Viewpoint: Let's be fearless artisans of peace in 2022

Leela Ramdeen

Happy New Year! As I reflect on the past year and look forward to this New Year, I remember the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson: "Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier.'" But it will only be "happier" if we all work diligently to make our country/world a better place. What are your hopes for 2022? Too often we make resolutions for the year to come without really reflecting on what our real priorities ought to be.

While 2021 has been a challenging year, in many ways, there is reason to hope. Soon I will be on a flight returning to TT. I have had my booster (Moderna) to protect myself, my family, and the wider community. My sincere hope is that more people will getting vaccinated. I believe in the science which tells us that vaccines reduce our chance of being infected, it also contributes to community protection, reducing the likelihood of virus transmission.

We enter 2022 with our world in a sorry state. As the media reports, Pope Francis' 2022 message for the 55th World Day of Peace, today, 1 Jan, gives a grim assessment of the state of world affairs. His Message is titled "Dialogue between generations, education and work: tools for building lasting peace."

I view his opening line as a call to action for us to be peacemakers: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace" (Is 52:7).

He says: "Today the path of peace, which Saint Paul VI called by the new name of integral development, remains sadly distant from the real lives of many men and women and thus from our human family, which is now entirely interconnected. Despite numerous efforts aimed at constructive dialogue between nations, the deafening noise of war and conflict is intensifying. While diseases of pandemic proportions are spreading, the effects of climate change and environmental degradation are worsening, the tragedy of hunger and thirst is increasing, and an economic model based on individualism rather than on solidary sharing continues to prevail. As in the days of the prophets of old, so in our own day the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth constantly make themselves heard, pleading for justice and peace."

He acknowledges the many ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted human relationships, economic opportunities and exacerbated inequalities. In spite of this, there is hope in his message, if only we would heed his call for greater solidarity and dialogue among different generations. I pray that our leaders will, indeed, act on his proposal to devote more resources to education. Education, he says, must be viewed as an investment, rather than an expenditure. This is vital for "promoting integral human development." I agree with him that greater educational training will help facilitate more "dignified employment opportunities" in the labour market, which he says will also help counter the rise of violence and organised crime globally. May we respond to his call to "strive daily, with quiet humility and courage, to be artisans of peace."

The Catholic Church teaches that there can be no peace without justice. Way back in 1972 Pope St Paul VI made a profound statement in his Peace Message on Jan 1: "Justice will bring about Peace" (Cf: Is 32:17)...If you want peace, work for justice...why do we waste time in giving peace any other foundation than Justice?"

My wish for 2022 is that there will rise up more and more fearless persons of the ilk of the late Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1984), who was a titan for justice, not only against the tyranny of apartheid in his native South Africa, but also against injustice anywhere. He was a true witness to the Gospel; a man who practised a non-violent approach to achieve justice.The Nelson Mandela Foundation said of him: "His contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies. He was an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd. He was never afraid to call out human rights violators no matter who they were and his legacy must be honoured by continuing his work to ensure equality for all."

May 2022 find us breaking down barriers, spreading love, and becoming more and more fearless artisans of peace.

Leela Ramdeen is Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice & Trinidad & Tobago Archdiocese's Ministry for Migrants and Refugees.

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