The headlines sure make it seem that genuine peace is becoming a scarce commodity in our world.

Peace isn’t just something that can be measured by whether or not a nation is in an official state of war. It’s needed at every level of society right down to the individual.

And that’s something in which each of us has a say.

Peace has to be freely chosen by each individual who sees its value over violence in a given situation. Naturally, this is much harder to put into actual practice.

We live in a time when even the most minor divisions are exaggerated and inflated to justify creating conflict between us. Whether or not we allow ourselves to be baited into contention is entirely our own choice.

We can minimize conflict by seeking to find common ground and choosing to set aside the minor differences.

Individual peace starts with the concept of acceptance without conformity that we already practice in so many of our daily decisions. 

We all drive different cars and wear different clothes and no one feels the need to force others to accept their choice.

That same deference should apply to the peaceful decisions of each individual. Anytime we set out to cause conflict or to initiate violence against someone, we are in the wrong.