Are men like me.

There are days where I fail to believe the words I say. Where I fail to live as I desire, fail to be who it is I want to be. There are too many times where the Holy is just not worth the pursuit.

But, if I am to be honest, the reasons behind this failure, this utter disinterest, are very simple and quite apparent. The pursuit of love, of peace, the pursuit of a life lived through the Spirit...

It isn't easy.

And of course, when the easy option lies before us, and beyond it, we can see a long, torturous path, littered with difficulty, barriers, danger, strife, and a very real, very strong chance of hurt, whether physical or emotional, how many of us are going to turn the handle, and walk through the open door? After all, it's so easy to be angry, so easy to be petty, so easy to be upset, haughty, victimized, arrogant, selfish.

I must confess, this is so easy to see in others. In any crowded group of persons, if you take a seat and observe, you can see these traits in full display. Couples arguing, instead of listening to the very real hurt and insecurities they are obviously displaying. Parents ignoring their children, children ignoring their parents. Management taking advantage of their power over subordinates, subordinates harboring anger against those in power above them.

How easy it is to diagnose the problems of complete strangers. To watch them walk through the door of Ease and Complacency, of Shields and Barriers. To yell inside your head "If you'd just stop and listen!"

Peace is so easy to see from the outside.

But, from this angle we too grow complacent. Feeling safe and haughty in the mental towers from which we look down on those we observe. From such great heights, we could solve the problems of the world. Until we find that our tower of solitude and safety has itself become a tower of war, of violence, as we engage in the exact same behaviour we find so contemptable in others.

It is so easy when you know you are in the right. When you are that employee taking the sword of your manager's tongue, when you are that significant other being ignored and isolated, when you are that child being held to the expectations and dreams of a parent who gave up on theirs so long ago...

Stop. Listen.

I must confess, I am this person, far too often. The pursuit of peace, of love, at all costs, above all else, these are the basic tenets of the Faith to which I claim adherence. But practicality is a seductive mistress, and she has no qualms with turning your peaceful life upside down. When it feels so clearly as if I am the victim, or as if I am the one in the absolute right, it is so easy to find myself landing in her arms, and saying "my feelings are justified. Yours, oh emotional combatant, are not. Now, feel my anger."

But these enemies we build in our lives, these people we find ourselves opposite of, well, they're not going away. Life will always have obstacles, and more often than not, these obstacles will be human-driven, if not human.

And that's the key word here: human.

My enemies, well, they are men like me.

I have found, in recent times, that when I am in these situations, there has been a voice in the background screaming "why are you trying to do what you're doing? Why are you angry? Why are you upset? Calm down, and remember that you are a person, and you are dealing with a person. Stop. Listen."

I am attempting something relatively odd in this world of ours.

But it is something ancient and powerful. The very Creator of All spoke of it when He graced the world with His physical presence two-thousand years ago.

He said "Love your enemies, and do good to those who persecute you."

He said  "Love endures all things."

And it hurts to think that's true.

If I love my enemies, especially if I love them as I love myself, how can I let this emotional violence continue?

For my enemies, they are men like me.

Are men.

Like me.

When we allow love to break through the barriers in our lives, when we commit to ignoring the door of Ease in our relationships with others, we are able to find peace. When we stop ourselves from generalizing, from that selfish mindset that says my emotions are more important than yours, then we can let love break the barriers. When we allow ourselves to drop our guards and barriers, and share with others who we really are, and accept them for who they really are (humans, just like us), something profound happens.

Our enemies stop being people just like us.

Because they stop being our enemies.

They become people.

They become friends.

They can become family.

He said "Blessed are the peacemakers."

And He showed us with His life. He showed us with His death.

In the end, this all comes full circle. The ideas of peace and love are so intertwined, on such an elemental and intimate level, that it is impossible for one to exist without the other. To seek one without finding the other. The further we walk in the way of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love, the further we walk in peace.

This kind of life, this kind of mindset, it is not easy. It is not painless. Life has taught all of us, often brutally so, that sometimes when you open up to others, abuse happens. Peace and Love don't come without a cost. We will be taken advantage of. We will be hurt by those we love.

He was.

But that fear is what pushes us into walls, into barriers, and ultimately into that tower of selfishness and isolation. And then the cycle and cynicism deepens.

But when we remember that those who hurt us, well, they are men like me.

And when we remember that we do those same things, we have the capacity to hurt those who love us, we must engage in the most important action and outpouring of love and peace:

Forgiveness.

It is the ultimate freedom.

But that, as they say, is for another time.