So the people will once again enjoy a holiday truce, at least as far as state forces and the communist New People's Army are concerned. In the countryside where the leftist insurgency is still a real threat, this is a welcome relief. It is a different story in urban areas where common crimes and other forms of violence are commonplace. One wonders whether there is a difference between insurgency-related violence and one induced by a drug-crazed killer. Peace, if we still don't know it, is too complicated to be capsulized in one definition. It is both general and specific, both neutral and partial, both personal and universal, simple and complex. Benedict de Spinoza once said that peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence. He is partially right.
One can be at peace in the midst of war while the opposite can be true. There are people whose lives are in turmoil even when everything all around them are in place and in order. That people who will kill each other at the slightest provocation can be so patient at this time of the year is both disturbing and reassuring. It is disturbing because one wonders why they are not capable of the same perseverance the rest of the year. Reassuring because it shows that peace is still within reach if only people set their hearts and minds to it. Conflict, however, does not need much to explode. There were only four people on earth when Cain killed Abel out of jealousy. It has been thousands of years and millions of people since then but to this day jealousy remains a potent motivation to kill.
Only a peace between equals can last, US President Woodrow Wilson once said. There is some truth to that. And yet, it is still no guarantee. Peace is elusive, but it is not impossible to achieve. One can find peace in the eye of a storm, at the center of conflict, in the midst of war. Those who know what they believe in and, more importantly, whom they believe in swear they are at peace whatever the circumstances. So, even with the ceasefire announcement, there is no guarantee that there will be no more conflicts. In the same way that a resumption of hostilities won't mean there will be more bloodshed. The search for peace will go on. It is just appropriate to try to keep it during the truce – no matter how fragile it may be. On Christmas, Christians rejoice over the birth of Jesus Christ. Among other attributes, Jesus is called the Prince of Peace.
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