A Walk for Peace

Walking from Texas to Washington, DC is a hike. Twenty-three hundred miles to be exact. Facing snow and rain and frigid temperatures, the Buddhist monks walk while wearing burnt orange robes and knit hats. Their mission is to spread awareness of peace, mindfulness, compassion, loving-kindness, and unity. Their five-month journey ends on Tuesday. What impact could this activity possibly have for creating peace?

Peace walks have existed for centuries all around the world. It’s a simple idea. When nothing else works, walk. Many examples throughout history have shown the power of a walk. The 1960 Walk to Moscow to protest that country’s threat of biological and nuclear weapons. The 2015 Women Cross the DMZ walk included Gloria Steinem and other feminists to discuss peace. The walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 was intended to be peaceful, but the brute force that met the walkers began to turn the tide on Civil Rights violations. Shoot, even Forrest Gump understood the power of a walk (or run) across the country to loosen the grip of grief.

Ralph Waldo Emerson offered us advice on how to take a good walk: “Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”

The monk’s journey has been a lesson in endurance as they encountered setbacks. One monk was seriously injured by a passing car, which resulted in an extended hospital stay and ultimately a leg amputation. Their canine companion, Aloka, also encountered health issues in North Carolina but was tended to by local vets. And the weather refused to cooperate, unleashing frigid temperatures and monumental snowstorms. These obstacles remind us that no journey is conducted in their absence.

As I tracked the Walk’s progress through Virginia, I reflected on the impact of peace and kindness and compassion on our common humanity as I welcomed the distraction from an otherwise chaotic news cycle. For me, the power of the Walk for Peace has been in the moments of simple kindness it attracted.

As fractured as our country has become, is there anything more alluring (and possibly heart-healing) than witnessing acts of kindness along the route as the small, orange brigade pressed on? Children offering fruit to the monks, mothers offering flowers, many offering prayers to the meditative experience. As Americans, we wanted to support the effort monetarily, but the monks refused cash. Their needs had been sufficiently met in advance.

No matter your religious beliefs, kindness is the most basic human canon in our shared experience. To care for our fellow humans is to express love from a creator.  So to the monks, I say thank you for the inspiration and the simple reminder that kindness can lead to peace. To them, and to all of us, walk on!