Infinite Justice

Since this is the African American women's literature column, I'd like to focus on the works of an African American writer, Alice Walker, to close this essay. In a 1987 essay entitled, "The Universe Responds," in Living By The Word, she writes:

"War will stop when we no longer praise it, or give it any attention at all. Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited. Love will overflow every sanctuary given it. Truth will grow where the fertilizer that nourishes it is also truth. Faith will be its own reward. ... We are indeed the world. Only if we have reason to fear what is in our own hearts need we fear for the planet. Teach yourself peace. Pass it on.

If we really want infinite justice, we'll have to seek it by pursuing justice, and by modeling justice. If we are really seeking peace, we'll have to do so through exercising peaceful measures. War never begets peace, it begets fear, pain, silence, victimization, poverty, death... but it does not beget peace or justice."

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