Peace Essay #3

This week's Peace Essay comes from Erin Polley, a Program Associate for AFSC's Eyes Wide Open Exhibit in our Great Lakes Region:

There was a time when I was younger that the word peace conjured up images of a hippie generation made mythic through television and film. I had only a vague notion of what peace meant, and I certainly didn’t think I would end up working for it every day of my life.

Now when I think about what peace means to me, I see people. I see the faces of people I’ve marched alongside in protest of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think of those first few people who nurtured my anger over the wars into activism through peacemaking. I recall the 10 or so volunteers I worked with each Monday night for a year as we dreamed up the Eyes Wide Open exhibit. And of course, I see most vividly some of my closest friends and colleagues at AFSC. Peace, to me, is my community.

I never considered myself an activist until I was arrested protesting the start of the Iraq war back in 2003. I knew what was taking place was not right and that war would not settle anything, at home or abroad. I felt powerless, frustrated and sad as I watched “Shock and Awe” unfold on my TV screen. It wasn’t until I was arrested, along with about a thousand other people, did I really feel like there was power in my opposition. For hours I sat in a detention room with 30 women, many of them seasoned activists, and made friendships that endure today.

Through my work with AFSC, I’ve been given the opportunity to work for peace and to provide opportunities for others to engage in peacemaking. For years I was able to organize with a network of folks in Chicago and now I am building my peace family in Indianapolis, where I live now. Being a part of a community that strives for a better, more peaceful tomorrow has changed my life in ways I could have never imagined. Each person that I have met in this work has informed and shaped my own beliefs and practices in peace. I’ve discovered, most importantly, that we cannot have peace without those that seek to attain it.


All essays on this theme are the work and opinion of their authors, even those who are AFSC staff. The authors (including staff) are free to disagree with AFSC's positions, and therefore these essays should not be seen as statements by AFSC. We share them in the hope of sparking conversation about the true meanings of peace.