The Hindu Business Line : Better than a thousand hollow words is one that brings peace

DATELINE Vatican City, April 20. Pope Benedict XVI delivered his first message at the end of the morning Mass with the members of the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. He began thus: "Grace and peace in abundance to all of you!"

Though for most of us grace may seem a distant dream, peace appears to be an attainable goal, with leaders across the borders ostensibly coming to terms with each other, and talking of "Peaceful commerce from dividable shores," as Ulysses said in Troilus and Cressida. This may well be the right time to know more about peace.

But what is peace? It is `freedom from disturbance,' as Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines. `A state of tranquillity or quiet,' says Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. `Freedom from war and violence, especially when people live and work together happily without disagreements,' states Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. "In the Great Lakes region of Africa, the word for peace is kindoki, which refers to a harmonious balance between human beings, the rest of the natural world, and the cosmos. This is a much more inclusive vision of peace," notes Wikipedia.

On the origin of peace, Online Etymology Dictionary says: "1140, from Anglo-Norm pes, Old French pais, Latin pacem (nom. pax)." Sense in peace of mind is from c.1200, and used in various greetings from c.1300, informs www.etymonline.com. Encarta educates that Peace is a river in Canada. Peace is pronounced `peess', and as an archaic interjection was used to tell somebody to be calm or silent or as a greeting or farewell, according to Encarta.

Peace is related to appease, pacific, and pay, informs http://encarta.msn.com. Pacific is to be calm and peaceful by nature. Pay is from "Old French payer `to satisfy, pacify' (the original sense in English, hence `to satisfy by handing over money'), from Latin pacare, from pax." Perhaps, pay was originally given to buy peace from argumentative workers. But, these days, with tax cuts every month, peace slips off most employees when they see the TDS amount on their payslips.

"Talk of peace! I hate the word," says Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. Elsewhere in the same play, after hearing a lengthy talk about a dream, Romeo remonstrates, "Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talk'st of nothing."

At a calmer moment, though, he tells Juliet who's bidding, `Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow': "Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!" You'd agree, however, that when fear of terrorism lurks in our minds, sleep and peace rarely share the same bed. Also, peace being fragile, both in micro and macro settings, one tends to wake up from sleep wondering if the day would end on a peaceful note.

"Incertainties now crown themselves assured and peace proclaims olives of endless age," the Bard writes in a poem that www.shakespeares-sonnets.com describes as "the most difficult to give an adequate summary of, or to delve into its many meanings".

In a different sonnet, Shakespeare writes, "For the peace of you I hold such strife," stirring up the debate if one can win peace through war. "Can peace be achieved through violence?" asks http://en.wikipedia.org, posing a question "that points out the ambiguities of the term peace", because some believe that in some situations, force is inevitable, but others believe such a notion is contradictory. "They claim that peace can only come about by peaceful means. Violence only breeds violence." This quote from King John would concur: "The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords in such a just and charitable war." There was `the Perpetual Peace' that came about on January 24, 1502, between England and Scotland. "But a few years afterwards the battle of Flodden Field was fought," notes www.bartleby.com, citing the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer.

War and Peace go together not only as Leo Tolstoy's work, but also in Pericles, Prince of Tyre where Cleon says, "Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist; if wars, we are unable to resist." Ironical, as in this Brutus's words from Julius Caesar: "Stoop, Romans, stoop, and let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood up to the elbows, and besmear our swords: then walk we forth, even to the market-place, and, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, let's all cry `Peace, freedom and liberty!'"

Not something that Kang-wâng (1098 - 1152), third of the Thow dynasty of China, would have approved of; for, he was known as `The Peaceful', and in his reign no one was either put to death or imprisoned. Peace efforts may end up as tragedy, but Peace was a comedy by Aristophanes (421BC).

`At peace' is to be in a state of friendship, as one can try to be with neighbours. To be `at peace with oneself' is good for the heart! "Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without," said Buddha. When you `keep the peace', you're not fighting. After fighting, however, you can `make peace'. Not to bother is to `leave one in peace'. For those who're bothered, there's remedy in Chapter XXII `Criminal intimidation, insult and annoyance' of the Indian Penal Code, where Section 504 talks of `intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace'.

Thus, "Whoever intentionally insults, and thereby gives provocation to any person, intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the public peace, or to commit any other offence, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."

RIP, at times explained as `return if possible' is what is put on tombstones as an abbreviation of Latin Requiescat In Pace (that is, Rest in Peace). Cricket and bus may be shortcuts to peace, but the word also serves as an acronym to mean: Programs Connected With Military Aid or Sale, People Expressing A Christ Everlasting, Philippine Ecumenical Action for Community Empowerment Foundation, Plasma Electron and Current Experiment, Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation or a variant Positive Energy Always Corrects Errors, Production Expansion/Acceleration Capability Enhancement, and Protons Electrons Always Cause Explosions, as found on www.acronymfinder.com.

Let me wrap, because there's this Buddha quote, "Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace." To Musharraf, that one word may be Kashmir, but to Mother Teresa it was different. For, she said, "Peace begins with a smile." Haven't we had that in ample measure from our leaders, of late?

ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in

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