“We moved to a new neighborhood during COVID…moving in general can be unnerving, but especially during a pandemic.
The thing I appreciated about moving to a new place when we did, though, was how we felt more permission to stay near home, to get to know the place.
We went on so many walks and got to know people and their dogs. We could start up conversations about vegetable gardens and flowers—just really beautiful, simple stuff.
The simple beauty was an easy way to get to know our neighbors.”
Friends, these words are from Ryan Crane, a long-time everyday peacemaker and friend of the movement.
Ryan has a very wild, shocking, unbelievable reminder for our everyday peacemaking community: there is power in simple acts of kindness.
The US American love for big, bold, bombs-and-bullets-style peacemaking may seem exciting, and it might ‘sell’.
It may seem like the best way to wage peace in the world.
But to paraphrase one of the old stories: we’ve seen that it’s actually the small, everyday choices of ordinary folks that keep conflict at bay and hold communities together—small acts of kindness and love.
“So we came up with this idea of making a community cookbook, and we sent out a little note to our neighbors asking us to share recipes and the stories behind them, if they had one. It felt a little weird going door-to-door at the height of the pandemic, but we got about 20 people to send in their story.
My wife, Marisa, is a graphic designer and she took these recipes and sweet stories and turned them into a little book.
It just felt great doing something so simple that a lot of people could do to have a very real, local impact. It didn’t change any laws or create big dynamic change in the world, but it brought our neighbors together.”
Ryan went on to say he and Marisa are sometimes stopped on their walks and asked, ‘Are you the cookbook people?’ and it leads to more conversation, more community.
So whether it’s a cookbook or community garden or just cookies left on a front porch, take a sec to ask yourself what simple-but-powerful acts of peace you could do in your community. The options are endless, and the potential for Good is all around us.
We just have to have eyes for the power of simple kindness.
Author: Matt Willingham
Matt Willingham is a writer, photographer, and content creator with over ten years experience living and working in some of the hardest-hit conflict zones in the world. He and his wife, Cayla, are now based in San Diego where they’re raising three little peacemakers and working to promote empathy and understanding in their community.
@matt.willingham