2019 Distinguished Peace Leadership Award Acceptance Speech
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 28 Oct 2019
David Krieger | Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service
24 Oct 2019 – I have been very fortunate in my life to have a loving wife and family, and to have been able to do the work that mattered most to me – the work of trying to assure a human future.
When we founded the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the world was adrift in nuclear dangers. We began with no resources, only a belief in the necessity of awakening people everywhere to the dangers of the Nuclear Age – a time in which our technological prowess exceeds our ethical development.
We took a chance in 1982, and here we are nearly four decades later. The Foundation has been a steady, consistent and creative voice for Peace and a world free of nuclear weapons.
In the mid-1980s there were over 70,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Today there are less than 14,000.
This is progress, but clearly the job is not completed. The use of only a small percentage of these remaining weapons could end civilization as we know it and possibly the human species.
To end the nuclear threat to life on our planet, we must overcome ignorance and apathy. We must, as Einstein warned, change our modes of thinking or face “unparalleled catastrophe.”
At the Foundation we are working to create peace literate societies – societies based upon empathy, caring, kindness and overcoming fear, greed and trauma. Our Peace Literacy Initiative, headed by Paul K. Chappell, a West Point graduate, goes to the root causes of war and nuclear weapons. It is a profound way of waging peace.
As the next generation prepares to take the helm at the Foundation, I leave to them these thoughts, which go back to our founding:
- First, peace is an imperative of the Nuclear Age. Any war can become a nuclear war – by malice, madness, mistake, miscalculation or manipulation.
- Second, we must abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us. There is no doubt that this potential exists.
- Third, to succeed will require extraordinary ordinary people to lead their political leaders.
I put great faith in Rick Wayman’s leadership skills. I know he will steer the Foundation competently into the future.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said,
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”
I would add, as I’m sure he would, that we must work diligently to attain this reality. That is what the Foundation does each day, and its work must continue.
It is up to all of us to assure that this happens. The future requires no less from us, and we should demand no less from ourselves.
Among the books I’ve written is a dialogue with the Buddhist leader, philosopher, poet and educator Daisaku Ikeda called Choose Hope. My hope for each of you is that you will choose hope, continue to support the Foundation, and help change the world.
I will conclude with a poem:
A Conspiracy of Decency
We will conspire to keep this blue dot floating and alive,
to keep the soldiers from gunning down the children,to make the water clean and clear and plentiful,
to put food on everybody’s table and hope in their hearts.We will conspire to find new ways to say People matter.
This conspiracy will be bold.Everyone will dance at wholly inappropriate times.
They will burst out singing non-patriotic songs.And the not-so-secret password will be Peace.
____________________________________________
David Krieger, Ph.D. is founder and president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. Amongst several of his wide-spanning leadership endeavors in global peacebuilding, he is a founder and a member of the Global Council of Abolition 2000, councilor on the World Future Council, and is the chair of the Executive Committee of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility. He has a BA in Psychology and holds MA and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the University of Hawaii as well as a J.D. from the Santa Barbara College of Law; he served for 20 years as a judge pro tem for the Santa Barbara Municipal and Superior Courts. Dr. Krieger is the author of many books and studies of peace in the Nuclear Age. He has written or edited more than 20 books and hundreds of articles and book chapters. He is a recipient of several awards and honors, including the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology Peace Writing Award for Poetry (2010). He has a new collection of poems entitled Wake Up. For more visit the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation website: www.wagingpeace.org.
Go to Original – wagingpeace.org
Tags: Nuclear Abolition, Nuclear Ban Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, WMD
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Dedicated to the UN International Day of Nonviolence on 2 October
Nonviolence: More Fundamental than Disarmament
Surya Nath Prasad, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/08/nonviolence-more-fundamental-than-disarmament/