Peace be upon you

And upon you, peace. (Anyone familiar with Semitic languages knows the pattern of those words.)

Today, September 21, is the International Day of Peace. Not as fun as Talk Like a Pirate Day, but considerably more meaningful.

Some words spoken by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

September 21, the International Day of Peace, is ... meant to be a day of global cease-fire, when all countries and all people stop all hostilities for the entire day.

Twenty-four hours is not a long time. But it is time enough for combatants and political leaders to consider the destruction they are visiting on their people, and on their lands. And it is long enough to look over the barricades, or through the barbed wire, to see if there is another path.

It is easy to be jaded in these times, when it seems my country is engaged in a perpetual war, and when conflicts are simmering in many parts of the world. If mankind holds peace up as an ideal, we are falling well short.