we seek out and create these situations. In essence, Peace Culture is being in the business of making someone’s day.
I’ve noticed that those of us who engage in PC treat the name Peace Culture like a verb. We do this because the whole point is to positively affect someone’s mood through your action. At the time of this writing people have been doing PC for about four years now. It has spread from its roots in the Midwest to a few other pockets around the US. These people who are doing PC could be seen brainstorming ways to make their neighbor smile before they go to work. Or a group of guys long-boarding around looking for the chance to lend a hand to people doing yard work. Or pulling their car over to help a kid put the chain back on her bike. It is somewhat difficult to plan out ways to effect people in this way at first or see every opportunity to do so, but after a while of exercising one’s creativity and learning from others doing PC the ideas with real potential are bound to surface. Doing something to intentionally make someone else feel good puts you on such a high that you begin to get hungry for it.
From early on we observed that PC does not end with the initial act but has a ripple-effect. This is because when you make someone smile their mood improves and the next person they interact with gets that smile too. And that is why we call it Peace Culture, because through one act we often set off a chain reaction putting untraceable amounts of people in better moods and making their days. Through our simple, yet very intentional, actions we change the way people deal with each other and thus create a more Peaceful Culture.
Although the ripple effect is often hard to observe occasionally the process can be glimpsed. In one such case I had stopped by a coffee shop where my friend Miranda worked only to find that she was not there that day. Her coworker, who I had previously met, was however and after taking my order she gave me a free cup of coffee. Now before I had engaged in PC I would have very genuinely thanked her and then left feeling great. However, this time I took a moment and sat down to think up a way to return the favor and make this woman’s day. After a few moments of thought I wrote down the following quote on a napkin.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, a free cup of coffee, or the smallest act of caring…all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

I put it in her hand as I walked out of the door and thanked her again. I did not hear anything about the note for a long time and had no idea if she even read it or just thought I was giving her a napkin. Then some four months later my friend Miranda remembered the incident and recounted to me how her coworker had raved the next day about how nice of guy I was and how great that napkin had made her feel. Miranda also got exited when she heard this and as she is herself involved in PC she could see first hand the impact it on her coworker. When she told me about this we were driving at night on a road trip and got exited all over again about the story. So much so that we woke up our two sleeping friends in the back seat, who are also regular participants in PC, and told them the story.
We have told a quite a few people about PC and the number of those who are doing it is increasing. Many times people become inspired and their day is made just by hearing others or myself talk about what PC is and what we are currently doing. For this reason I have decided to write a book on Peace Culture and hopefully expose more people to what has become one of the greatest things I’ve ever been involved with. We have also created this blog and asked you to contribute to it because we believe you to be a person who would appreciate it for what it is and perhaps wish to participate.
–please feel free to pass this on to anyone you feel might be interested. Soon after you are invited to this blog you will be made an administrator which will allow you to add people you feel would be interested in PC. Please respect what PC is and only invite individules who will do likewise.--


PS: If you wish to be a contributor please comment on any post stating your desire and we will gladly make you a contributor.

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"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on."
--President John F. Kennedy