WHO WE ARE

                                                     

Soldiers For Peace are by definition all who fight for justice in their communities, nations and the world at large. Collectively, we are Soldiers For Peace International. We number in the millions, though most of us do not know each other. Most of us have never met and will not meet, but we are bound by our membership in this virtual Army. Each of us volunteered to enlist when we decided to work for the greater good. We do not have commanders. No one issues orders. No one speaks for us collectively. Each of us decides how best to dedicate ourselves to the cause of justice, which is the only way to achieve global peace. It is the sum total of our efforts that will see us to victory.

As Founder, I have dedicated myself to promoting awareness of our collective power through raising awareness of Soldiers For Peace. I believe that one of the most important things that we can do is to challenge the widely held view that war is inevitable. When enough people reject that self-fulfilling prophecy, war will become unthinkable. This requires building a united international front against fascism and war. Since our individual fates are inextricably intertwined with our collective fate, this also means working to create a tectonic paradigm shift in human consciousness. We must work for a world in which it is implicitly understood that our interdependence requires that we act individually and collectively in the interests of all. We must learn to make individual and collective decisions with the awareness that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Soldiers For Peace can be thought of as an idea, but it is more. Like liberty, equality and justice it only exists as an ideal until individual and collective action make it real. As long as humanity remains divided by nationality, race, religion, gender and other arbitrary distinctions, it will be subject to enslavement by those who would keep us fighting among ourselves so that we do not realize that they are the common enemy. When enough of us learn to transcend our differences and to value our common humanity above all lesser considerations, Soldiers For Peace International will become a palpable reality and no force can stop us from achieving Mankind's greatest ambition: permanent world peace.

Rick Staggenborg, MD