Flip the Script: A peace department

Photo by Yomex Owo on Unsplash

Day Eleven: November 11, 2023

A peace department

“In 1984, I ran an idea campaign for a “Positive Future” for the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket. I proposed a “peace room” as sophisticated as a war room in the office of the VP to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working. I was actually the other woman along with Geraldine Ferraro whose name was placed in nomination. In my speech I shared, “It is now in our capacity to destroy civilization as we know it, or to build a world of unprecedented opportunity for all people.” What we need now is a “peace room” or a “synergy center,” a new social function to connect the positive in time.” ~Barbara Marx Hubbard (the full blogpost is here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/december-2012_b_885947)

Barbara Marx Hubbard, a futurist who died in 2019 at the age of 89, talked about the idea of peace rooms beginning in the 1950’s. She had asked President Dwight Eisenhower, a family friend, about power. She was referring to the use of the atomic bomb during WWII and wanted to know what was good about having that much power. The President told her he didn’t know. This question, with no answer from a man in power, led her to explore positive human potential and to wonder what could shift the focus of the defense department and war room in the government. Her answer was a peace…