When I think of "peace", I often wonder what the word truly means. The understanding that it is what we percieve as the total absence of war or any type of conflict I think is a thought that mainly comes from those that live in "Free" countries. I can not help but wonder what our definition might be if we did not live in countries that were relatively free of war.  Certainly, we would see things through different eyes.

 In large cities such as L.A. and Atlanta, a night without gun-fire or police sirens would be called peaceful. To have no one shot or robbed or hurt just because of who they are would be to have peace for a time. We sometimes narrow our minds sometimes to what peace may truly mean to others in the world. Often it is based solely on our own lives or where we call home. Something so simple as the neighbors dog not barking all night is enough form us to say we had peace that night. Undisturbed sleep... How easy is that?

 But to know real peace, we need to displace ourselves for a moment. Take a walk in anothers shoes for a time. The News cries out to me every single day about the wars that rage through out the world. We see the violence that occurs every night and hear and read of the deaths of innocents.  Children's faces, looking out at us, eyes saddened and the longing for some "Peace" in their lives. To know a night's sleep that isn't interrupted by the sound of bombs erupting or the screams of their people.  A whole new meaning to the word peace rushes up to touch us as we think about these things.  Does peace to those less fortunate in freedom than us have a different meaning?  Surely, it must. To have the chance to Hear a dog barking in the night would be a gift in comparison to the explosions and screams. The sound of a siren, the very proof that help may be on it's way I believe would be a most welcomed sound to those that do not hear this daily.

 The meaning of peace is very different from people to people.  To have real peace, the entire world must have the opportunity to "hear a barking dog" in the night. They need to be able to lay their heads down and know that the only sound that may wake them is the sound of a car passing or the television on in another room. Peace is something that we all strive to know. It is the reason we make laws... the purpose of people that try and ensure this for us. Peace, is not a four letter word. It is not unobtainable nor a fantasy. What it is though, is a word that has many meanings, multiple definitions. Depending on where you are laying down tonight, it may very well be the thing you dream most about.  In the end, the definition of "Peace" is all up to us.