Guest column: Publisher Marty Cheek urges us to work for peace

“For democracy to survive here and around the world, we must unite as one people.”

By Marty Cheek

Marty Cheek

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church ruins

When I was 10, my mother, Gisela, took me on a summer vacation trip to her hometown of Berlin. The landmarks we visited included the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on the famous Kurfürstendamm boulevard. The structure had been damaged extensively by a bombing raid the night of Nov. 23, 1943. Berliners decided to keep it in its destroyed state as a reminder of the terrible cost of war.

A short while later, my mother and I enjoyed vanilla ice cream at a nearby café. I asked her about the war and what it was like for her as a teenage girl. She described the horror of huddling with her parents at night, listening to bombs explode a few miles away. She described walking to work the next day and seeing bodies in the ruins. She also told me about her brother, Gerhard, a Berlin lad who had been conscripted into the German Army. He wanted to be a train conductor, not a soldier in the tank corps. His body lies buried in Libya now. Tears filled my mother’s eyes as she spoke fondly of him. At that moment, I made a promise to her: Someday I would find a way to end wars. She laughed good-heartedly. She said she hoped I might one day achieve that goal.

For nearly half a century, I’ve pondered the problem of war. It’s a problem of the human mind. And the solution to ending wars can also be found in the human mind. When we as a human family can decide deep in our hearts to create a better world, a world forever free from the tyranny of wars, then we will be able to truly follow the path to peace. That’s one reason I started Life Media Group nearly 10 years ago. Among the goals our company hopes to achieve by using Silicon Valley’s media innovations is creating a world that is forever free of wars by Christmas Day in  2040.

We live in a time of extreme polarization. For democracy to survive here and around the world, we must unite as one people. To unite, we must have a worthy goal to unite around. Joining together in an audacious effort to achieve global peace in the next two decades can serve as that unifying goal.

I invite all residents of Silicon Valley to demonstrate their desire for the unity of humanity through global peace. About 100 local residents attended what I hope might be a historic event in the pursuit of peace. Sept. 21 was the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. That day at 5:30 p.m. a sculpture called the Peace Project Monument was unveiled at the Morgan Hill Civic Plaza to celebrate the fact that peace is possible.

I also ask every American who cares about our country and seeks to unify our citizens through the pursuit of peace to spend a few minutes and take a survey showing support for the Vision-2020 Global Peace Movement. The link can be found at www.morganhilllife.com/2022/09/02/vision-2020-survey.

Peace is possible. The first step — the hardest step — is to believe it is possible.

Together, let us leave for future generations a legacy of a world forever free of wars.