Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future he Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future was established by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in 2002. The lecture series honors Frank Kelly, a founder and senior vice president Tof the Foundation, whose vision and compassion are perpetuated through this ongoing lecture series. Each annual lecture is presented by a distinguished individual to explore the contours of humanity’s present circumstances and ways by which we can today shape a more promising future for our planet and all its inhabitants. Mr. Kelly, for whom the lecture series is named, gave the inaugural lecture in 2002 on “Glorious Beings: What We Are and What We May Become.” The lecture presented in this booklet is the seventh Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future. It was presented by Colman McCarthy at Santa Barbara City College on February 15, 2008. The 2007 lecture was given by Jakob von Uexküll on “Globalization: Values, Responsibility and Global Justice.” The 2006 lecture was presented by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire on “A Right to Live without Violence, Nuclear Weapons and War.” The 2005 lecture was delivered by Dr. Robert Jay Lifton on “America and the Human Future: Surviving Vietnam, 9/11, and Iraq.” The 2004 lecture in this series was presented by Dame Anita Roddick on “Kindness as a Key to Humanity’s Future.” Professor Richard Falk gave the 2003 lecture on “American Civil Liberties and Human Rights Under Siege.” Frank Kelly has had a remarkable life. He has been a science-fiction writer (later inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame), a journalist, a soldier in World War II, a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, a speechwriter for Harry Truman, the assistant to the US Senate Majority Leader, vice president of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and a leader in the campaign to cre- ate the US Institute for Peace. He co-founded the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in 1982. He is the author of nine books and countless articles. Beyond all of his achievements, Frank has a remarkable faith in humanity and its future. He has lived with a spirit of optimism and hope. He has been a visionary advocate for humanity and has inspired many people through his writing and teaching to take action on behalf of humanity. The lecture series is endowed to carry forward Frank’s vision. If you would like to help support the lecture by adding to the endow- ment, please let us know. We also invite you to learn more about the Frank K. Kelly Lecture series and about the work of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation by visiting our website: www.wagingpeace.org. Prior lectures in this series are available from the Foundation. Introduction By David Krieger The Seventh Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on He writes, “I have Humanity’s Future was given by Colman no illusions that a McCarthy, a man who for the past quarter centu- course on the philos- ry has been a committed and enthusiastic teacher ophy and methods of of peace. His lecture, presented in this booklet, is nonviolence or read- titled, “Teach Peace.” Colman McCarthy is a good ing a couple of books natured man, a humorous man, but his title and on the literature of his message are an admonition, a warning. If we peace will cause gov- fail to teach peace, our societies and our world ernments to start will be dominated by violence and war. stockpiling plowshares, not swords, or that the Peace Corps will replace the Marine Corps. But I Teaching is a noble profession, a gift to the do know that unless we teach our children peace future. Teaching peace is a rarity in our culture, someone else will teach them violence. I know and in many respects McCarthy is a pioneer. He also that if violence, whether fists, guns, bombs or ventures into high school, college and law school armies, were effective, we would have had a classrooms and teaches peace. In doing so, he peaceful planet eons ago.” brings to life the vision of some of the twentieth century’s greatest humanitarians. Albert Einstein, McCarthy has been teaching peace since 1982. for example, wrote: “We must begin to inoculate He has taught more than 6,000 students. In 1985, our children against militarism by educating McCarthy and his wife, Mav, created the Center them in the spirit of pacifism....I would teach for Teaching Peace with the goal of helping peace rather than war, love rather than hate.” schools to start or expand programs in conflict Gandhi wrote, “If we are to reach real peace in the resolution and peace studies. world, we shall have to begin with the children.” McCarthy, a former columnist for The In our culture we know far more about war Washington Post, currently writes a column for than we do about peace. We spend vast sums of the National Catholic Reporter. He is the author or our societal resources on the military-industrial editor of several books on teaching peace. These complex, the same complex that nearly fifty years include I’d Rather Teach Peace; All of One Peace: ago President Eisenhower warned us was accumu- Essays on Nonviolence; Strength through Peace: The lating unwarranted power in the halls of govern- Ideas and People of Nonviolence; and Solutions to ment. We send our young soldiers to fight in far- Violence. His books are important resources for off wars. We celebrate war and pay scant attention the classroom. to the pursuit of peace. In this environment, how desperately needed are teachers of peace. The purpose of the Kelly Lecture is to stimulate thinking on creating a more secure, just and McCarthy finds that students recognize the peaceful future for humanity. Colman McCarthy names of military leaders. Names like U.S. Grant, stimulates thinking wherever he goes; he pursues Robert E. Lee, Caesar and Napoleon are familiar an ongoing dialogue for peace in the tradition of to young people. But the names of peace leaders – Socrates. He is a teacher inside and outside the names such as Dorothy Day, Jeannette Rankin, classroom. We hope that you will be inspired and A.J. Muste, Sojourner Truth, Thomas Merton – moved to action by McCarthy’s Kelly Lecture and are unrecognizable to most young people. his deep commitment to teaching peace. McCarthy’s mission is to make the names, philosophies and work of courageous peace lead- ers come alive to the students he teaches. 1 TEACH PEACE By Colman McCarthy I didn’t come for money, I said. I’ll volunteer. That semester, 25 juniors and seniors at the School Without Walls enrolled in my course “Alternatives to Violence.” It wasn’t difficult to teach. We started with the litera- ture of peace, reading Gandhi, Tolstoy, Einstein, s a journalist in Washington since the mid- Thomas Merton, Jane Addams, Gene Sharp, A.J. 1960s, I’ve had lucky breaks landing interviews Muste, Jesus, Francis, Amos, Isaiah, Buddha, Sojourner Awith some of the world’s enduring peacemakers. Truth, Addin Ballou, George Fox, Barbara Deming, Among them were Desmond Tutu from South Africa, Dorothy Day, John Woolman and a long list of others. Mairead Corrigan from Belfast, Adolfo Perez Esquivel And that was on the first day! Then we really got from Buenos Aires, Mother Teresa from Calcutta and into it! Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh: all Nobel Peace Prize winners. There were also those who deserved After rattling off those names, unfailingly and often Nobels: Sargent and Eunice Shriver, Dorothy Day, bafflingly, a student would call out, “how’d you ever Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Joan Baez, Jeannette hear of all those people? How come we haven’t heard Rankin, Philip Hart, Mark Hatfield, Mubarak Awad of them?” and a long list of others. And let’s include one of my heroes, Frank Kelly, a genuine peacemaker. They hadn’t heard because they had gone to conven- tional schools where everything except peace is taught. Toward the end of the interviews, which is often To drive home the point, and drive it visually, I pulled when you get the most candid answers, I would ask a out a $100 bill. I held it high and announced a spot pair of basic questions. What is peace? And how can quiz. Identify the following six people and you get the each of us increase it while decreasing violence? $100. Teenagers focus rather quickly when a try for easy money is offered. I began the quiz: who is Robert On the definitional question, agreement was E. Lee? Most hands rose. Then Ulysses S. Grant. Most reached. Peace is the result of love, and if love were hands again. The same for Paul Revere. By now, capi- easy we’d all be good at it. talistic fantasies of an after-school spending spree were rising. The second question almost always had the same answer: go where people are. All that’s happening is Just three to go for the $100, I said. Who is Emily people and nations having conflicts—and solving Balch? No hands go up. Who is Jeannette Rankin? them knowingly and morally with nonviolent force or Blanks on that one. Who is Ginetta Sagan? Silence. unknowingly and immorally with violent force. No third way exists. I’ve given the $100 bill quiz before hundreds of high school and college audiences. I’ve done it before large I heeded the peacemakers’ advice: The sure place to audiences of teachers. No one has ever won the $100. I find large numbers of people is in America’s 78,000 never worry about losing it.