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“Can there be peace without honesty?”
This question came into my head for some reason a little under two years ago. Perhaps the thought struck me due to a personal situation, a book thought, or podcast, yet it stuck with me enough to write the question on my bathroom mirror. Amongst the many scribblings on the mirror, this was the only question written and it was seen every morning when rising and evening as I washed off the day and transitioned to bed. While the question did not consume me, it remained in my mind, dancing around as life unfolded and daily occurrences or global sensations waltzed with the question.
Within my own life, there cannot be peace without honesty. Absence of honesty results in anxiety, an unsettled state of being, and creates barriers to relational harmony. Omissions and white lies are the same. Rather than feeling freedom, these dishonest actions bind me into submission of dishonesty. It’s turtles all the way down from there.
Jordan Peterson says it this way, “When you have something to say, silence is a lie.”1 Throughout his book, We Who Wrestle With God, Peterson regularly spoke about honesty being one of life’s great adventures. Jaya Prakash Narayan, Indian politician, poignantly addresses peace and honesty on the topic of Tibet. Passionately, he shared, “No one expects India to go to war with China for the sake of Tibet. But every upright person, every freedom loving individual should be ready to call a spade a spade. We are not serving the cause of peace by slurring over acts of aggression. We cannot physically prevent the Chinese from annexing Tibet and subduing that peaceful and brave people, but we at least can put on record our clear verdict that aggression has been committed and the freedom of a weak nation has been snuffed out by a powerful neighbour.”2
Silence is not peace. Peace requires a level of relational harmony that silence (during times when one has something to say) and absent-minded existence can never facilitate. Taking a stance, believing in something and acting upon firm belief is the only way to create space for peace.
Hannah Rachelle 
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