Cease fire!

For peace sake! Like so many mothers say, "Be the bigger person." Being the bigger person is really hard, but we (humans) can do it. Cuz being the bigger person really just means being human. I encourage and am actively working to support a cease fire in the Middle East! As well as peace everywhere.
In Seattle, WA, 1999, I got to witness and take part in shutting the World Trade Organization meeting down. I had the opportunity to use civil disobedience to stand against something I know is wrong (i.e. not beneficial for life on the planet). I also got to understand what different peoples motives were for being there. The motives boiled down to either love of the planet and the life it holds, or hate for the WTO and what it is doing to the planet. Then, of course, there were the people trying to participate in the meeting, and the police whose job was to secure the perimeter. Members of the WTO tried to get passed giant 'red rover' lines of activists linked arm-in-arm, and the police tried to help them cross by breaking the links.
An interesting phenomena occurred time and again. Since the police were the direct antagonizers of the activists, it became hard for people to remember that the police are doing there jobs, just as we were doing our jobs. It stopped being an issue of standing against the WTO, and became and issue of standing against the police. This wise 'riots' issued. I got to experience tear gas in all of its glory. And old ladies being beat to the ground, and concussions bombs that knock the wind out of you. But, what was most peculiar was the dynamic of police and activists. I watched many times as peaceful protesters would be hanging out celebrating, being very festive and non-violent, and then the police would show up with their pepper spray and bean bag bullets, and insight violence.
Why was it so easy to rile people up? Couldn't the activists just do what the police told them to do? Justice and fairness and ego are among the answers.
I see this same dynamic happening in Iraq (not to mention many other places in the world). Foreign troops are coming into communities and arbitrarily telling the people what to do. This is a very difficult situation to deal with calmly. I was bullied once in Middle School and wasn't able to peacefully take the abuse, I lashed out at him in rage, till I realized I wasn't a fighter and got pretty tussled. I know what it feels like to be pushed around. With this said, the Iraqis need to be the bigger people. The US president is having a hard time letting go of his ego on this one (though, I am sure he will come to his senses eventually), so American troops will continue bullying people around the world, (of course the American people have plenty of power to stop this war and general bullying), so until Americans stop being bullies, the people with the greatest power of promoting peace are the ones who are being bullied.
The protest of the WTO assembly in 1999 would have had a much different impact on the consciousness of the world, if instead of protesters taking an us against them stance, they said "we deserve to participate in these meetings" and walked calmly and non-violently up to the police lines, where they would get cracked over the head with a billy club. This kind of non-violent activism is what got the Brits to leave India, and what got the statement "All men are created equal" to really mean ALL men (and women, too).
The American government says it is in the Middle East to promote democracy, but in order for that to actually happen they need to stop antagonizing people and start supporting them.
Cease Fire!! Stop the nonsense!
It is very easy for one group of people to villainies and dehumanize another, but we are humans, we don't need to do that. We can see that all life is sacred. We can honor diversity in every form. We have the ability to create peace and allow prosperity to flow. We just need to take an individual and collective stand and say, "We can do it!" and "Let's do it!" and "YEAH!"
PEACE!!!!!