Mr. President, Let us Invest in Peace

Dear President Obama,
Thanks you for your leadership during your time in office to date. I had high hopes for America when you were elected and when you received the Nobel Peace Prize. Regrettably, since the beginning of your tenure, there are some of us whose hopes for a just and Peaceful and Nonviolent future for America and the world in which we live have been diminished.
My immediate concern is regarding our apparent warlike approach to Iran. I realize the wisdom of your efforts in attempting to appease both Neo Conservatives, the Pro-Israeli population, and everyone involved in these matters, and your concern that Nuclear weapons will not proliferate. However we seem to have not learned a lot from our virtually 10 year experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Please give Peace and Nonviolence a chance…..
The majority opinion of governments of the world and religions of the world is that Nonviolent methods of conflict resolution will not “work”. I feel it is unfair to speak like this, saying nonviolence will not work, without investing in Peace and Nonviolence in at least an equal way we invest in War. We have invested under your leadership, let alone the leadership of others who preceded you, Trillions of Dollars in war. War must be paid for, not only in the blood of our soldiers, but the blood of our perceived enemies, and in the future welfare of our young who are to be saddled with our folly.
Let us invest in Peace.
Before we dismiss Peace out of hand, because “Peace just doesn’t work”, let us invest in Peace, just a portion of the Ca. 7 Trillion dollars we have invested in war. Perhaps just a Billion or so to begin with, just for starters….. Do we not know by now, that “War does not work”? The investments we have made in war are clearly failures. Before Iraqing Iran, let us commit to spending 10% of our war budget investing in Peace. Let us invest in teaching methods of Peace and Nonviolence in the world’s educational, civic, political and religious infrastructures.
Give Peace a chance….. Invest in it….
Let us talk about Peace, and dialogue about Peace and Nonviolence. Let us invest our time, financial resources, and prayers for Peace and Peaceful purposes, praying for our enemies, as well as our friends. Let us preach about Peace in churches, in prisons, and schools. Let us reject Hate and War, learning to be and actually becoming Peacemakers. Let us put our money where our heart is, if our heart is at Peace, and in Peace. I am personally doing this myself, and plan, if approved, to invest remaining funds of what little I have to go with The Fellowship of Reconciliation on a Peace Delegation to Iran in the first two weeks of May.
If you, or anyone, for that matter, would like to help defray my expenses, and those of others going on this Peace Delegation to Iran, please feel free to do so. Your investment may be sent to Circles of Peace, FOR, http://tuscaloosacirclesofpeace.blogspot.com/, an Affiliate of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, P.O. Box 2757, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403 (My personal expenses will be about $5,500, or, although I have not asked FOR, directly to the Fellowship of Reconciliation, http://forusa.org/, at the address on their web site. You may contact someone there for the number of people who will end up being in the Peace Delegation and how much is needed.
However, to be clear, this is not about me. It is about the future of our nation, and of our world, of beautiful human beings both here, in Iran, and all over the world who will be affected by our decisions regarding our future investments. Will our investments grow and bear fruit, or decay, and rot away?
Also, there are many other worthy organizations struggling to invest in Peace and Nonviolence throughout the world… Please divert some war dollars to all of us attempting to be Peacemakers, and invest in Peace and Nonviolence. I will also copy our Senator from Tuscaloosa, whom I have met, Richard Shelby, whom I understand has something to do with our investments in war.
The zone of immunity for Peaceful resolution in these matters appears to be rapidly approaching…. Let us invest in Peace now.

Respectfully,

John Cooper
https://jcooperforpeace.wordpress.com/