Ben Irwin Every war begins before a single shot is fired.
And every war continues long after the guns fall silent.
War is more than bullets and bombs. It’s words and slurs. Stereotypes and judgments. It’s drawing lines to keep others out.
War begins in our heads and our hearts, long before it reaches our hands. But if war is manmade, then it can be unmade.
This is the work we’ve been doing for over a decade in some of the hardest places on earth. Mending the wounds of war, sitting down with our enemies, and healing what’s tearing us apart.
Iraq. Syria. On the US-Mexico border.
When we help fast with relief—food, shelter, medicine on the frontlines—we stop the spread of war.
When we give help that lasts—jobs, income, opportunity—we help whole communities thrive again, and reduce the risk that violence will return.
When we help heal the past—building bridges, even with our enemies—we can change the ideas that lead to war.
This is what can happen—what is happening in the rubble of bombed-out cities in Iraq, in the midst of airstrikes in Syria, on the US-Mexico border, and in your own community.
To heal all that’s tearing us apart.
As one year draws to a close and we face the prospect of an even more divisive year ahead, we can write a different story. We can give ourselves to the cause of disrupting violence and division. We can love anyway.
