Defining peace

How would you define peace?

At my desk, I have a beautiful calligraphic mantra of “Practicing,” a poem by Cathryn Hankla. In part, it reads:

Like forgiveness
Peace is a practice

Moment to moment
It’s how we choose to be

Think about that: It’s how we choose to be -- and not just how we choose to appear for a split second on the international stage, but at every moment of our lives.

But how can we define it? Is it the absence of war? Or is it the presence of something else?

Let us know.

Laurie