Lesson 2-9, "A Young Woman as a Peacemaker in Her Home"

This lesson's really a subset of the previous one, on improving communication within the home. I'm a few lessons behind these posts, so this past Sunday I taught the one about sharing work in the home--as a spinoff of the lesson about home environment, really, and a lot of our discussion revolved around the need for greater communication and how the attitude & tone of voice make a huge difference in whether conversations about workload, chores, and equitable work-sharing are productive or not.

So... I feel like this entire unit, really (lessons 5-9), is the same lesson broken into 4 weeks - and I hope I won't be starting to sound like a broken record in class as we *once again* discuss how to negotiate and discuss calmly and make home life more fair and how to move family life along smoothly through having the right attitude, saying things nicely, and shouldering one's own portion of the responsibility for family functionality. Again.

That's why I thought the 3rd question of the suggested resources takes the lesson in an intriguing direction, by asking "How can I be a peacemaker among my ward family, especially among the young women in our class?" - using that question as a jumping-off point, this lesson could be more about the role of peacemaker more broadly conceived (which, if someone is truly practicing this in her general life, will spill over into the family relationships). That could extend not only to the YW class and the ward "family," but perhaps even to how young women can be peacemakers in the wider world.

I was at a conference over the weekend and someone made an offhand comment that I've been thinking about ever since. He said, "I'm interested in women's approach to leadership because they don't start wars." Sure, on the one hand, women have had few opportunities to be in political positions where that was even possible. And, I would reject the gender determinism inherent in his comment. But he's on to something, on the other hand - that women (by socialization at least, or by circumstance) tend to approach conflict in ways that can potentially be less destructive than war & nuclear annihilation--and certainly there's a long and mighty and praiseworthy tradition of women/young women protesting war and speaking for peace. Keep that in mind this coming Mother's Day, because the original meaning of the holiday as a day for activist mothers to speak their mind in peace protests and towards Progressive-era reform has been almost totally erased by a sentimental juggernaut honoring mothers as passive recipients of the world's adoration. The noble tradition of women as peacemakers in society is something worth remembering and keeping alive, and the forceful example of women who spoke truth to power is something (as I've blogged about before) that I love to remind people about.

Peacemakers can identify injustice, brokenness, and inequity and work for change (whether in the family, or in the wider society) in loving, ethical, and courageous ways. Those are skills every family & nation could use more of. Being able to tackle difficult issues without anger or making enemies, in ways that demonstrate respect for human dignity--those are profoundly important in family relationships and in settings as diverse as business, diplomacy, civic leadership, and religious communities. Peace. It starts at home.