The US needs a Department of Peace. This election year there is a great deal of rhetoric that endlessly furthers a multitude of divisive agendas and strategies. Until now our country has not pursued peace, because it is not on anyone’s job description. We have a one-armed State Department. The one arm is called the Department of Defense. Frances Fuller, author of 'In Borrowed Houses', believes we also need a Department of Peace.
"We need a Department of Peace whose head, the Secretary of Peace, will be part of the President’s cabinet," Fuller stated. "This secretary must engage the best thinkers in our country, from generals to peace activists, philosophers and psychologists, historians and scientists, ministers and moms, in the study and development of peace strategies. The overarching assignment of this group should be to help the Secretary develop a national plan for creating peace in our country and the world.
"Just as the Department of Defense assesses security threats and responds to them, the Department of Peace can identify opportunities for creating cooperation and friendship and respond to them with wisdom, or see conflict coming and attack the problem behind it. Like war, peace requires intention and planning and preparation and deeds of valor.
"Using creative and peace loving citizens, the peace department might promote wonderful innovations in the ways we relate to one another at home and as a nation with other nations. We might face up to the injustices in our own society and by addressing them, reduce the violence in our cities. Internationally we could become a country that is famous for creating peace rather than dominating the world.
"Dennis Kucinich proposed a Department of Peace in 2005. Interviewing him about this, Walter Cronkite observed that every time the people of the world even heard the words, 'Department of Peace,' their image of America would be impacted.
"The proposal has failed in the Congress until now, because we the people did not get behind it or did not even know. We are so accustomed to violence that we consider peace a beautiful fantasy. In fact, we are pursuing the alternative and evil fantasy that we can always be stronger than our enemy and overcome their violence with ours. Given the choice of these two fantasies, I choose peace and want a president with a plan for peace."
Frances Fuller puts a face on the Middle East many Americans have not yet seen. Her award-winning memoir, 'In Borrowed Houses', gives readers a penetrating glimpse of the Middle East from the inside.
Told in short episodes, Fuller’s book reveals the alienation, confusion and courage of civilians in the Lebanese civil war, introducing to the reader a variety of real people with whom the author interacts: editors, salesmen, neighbors, refugees, soldiers, missionaries, lawyers, shepherds, artists, students. With these people she works, studies, plays games, prays, laughs and cries, all to the accompaniment of gunfire. Together these small stories tell what war is like for civilians caught on a battlefield, and they create the impression of the Lebanese as a fun-loving, witty, patient and resilient people. Fuller's stories compose not a political history, but a historical document of a time and a place.
Critics have praised ‘In Borrowed Houses.’ A judge in the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards called 'In Borrowed Houses' “ . . a well written book full of compassion . . . a captivating story . . . ”. Another reviewer described the book as “Wise, honest, sensitive, funny, heart-wrenching . . .”. Colin Chapman, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut said, “ . . . western Christians and Middle Eastern Christians need to read this story…full of remarkable perceptiveness and genuine hope.”
Frances Fuller is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at frances0516@att.net. The full text of her latest article is available at her website. Fuller's book is available at Amazon and other book retailers. A free ebook sample from 'In Borrowed Houses' is available at http://www.payhip.com/francesfuller. Frances Fuller also blogs on other issues relating to the Middle East on her website at http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com.
About Frances Fuller:
Frances Fuller spent thirty years in the violent Middle East and for twenty-four of those years was the director of a Christian publishing program with offices in Lebanon. While leading the development of spiritual books in the Arabic language, she survived long years of civil war and invasions.
Contact:
Frances Fuller
frances0516@att.net
http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com
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