PEACE EQUALS
by Randall S. Richman
© 2022
Forward
Imagine, if you would, you wake up tomorrow morning and don't know anything. There is no history, no Bible, no Quran, nothing.
What would you think?
How would you act?
What would you do?
Chapter 1
It was a dark and scary night. The year was 1968, during the summer. The location was Nablus, Lebanon. My older siblings, myself and my mother were huddled in a tiny, foreign apartment. My father had just shuttled across the border to Jordan to present to then King Hussein a peace plan for the Middle East. Unfortunately, it was not adopted because a few years later there was another war. What made it scary was the fact that I had just turned 13 and we were a Jewish family staying in a Christian and Muslim-Arab neighborhood. It had been just a year since the six day war in 1967, so tensions were still high and I remembered seeing remnants of fragmented missiles laying in the streets. Some rockets hadn’t even exploded yet. My family had traveled two weeks through Europe to get to the Middle East, mostly by car. That part was exciting. I remember London, France, Italy, Greece, Scotland, Switzerland, Egypt as well as a few other locations. How we did so much traveling inside two weeks still amazes me to this day. Fast forward to today.
Chapter 2
Peace=ceasefire+negotiation+compromise+trade(gift)
It took me a while to come up with this algebraic equation, decades.
But the more I think of it, the more I realize that many of the issues that confront us daily can be worked out through peaceful resolution:
abortion, bullying, gang violence, war, God and religion, politics, race and racism, human rights and more.
What I will attempt to do in this book, is to use the formula and present solutions to current world problems.
Peace is a mindset. Hate is a horrible waste of energy. Love is a lot easier and doesn’t cost anything.
Let’s get back to my dad.
Chapter 3
They say that the odds of being born are one in 4 trillion. My mother’s father, Moshe, was born in Poland and emigrated to Toronto in the late 1800s. My father‘s father, Ruben, was born in Lithuania and emigrated to Chicago in the late 1800s. My father, Lester, was born in Chicago in the early 1900s. He was super smart. He loved helping people, particularly minorities. My mother, Francesca, was born in Toronto about 1927. She wasn’t quite as smart as my father, but she was real easy on the eye. I inherited some of my father’s brains and all of my mothers looks. Even though she has been gone for a while, I still think about her every day. Here is a special shout-out to my grandmothers, Leah Richmond and Ida Jacobson. Besides school, everything I learned about life, I learned from my parents. I must have beaten the odds, I am a very lucky guy. Not only did I have great parents, but I was born in the greatest country on earth of all time. Talk about luck.
Chapter 4
My journey to the peace equation probably started in 1960.
I remember the election in November and went with my father to the voting booth where he and my mother both cast their ballots for John Kennedy.
Kennedy was a very inspiring Senator from Massachusetts. I was very, very young but remember the debates on television and Kennedy squeaked to victory over Nixon. The 60’s was a very difficult decade for all of us. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and his brother Senator Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King were both assassinated in 1968. On the other hand, I remember the great rock ‘n’ roll from the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the LA and other American rock ‘n’ roll stars. I entered high school in 1970 and started my career in school politics which led me to a career in politics after UCLA.
Essentially, I became a political operative helping others in their elections toward victory.
Fast forward to 1987.
I was a new father and came up with my rules for a living, kind of like my version of the 10 Commandments..
Everyone should have their own rules for living. I call mine the “Randall laws.”
I was a new father and came up with my rules for a living, kind of like my version of the 10 Commandments. Everyone should have their own rules for living. I call mine the Randall laws.
Chapter 5
It is hard to believe that the Randall laws will be 40 years old in six years.
For me, they have stood the test of time. I still live by them every day.
Next, I came up with my 10 basic human rights.
Here they are:
1. The right to live in peace.
2. The right to think and communicate freely.
3. The right of freedom and self rule.
4. The right to unrestricted travel.
5. The right to eat safe food, drink clean water, and have clothing and shelter.
6. The right to breathe clean air.
7. The right to healthcare.
8. The right to an education.
9. The right to believe in God, or not believe in God.
10. The right to love and be loved.
Chapter 6
Abortion.
Nobody likes abortion, not even abortion providers. But sometimes, abortion is medically necessary,
as between a doctor and their patient. So here is my equation for peace on abortion:
In exchange for pro-lifers not getting in-between a patient and their doctor, pro-choicers agree to assist government and/or private-sectors in providing monetary compensation for women who might otherwise abort their fetuses and instead take their fetus to term and adopt the babies out.
There are many, many people in America who would love to adopt a newborn. I propose paying a mother-to-be $5000 plus medical expenses for the chance for some lucky person(s) to adopt the babies.
Women should always control the right over their bodies. But embryos and fetuses have rights too. My abortion solution considers both of these interests.
Abortion.
Nobody likes abortion, not even abortion providers. But sometimes, abortion is medically necessary,
as between a doctor and their patient. So here is my equation for peace on abortion:
In exchange for pro-lifers not getting in-between a patient and their doctor, pro-choicers agree to assist government and/or private-sectors in providing monetary compensation for women who might otherwise abort their fetuses and instead take their fetus to term and adopt the babies out.
There are many, many people in America who would love to adopt a newborn. I propose paying a mother-to-be $5000 plus medical expenses for the chance for some lucky person(s) to adopt the babies.
Women should always control the right over their bodies. But embryos and fetuses have rights too. My abortion solution considers both of these interests.
Chapter 7
On Race and Racism
Back in the day, we were taught that we, Homo sapiens, are a species. Then we were taught, that there are three races: mongoloid, Asian, caucasoid, European and white, and Negroid, Black. I got it. But then I realized that there is no such thing as race because everyone is mixed and no one is pure. We are all able to share blood, bone marrow, organs, etc. and have successful, healthy and strong offspring together. So I believe the notion of race is a myth. Thus, racism is a manufactured notion. I never, ever thought that I am better than anyone else or that anyone else is better than me. I believe in my heart that my country is not racist. There are, however, racists that live here. But this doesn’t make my country racist. Someday, I believe that people will no longer be identified by gender, race, religion, or politics. We will simply be known as human, huwoman or hupeople.
Chapter 8
Gang violence and bullying. always thought that if gangs made a cease-fire and joined forces to work together instead of shooting each other that they would be very successful in a short period of time financially. The same thing goes for bullying. Instead of bullying, if they reached out and worked together, success would come their way in a very short period of time. These graphics illustrate my point. Not this..
Chapter 9
God
When I was a little boy, I used to think that the person on the one dollar bill was God.
I guess for some people, this isn’t so far-fetched. For thousands of years, we have been dying for, or killing for God. The funny thing is, for all of us, when it comes to God, the ends are the same, it’s just the means that are different. I have come to the conclusion that God is nature, or nature is God.
Another way to think of it is that we are just cells in God’s body. This makes sense to me as the universe is so vast, and the universe is nature, that the universe itself is God’s body. We are just part of it. It is totally OK to not believe in a God or Gods too.
I love this passage that I read daily from my Siddur: “O King, you are a helper, a savior and a shield. Blessed are you, Lord, shield of Abraham.
You are mighty forever, my Lord; you resurrect the dead; you are powerful to save.” (Page 211)
How can we make peace when it comes to God? Well for one thing, let’s call a cease-fire.
Don’t kill others over one’s beliefs. After all, we are all just trying to achieve the same thing. Religions go back thousands of years.
But before religions, we probably only fought over food and/or territory. We did not fight for or over God.
If I could have only one wish in life, that wish would be peace on earth.
The peace dividend would be enormous.
God
When I was a little boy, I used to think that the person on the one dollar bill was God.
I guess for some people, this isn’t so far-fetched. For thousands of years, we have been dying for, or killing for God. The funny thing is, for all of us, when it comes to God, the ends are the same, it’s just the means that are different. I have come to the conclusion that God is nature, or nature is God.
Another way to think of it is that we are just cells in God’s body. This makes sense to me as the universe is so vast, and the universe is nature, that the universe itself is God’s body. We are just part of it. It is totally OK to not believe in a God or Gods too.
I love this passage that I read daily from my Siddur: “O King, you are a helper, a savior and a shield. Blessed are you, Lord, shield of Abraham.
You are mighty forever, my Lord; you resurrect the dead; you are powerful to save.” (Page 211)
How can we make peace when it comes to God? Well for one thing, let’s call a cease-fire.
Don’t kill others over one’s beliefs. After all, we are all just trying to achieve the same thing. Religions go back thousands of years.
But before religions, we probably only fought over food and/or territory. We did not fight for or over God.
If I could have only one wish in life, that wish would be peace on earth.
The peace dividend would be enormous.
Chapter 10
Russia, China, and America:
The current dilemma.
I am surprised that in the many decades since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that there has not been an accidental launch and or explosion of an atomic bomb.
There are thousands if not tens of thousands of nuclear weapons around the world. Most of them are secure but some of them are not. We all live in a constant fear of an atomic attack. Recently, China has been saber-rattling. I don’t know why any country would want to attack and/or eliminate one of their best trading partners. This is the part of my piece equation that talks about trade as a means for peace. Peace = cease fire+ negotiation+ compromise+ trade(gift) America is most likely China’s biggest consumer and many of our products in America are made in China. I believe in my heart that Russia has no intention of attacking America and that America has no intention of attacking Russia. I don’t think Russia and China would gang up against America either. Perhaps my fears are over blown but China sure is spending a lot of money expanding their military foothold around the world.
Again, peace is a mindset.
Chapter 11
How much is $2 trillion?
$2 trillion is 2000 billion dollars. If there are 8 billion people in the world, that amounts to...
$250 per person.
What can some people do with that amount of money?
Most people in the world could be fed for a year with that check.
Some people could be housed and clothed for that amount of money.
You see, the peace dividend is enormous.
So why do we spend so much on military?
Former President Eisenhower called it, “the military industrial complex.”
There is tremendous profit for a very small amount of people in munitions.
This is sad, really.
What is worse is that the fate of billions rests in the hands of a few.
If we weaned ourselves off tremendous spending on military defense, the world would be a much better, safer place to live.
Here’s looking at you, peace dividend.
How much is $2 trillion?
$2 trillion is 2000 billion dollars. If there are 8 billion people in the world, that amounts to...
$250 per person.
What can some people do with that amount of money?
Most people in the world could be fed for a year with that check.
Some people could be housed and clothed for that amount of money.
You see, the peace dividend is enormous.
So why do we spend so much on military?
Former President Eisenhower called it, “the military industrial complex.”
There is tremendous profit for a very small amount of people in munitions.
This is sad, really.
What is worse is that the fate of billions rests in the hands of a few.
If we weaned ourselves off tremendous spending on military defense, the world would be a much better, safer place to live.
Here’s looking at you, peace dividend.
Chapter 12
Beatrice Wood
Artist, humanitarian.
I had the pleasure of meeting her in 1996 when she was 103 years old. I had heard about her as an artist but didn’t know much about her until I read her book, “I shock myself.”
Born into privilege, she rebelled and became bohemian and lived in Paris with artists Henry Roche and Marcel Duchamp.
In her early 20's, around the time of World War I, she became horrified when she saw how airplanes could drop bombs and kill people indiscriminately. Since then, she lived her life as a pacifist.
I had the pleasure of seeing her along with my artist friend, Kirk Saber, on several occasions until she died two years later at 105.
I think she had a crush on the two of us who were in our early 40's and she wrote me three love letters. Wood was truly an angel who touched me.
Her line, “violence begets violence” pretty much sums up part of my piece equation wherein I talk about calling a cease-fire.
If I ever make it to heaven, I know she will be there with two glasses of red wine and a tray full of chocolates.
Artist, humanitarian.
I had the pleasure of meeting her in 1996 when she was 103 years old. I had heard about her as an artist but didn’t know much about her until I read her book, “I shock myself.”
Born into privilege, she rebelled and became bohemian and lived in Paris with artists Henry Roche and Marcel Duchamp.
In her early 20's, around the time of World War I, she became horrified when she saw how airplanes could drop bombs and kill people indiscriminately. Since then, she lived her life as a pacifist.
I had the pleasure of seeing her along with my artist friend, Kirk Saber, on several occasions until she died two years later at 105.
I think she had a crush on the two of us who were in our early 40's and she wrote me three love letters. Wood was truly an angel who touched me.
Her line, “violence begets violence” pretty much sums up part of my piece equation wherein I talk about calling a cease-fire.
If I ever make it to heaven, I know she will be there with two glasses of red wine and a tray full of chocolates.
Chapter 13
I have always been an optimist.
I believe that, in the end, goodness and righteousness prevail. It is easy for a person to become disillusioned with the state of the world in early 2022. Although the end is in sight, we are still reeling from Covid. Our world seems as divided as ever. But wait a moment, we have always been divided, so really, nothing is new. Peace = cease-fire + negotiation +compromise + trade (gift) I promise to respect my fellow man and women’s opinions even though it may differ from mine. I promise to try to leave earth in a better state than was given to me. I promise to try any road to peace I can find before I go to war. I need you as much as you need me. Randall S Richman, United States, 2022 |