Creating Peace

By Reg M. Reynolds Ph.D. and Douglas A. Quirk M.A

This book, Creating Peace, is at once a novel, a self-help book, and a manual for an engrossing game framed in essentially rational, problem-solving terms and an exploration of the motivations by means of which we create disturbance within ourselves and conflict with others – the final causes (our beliefs, goals, purposes, needs, and values) and the perpetuation causes (the rewards and reinforcers) that drive us toward either conflict or peace and appropriate means by which to modify them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jan 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781982217334

Reg M. Reynolds Ph.D.

Douglas Arthur Quirk, M.A., C.Psych. (1931-1997) was Senior Psychologist at the Ontario Correctional Institute where Reg Reynolds, Ph.D., C.Psych. (Retired) was Chief Psychologist. Between them, they had about one hundred years of experience as clinical psychologists.

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Copyright © 2019 Reg M. Reynolds, Ph.D.

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The authors of this book do not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems (since one is deceased and the other is retired), either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-9822-1734-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-1733-4 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 01/11/2019

Creating Peace

¹

by

Douglas A. Quirk, M.A., C.Psych.,

and

Reg Reynolds, Ph.D., C.Psych. (Retired)

²

Preface

Under the Reynolds Principle of Perversity, as modified by the Quirk Principle of Characterological Divergence, it seems clear that only humour will be taken seriously – while anything presented seriously will be ridiculed as fatuous rubbish. Although we have no idea what any of these words mean, we take them seriously enough that we decided to present ourselves (About the Authors) in a justifiably demeaning way.³ Our hope is that the rest of what we have to say will be considered in the serious light in which it was intended.

In our opinion, the most basic goal in life is to achieve peace – intra-personally, inter-personally, intra-communally and inter-nationally. Still, this goal is only an instrumental one. Achieving peace provides the necessary pre-condition for any other constructive, cooperative, harmonious, healthy and joyful purposes to be pursued. Without peace, each of us becomes absorbed in constant efforts to avoid or prevent uncomfortable and disruptive events and states – preoccupation with which interferes radically with the pursuit or accomplishment of our own positive purposes that might give colour and meaning to our daily lives.

PART 1

Peace Games

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1   Seeking Direction

Chapter 2   Groping for Problems

Chapter 3   The Seeds of Solutions

Chapter 4   Peace Game Preparations

Chapter 5   Government for Peace

Chapter 6   Funding for Peace

Chapter 7   Peace with Our Environment

Chapter 8   Peace Between People

Chapter 9   Together Again

Chapter 10   Education for Peace

Chapter 11   In Search of Health

Chapter 12   The Joy of Loving

Chapter 13   Finding Inner Serenity

Chapter 14   Calm in Crisis

Introduction

For most of us, life is replete with pain and hardships. It appears that conflict, struggle and distress are inevitable aspects of life. They are not. They are manufactured, just as weapons and poisons are manufactured. However, to demonstrate this point would be to contribute to the very things claimed to be unnecessary. Still, it needs to be said that the approach we adopt to living is the means by which we create these negative qualities.

If we interact with each other in ways that create peaceful exchanges, conflict becomes irrelevant. If we approach life as if it were a game to be enjoyed, struggle and hardship melt away. If we adopt in our lives some of the measures that are available to rid ourselves of disruptive physiological arousal, we find ourselves asking what happened to the pain and distress that used to mar our lives. If we cease to add complexity and strain to life by thinking endlessly about the unknown future and the sad past, we emerge fresh and full of hope and energy.

Eight couples tried to put aside their fears and weather a storm by seeking solutions to some of the puzzles posed in an attempt to find routes to peace. What follows is the chronicle of their search. Their conversations can be read as one account of people trying to solve some basic human puzzles. They can be considered for the guidance they might offer to others seeking solutions to the same kinds of problems. Or they can be used to define a means and a set of rules by which others could themselves play Peace Games. This first part of Creating Peace is at once a novel⁴, a self-help book, and a manual for an engrossing game.

The method they used works, but only if it is employed consistently, with good will and active participation. To determine whether the method works, Peace Games were tested with people having quite different characteristics. They were tried with two groups of institutional staff, one composed of a mixture of correctional officers and professional staff, and the other comprised of psychologists. They were also tried with several different groups of incarcerated offenders. Although the participants in all of these groups tended to forget the game rules as the games progressed, it was clear that all participants in all these groups became deeply engrossed in the tasks they set for themselves.

Perhaps more to the point, although each group pursued some issues unique to itself, all the groups addressed most of the topics selected for this volume. And the contents of their conversations were essentially similar to those contained in this novel. This was true whether the participants were staff or inmates. Because these were intended as test Peace Games, the author consciously avoided taking a leadership role, beyond sending out announcements of the Peace Games to the two classes of participants, handing out copies of the Principles or rules to those attending, and serving as one, relatively quiet, participant.

CHAPTER 1

Seeking Direction

A trillion flecks of ocean hurled spears of light at Adam’s eyes. He squinted, then shaded his eyes with his hand. That didn’t help. He looked down at the polished deck. It was a magnifying mirror that sloped sharply downward from the doorway to the water. He clutched the doorframe as if to keep from sliding down the deck to be lost at sea. He looked up at the masts. Their sharp angle, leaning over him into a blinding blue sky, intensified the push of the wind that wanted to suck him into the ocean. He looked toward the bow. Its rise and fall sought to shake him free from his hold so that the sea could engulf him. He looked aft to reassure himself that there was still a helmsman at the wheel. Then, grateful for the deck still under his sneakers, he turned back into the room, closing the door behind him.

See anything? called the rather too-self-assured man in the over-stuffed brightly flowered sport shirt who was sitting at a table near Adam and Brie. Ocean looks calm enough, does it?

It took a couple of moments for Adam’s eyes to accommodate to the darkly panelled dining room, so that at first he couldn’t see who was talking to him, or even to be sure that the remark had been addressed to him. Brie was looking questioningly at him too. Can’t see a thing out there, Adam replied. He smiled a restrained recognition at the self-assured man, and returned to Brie and their table. The sun’s blinding. Anyway, I suppose there won’t be much to see for hours yet. His eyes groped around the room as the after-image of the soon-to-be-setting sun wore off, wanting to see brightness again, as if to compensate for the unaccustomed darkness. The westerly portholes, reflecting the sun’s rays from the ocean, were brilliant green moons in a black ocean. The easterly portholes, drawing their light from the sky, gave an incongruous coolness to the room as they mixed their blue with the sparkling and rippling green of their companions.

The self-assured man was not finished, and his voice became louder to address the whole room. We ought to do something to keep our minds busy, don’t you think? We ought to get acquainted, since we are all going to share this adventure together. What do you say, folks? I’m Chuck Rogers, and this is my wife Jean. We call ourselves the Jolly Rogers. Chuck stood up as he started to introduce himself, and he made a grand gesture toward his wife as he presented her.

The men stood up in response to Chuck’s introduction. Adam accepted the invitation. May I present Brie? And my name is Adam Smith. I think Chuck’s right. We should get to know one another. It looks as though we’ll be spending several quite uncomfortable hours together. Brie flashed a lively smile around the room with a nod of recognition to each of the other couples. Her long blonde hair threw off waves of light as it swept around with each turn of her head.

The stylishly dressed woman sitting at a nearby table took her turn. We are Ernest and Trude Erlich, she announced, turning strikingly elegant features to smile at the other couples. I agree we should do something to occupy our minds, at least until the storm hits. Her blonde hair was drawn evenly back from her smoothly chiselled features to form a tight knot at the back of her head so that it glowed with a soft lustre as she turned. Ernest nodded as his eyes tracked around the room to the other tables.

The tall man, whose pale face was hiding behind a beard, waved his thin hand around the room. Perhaps it would be easier to talk if we all moved closer together, he suggested while escorting his wife towards the table occupied by the Indian couple. The Indian couple’s iridescent silks shimmered in the light from the portholes as they turned to welcome the approaching people. I am Peter Ivanovitch, and this is my wife Sonya, he said bowing stiffly to the Indian couple. May we join you at your table?

The other couples introduced themselves in turn as the group moved to shape itself around a small circle of tables. Their formality in addressing one another revealed the tense fear each felt while contemplating the danger confronting them. The Indian gentleman in an immaculate silk suit expressed the general mood when, while introducing himself as Doctor Rajib Jacobs, he added the hope that his services would not be required by anyone.

The last couple to join the circle provided the others with a moment of welcome distraction from their private fears. The tall, muscular black man, whose physique was emphasized by his tight shirt and shorts, escorted his wife to the Smith’s table. His wife beamed a friendly smile while introducing her husband and herself as Ben and Pat Tyson. The contrast of her ebony skin and her gleaming white form-fitting dress, coupled with the sinuous grace of her movements, captured and held all eyes.

Adam held the back of the chair beside him as if to help Pat to her seat, while entertaining a quiet moment of déjà vu. He could almost hear the camera shutter as his mind registered the scene as if to record it to show to one of his colleagues. This colleague had consulted Adam about a patient who suffered from intense jealousy. Her dreams had always centred around her husband amorously involved at the same time with a white girl dressed in black and a black girl dressed in white. Pat seemed to him to be the very embodiment of the other woman in the dreams.

Well, that does the introductions thing, Pat declared while seating herself. What did you have in mind to do, Chuck?

The first thing we ought to do is to get to know each other, Chuck replied, eyeing Pat as if she was an appetizer. Shuffle board’s out, given the ship’s list. Besides, the captain wants us to stay seated as much as we can until this whole thing is over. I don’t see many activities we can get into here.

What do you suppose it will be like? Dorothy breathed in a barely audible whisper. The drab, stoic tones of the Chinese couple’s clothing seemed all the more stark contrasted with the brightness of the others’, and made her whisper seem barely a far away echo.

Chuck responded with bravado. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be able to handle it okay. I’m sure the captain knows what he’s doing, and I’m sure he will get us to the shelter of the island he was talking about. Meanwhile, to get acquainted, we ought to have a debate on some important and useful topic, you know, like about which is the best kind of beer, or who’s the sexiest girl on board.

Jean was suddenly conscious of her more than youthful figure. Her husband had done that to her before in public, and she knew she would find some way to have Chuck pay for shrinking her to the size she wished right now she could be. Sure, sure, Charlie, now that we’ve disgusted ... discussed that topic let’s talk about some other worthwhile topic. Anybody got any ideas?

Pat suggested, How about talking about peace?

That’s just what I was thinking, Chuck continued with a chuckle of self-satisfaction, while his eyes travelled openly over Pat’s figure and his smile broadened into a leer.

Pat ignored Chuck. This Tuesday is the third Tuesday of September. That marks the opening of the new session of the United Nations General Assembly. Each year, the U.N. proclaims that day as the International Day of Peace. Getting ready for that day might be a good way of forgetting this one.

Brie rippled out a laugh. You just made Adam’s day, Pat. He’s so preoccupied with the International Day of Peace that we were almost unable to get away on this cruise. It was only because a co-worker agreed to look after the program for that day at his work that Adam felt able to come along. Maybe I should be annoyed at his friend for taking on the job. I can’t feel as comfortable as the rest of you look about the coming storm or whatever it is.

I’m mad at Adam’s friend too, Brie. If it were not for him you might be on this cruise alone without your protector.

Brie shot a ferocious look at Chuck. I assure you Chuck, I would not have come along without my husband. And I’m perfectly able to protect myself from wolves and other kinds of predators.

You look just as calm as everyone else, Brie, Dawn said reassuringly. I think I’m the only one who is scared, and I am scared silly. The traditional elegance of Dawn’s sari reflected an air of serene self-confidence that contradicted her words.

You look more at peace than any of us, Dawn. But I’m glad I don’t look the way I feel, Brie replied.

Trude was uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. About what you were saying, Pat. Is it true that Tuesday is the International Day of Peace? I’ve never heard of that before.

Nor had I, Ernest agreed. Has anyone else heard of it?

Dorothy and David nodded and David replied. We’ve been aware of it for some years and we have always liked the idea.

Jean got down to business. OK, let’s talk about the International Day of Peace. Can anybody tell us what it’s all about? What are people supposed to do on Tuesday, Adam, to celebrate the occasion?

The first answer is that people are asked to think about and to celebrate peace in any way they want. People worldwide are asked to do something to mark the event, to hope for and work toward peace, and to celebrate the peace we have. There’s a common observance which, in Canada, is called A Peal for Peace. At twelve noon on Tuesday, everybody is asked to observe one minute of silence, meditating on or praying for peace, and then another minute of joyful sound to celebrate the peace we have. The idea is that if people all over the world were to spend just one minute concentrating on peace, it should help the cause of peace very greatly.

Come on, Adam, Chuck broke in, what’s there to celebrate about peace? We don’t have peace now, we never have had peace, and we never will have peace. All you have to do is to think about what’s going on in Somalia, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, India and Pakistan, and several of the areas of the former Soviet Union, and you know we don’t have any peace to speak about or to celebrate. There’s conflict everywhere you look. Just pick up any newspaper and it screams at you from every headline. There’s no peace for us to celebrate. What are you talking about?

Adam was not persuaded. Of course you are right. But what about the growth of freedom in Europe and the state of peace in Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, the United States, and a host of other countries. Can’t we be grateful for that?

Don’t be a nut, Adam. What about the crime rates in all of those countries, and in all the other countries you might want to mention? Where’s the peace in that?

Adam remained unconvinced. I quite agree with you. I think of crime, for example, as a kind of warfulness, perhaps on an individual or entrepreneurial level. However, even that kind of warfulness is not an everyday part of life, as the media picture it. Why even criminals can go for whole days without performing any criminal acts. There were a few audible smiles in the group. The actual amount of crime in our world has been blown way out of proportion by the media for their own commercial advantage. They sensationalize as much as they can to increase their sales. How much crime or conflict has each one of us here experienced directly? Not very much, I would guess. Crime is really quite a rare event in everyday life.

So what? It still occurs everywhere, Chuck countered.

Can’t we be pleased or grateful for whatever peace we have in our own worlds? Adam asked. That’s all A Peal for Peace is about. It would be nice if it also raised our awareness of the need for peace and our commitment to do something about it.

There was a moment of thoughtful silence. Then Jean turned to Brie. You said that Adam organized activities for the Day of Peace at his work. What does he arrange for people to do as peace-related activities ... and at work!?

Yeah, and how come he’s so intimate with crooks that he knows they can go for whole days without doing crimes? Chuck broke in. Maybe he’s a crook himself, eh, Adam? Are you on the list of Most Wanted criminals? Maybe you are one of those sex maniacs. Watch out ladies, you never know with these quiet, self-contained guys.

Adam laughed. You never can tell what might pop up at any given moment. I don’t suppose any of us expected to find ourselves in any danger when we decided to take a pleasant sailing cruise.

Brie looked offended. You guys are trying to be silly. No, Adam works in a kind of jail. Actually it’s a correctional centre where the main program is treatment. He works with all sorts of offenders, and that’s how he knows about criminals.

Chuck laughed loudly. Maybe you know a whole bunch of my colleagues, eh, Adam? They sure are a bunch of nuts and crooks. I bet you get to see lots of them in your jail. Anyway, they ought to be locked up.

Your colleagues? What do you do, Chuck? The big, weathered man with the tiny wife entered the conversation.

I’m in municipal government, Bill. I’m an alderman in the city of Toronto. Say, I wonder if any of you live in my ward.

Chuck’s question was met with a general stare of indifference.

Pat broke the silence. I would have thought criminals wouldn’t be interested in supporting a peace initiative, Adam. What kinds of things do you organize for them to do on the Day of Peace? And how do you get to be the organizer?

I’m entirely self-appointed, Adam replied apologetically. It’s just something I think needs to be done, both because they are also citizens and because the main mission of our jail is to foster peacefulness within and between people. That’s especially important for people who haven’t experienced a whole lot of either kind of peacefulness in their lives.

Aw, come on. How can you say a thing like that? They are the ones who disturb the peace in our lives by doing criminal acts. That’s why they are in jail. They’re the ones who cause all the trouble. You’re making them out to be on the receiving end. I have you figured out now. You’re one of those bleeding hearts who thinks everybody except the crook is to blame for all the crimes criminals do and the pain they cause. Chuck shook his head in disgust.

Jean sided with her husband. You did say, didn’t you Adam, that they have not experienced much peacefulness in their lives? How come you have that sort of attitude toward criminals?

Adam became increasingly conciliatory. I suppose you might think that I’m too concerned about the criminals I work with because I’m a psychologist. However, working as we do in treatment with these people, most of the staff, including the correctional officers, have concluded that these men would much rather not be criminals if they knew how to stop.

Chuck thundered: What do you mean, ‘if they knew how to stop’? All they have to do is not perform crimes if they want to stop. You jerks really molly-coddle those crooks. That makes me sick.

Adam became very patient. I understand why you might think that from what I said. Please remember, I didn’t say they are not responsible for their offenses, nor that their criminal acts are not offensive, nor that they do not exercise their own free will in doing their crimes. However, Chuck, I notice that, like me, you smoke. We both know it’s very bad for our health, but we continue to do it. Neither of us wants to shorten our lives, and yet we keep killing ourselves. The addiction to cigarettes is not all that different from the addiction to crime, if I may call it that. You and I would both quit smoking if we knew how to get rid of the craving. Oops, I had better make that clearer. Neither you nor I crave cigarettes, any more than offenders crave crime. We crave the experience or sensation, really a kind of relief, we get from smoking. Similarly, many offenders crave the sensations or experience they have found they get from performing criminal acts, or from the consequences of criminal acts. If they knew how to satisfy the need for those sensations or experiences in other ways, they would probably stop committing crimes. The same is true for our smoking habits. Does that make sense?

OK, so you’re not a crook, Adam, but you sure are a flaming nut. I heard that psychology was the study of the id by the odd. But I never knew how odd they could be. Maybe it’s the study of nuts and dolts by those with their screws loose. Chuck’s face broadened in a gleeful smile at his rib tickler. Then it transformed itself into a leer. Brie, how does a pretty little thing like you live with a raving lunatic who thinks there’s something in common between cigarette smoking and crime?

Thank you for the compliment, kind sir. Brie exuded mock coquetry. However, it may surprise you to know that I consider your smoking to be just about as much of a crime as attempted murder. Adam doesn’t smoke indoors, not because I object to the smell of smoke, nor because he believes second hand smoke is harmful to health, but because he thinks there’s a chance that it might be harmful to other people’s health, such as mine. And he’s unwilling to take the chance of harming me. I don’t suppose that if a man stabs at another man he expects to kill him, but that’s one kind of attempted murder. That is, it’s attempted murder if a person even takes the chance he might kill somebody.

Chuck put out his cigarette hastily. OK, you’ve made your point, Brie. I surrender to your over-powering beauty.

Jean looked very embarrassed, but then sighed gratefully as Pat drew attention away from Chuck. I think we should spend our time talking about the International Day of Peace. But Adam, you haven’t told us yet what activities you organize in your jail.

Adam’s annoyed frown smoothed out. We usually organize several activities. Of course we celebrate the Peal for Peace at noon, with its minute of silence and its minute of joyful sound. We circulate information about the Day well ahead to alert all the staff and the units, and we use the P.A. system to announce the observance on the Day. On the day before the event, we ask the inmate chairman of each of the living units to devote some time at the daily unit house meeting to a discussion of the peace theme. We have a display about the peace theme mounted in the main reception area of the institution. We ask the residents to participate in the display by preparing materials in advance. There are a couple of brief services in the chapel devoted to the peace theme for interested residents and staff. And throughout the day, in one of the group rooms, I hold what I call Peace Games for those residents and available staff who wish to participate.

Holy cow! You mean that inmates leave their cells to attend meetings if they want to, and that criminals would be willing to play games, let alone peace games, with anyone? What sort of a jail do you have there? Do any inmates attend your Peace Games? Pat’s flurry of questions was accompanied by an open expression of surprise.

Sure they do, quite a few of them. About ten percent of the inmates attend. However, that’s not as surprising as it may seem. The inmates there are not locked up in cells. They live in dormitories organized into living units, and they sign themselves out of their units to go to those programs they are scheduled to attend. All of them have applied to remain at the institution to receive treatment, rather than going to some other correctional centre. So they tend to take the opportunities that are available to get all the help they can to alter their lives and the risk of future involvement in crime.

I don’t believe it, crooks trying to learn how not to be crooks! Jean bubbled. That’s wonderful.

Ernest frowned heavily. All right, now I bite. It sounds too easy on them. It sounds like these criminals are treated as though they were free on the street. No wonder they apply to stay there. Surely they must prove themselves to be trustworthy if they can just sign themselves off their units? And surely you cannot provide treatment to all types of criminals in that kind of place?

Well, first, I must tell you that the place I’m talking about is not all that free and open. Movement’s fairly free within the walls of the institution, but not outside its walls and fence. And it’s true we can’t handle all offenders in our sort of institution. However, we do look after people who have performed nearly all types of crime. I guess it’s a little hard to grasp the idea of this sort of place. We provide a lot of orientations for our residents when they first arrive, and this seems to help them get their heads sorted out. They develop a sense of hope that something might be done to improve the quality of their lives and to reduce their risk of future crime. They are observed pretty closely before they get much freedom of movement, and they seem to understand that they have to prove themselves if they are to get the advantages of the place. Finally, they have to apply for admission to a treatment unit, and the information about each man is considered pretty carefully before he is moved from our intake unit to one of the more open treatment units.

But I have not heard anything about punishment for their crimes in what you have said, Ernest objected.

I fear I’m hogging the conversation, but let me reply to that. Punishing somebody has the advantages of making the offended person or the victim feel that the perpetrator has had returned to him some of the pain he inflicted, and of making the rest of us feel justified and virtuous. However, punishment does nothing at all to most people except to make them feel angry. Some of us in Corrections adopt the view that there’s not a thing in the world we can do to undo the offence or the pain to the victim after a crime has been done. If we act in a punitive way toward the offender, the chances are that the anger he reacts with will increase the probability that he will perform other crimes and victimize others in the future. Perhaps all we can profitably do is to help the person to correct his behaviour in such a way that the likelihood of future offending and future victimization is reduced. At least that’s how some of us think. Does that make sense?

Very good sense, Ernest replied, if what you say about punishment is really true. Just thinking about myself, I think that the threat of punishment is what prevents me from doing some things that I might otherwise do. Surely punishment has some effect in keeping people from doing crimes, does it not?

Of course it does, Chuck broke in. Don’t listen to this nut. Come on, Adam, you know it does.

All the studies I know about show that punishment don’t deter a thing in terms of crime. What it sometimes does is to deter a person from doing the thing punished while still in the presence of the punisher. As soon as he is out of sight of someone who might detect or punish his actions, however, the deterrent effect seems to be lost. And that, of course, is when nearly all crimes are done. It’s true that punishment for an action does draw the person’s attention to the action. But that doesn’t work too well in our favour either. In fact, most of those who become involved in crime have had their attention drawn to their mistakes, failures, and faults throughout their lives, and criticism or punishment for them often serves as a kind of reward, in that at least it’s attention. Finally, it’s true that punishment can work as a training device to stop people from doing punished actions. But this tends to work best with children and only if the punishment follows immediately after the action being punished, to allow real learning to occur. In the justice system, punishment of necessity follows long after the offence and, if I may put it this way, what we are really punishing is the good behaviour which has probably been occurring ever since the person was arrested.

Well I’ll be damned! Bill exclaimed. I understood all that and it sounds right to me. But who would ever have thought of seeing it that way without having it explained, eh? That’s interesting stuff.

So, instead of punishing them, you give them treatment , Ernest continued. That worries me a great deal. It sounds like a totalitarian state forcing people who break the law to think as the government thinks. It sounds like brain washing to me.

Oh Lord! I hope that’s not what we are doing. I suppose it’s inevitable that many of our residents copy some of the behaviour of those staff they like or respect. But that’s not the goal, nor even the method. What we try to do is get the offender to take stock of himself and his life, to help him identify those problem areas that he would like to address in treatment. His ideas are shared with many different people so that nobody gets a chance unduly to influence the treatment goals he sets for himself. Treatment is designed to help him to achieve his own goals. I think that’s even less like brain washing than the childhood educational process which attempted to socialize him for community living. At least I hope that’s true.

Ernest seemed lost in thought. I guess I can accept that, and the idea that people’s problems might get them into lives of crime. So, if you were to treat their problems they might be less likely to do crime in the future. But does it work? Do they actually do less crime after treatment, or is there any way to find that out?

Yes, there are ways to find that out. We have access to the cumulative records from our central correctional files of further charges, convictions, and sentences. And we use those records repeatedly to find out how effective our programs are. And, yes, it does work. I don’t mean to say that the treatment we can provide during any one period of incarceration prevents all future crime. However, we are able to show reliable and considerable reductions in crime among treated as compared with untreated offenders. And these reductions occur across the board for all types of offenders, among specific types of crimes, and for specific types of treatments. We have been able to show that recidivism rates are reduced, and also that, if there is a return to crime, it tends to occur after a longer crime-free period, and the crimes tend to be less serious. One thing that seems almost more important to me is that when we re-test our residents after treatment to see if their problems have changed, they usually show quite large improvements in the very problem areas they identified and which treatment set out to address.

Now that is impressive! Ernest exclaimed. I had no idea such things were possible. I understand you to be using the word recidivism to refer to future return to crime after treatment.

Yes. Sorry, I guess we all use specialized language in our own areas of work.

Peter took the floor. His thickly bearded face flushed with anticipation, and his long fingers trembled. At first I was unclear about how all this had anything to do with our planned discussion of The Day of Peace. However, as the conversation unfolded, I began to see its relevance. If I understand you correctly, you consider conflict and crime to be analogous, and you believe that if we could find ways to curb crime, we might also be able to curb, or even rid ourselves of conflict. Is that right? And, if so, would you say that we are now able to eradicate crime, and that we are ready to apply that knowledge to stopping conflicts?

Whew! Now that is a huge leap beyond where I’m yet ready to go. But I sure would like to pursue the possibilities of such an idea. Certainly, we are beginning to find out some of the factors that cause crime. However, right now, all I’m really suggesting is that it might be possible to apply similar kinds of thinking to the solution of conflict in general as some of us are using in seeking solutions to crime. Is that what you had in mind?

Peter was about to speak when Chuck burst in. Now hold it you guys. This has gone far enough. I don’t doubt Adam’s good faith, and that they’re having some success with some crooks in his jail. But we all know that crime is a fact of life. It’s not going to be stopped by what we can do. Nor is conflict. Hell, people like to fight. They want to fight. They want to do crime, too. There’s always going be conflict and crime. People don’t want peace. So what the hell’s the point of pretending or playing games about such matters?

Ben ran his hand over his tightly curled hair, raising his eyebrows thoughtfully. You know, Chuck, before this discussion I might have said you were right. But now I’m not so sure. Let me ask you, do you want to perform crime, or go to war and kill or be killed? Come on, Chuck, let’s get down to cases.

Of course I don’t want either of those things. What are you talking about? Nobody here wants to be a criminal or go to war and kill and be killed.

I want to take the time to check that out, if you don’t mind. Would any of you do crime if you thought you could get away with it, or does anybody here want to have war?

Absolutely not, Peter declared, the idea is repugnant.

I don’t, Dawn added. But do you think we’ll have world war over the Middle East situation?

Chuck laughed. Don’t worry. When it comes time for World War 3, the U.N. will vote to stop it on the grounds that it might be bad luck. They’ll go right on to World War 4. Chuck was amused by his remark. The others were still interested in Ben’s line of inquiry. Chuck returned to the issue. But hey, Ben, that’s a dumb question.

Ben continued. If that’s true, then who is it that wants to do crime or go to war? We are a more or less representative group of people, with roots from all over the world. If we don’t want to do crime or go to war, what makes us think others do?

Chuck looked superior. Come on, Ben, you’re as bad as Adam. I think you’ve both got to be nuts. We’re a very select group of people. We all work for a living; we’re all fairly well to do, or otherwise we couldn’t be on this cruise; and we all have too much to lose to become involved in crime or to go to war. There’s no point talking about ourselves in that way. We’re not the ones you ought to be asking those questions of. We’re the squares and the straights of this world.

What you said is right, Rajib interjected. We are not the people who are likely to get into crime, as I’m sure Adam will confirm, nor the ones likely to want war. The people we should put such questions to are the Palestinian Arabs who were displaced from their lands, the Muslim majority in Kashmir, which is under Indian rule, or those people of Northern Ireland who want to be free of English rule. And we ought to ask those questions, not of the criminals who apply to get treatment at Adam’s jail, but of those who decline to be treated and who serve their sentences in other correctional institutions. I am sure we would get a very different kind of answer from them. Isn’t it so, Adam?

Adam was uncertain about how to reply. "Of course you are right that I can’t speak for the incarcerates and other offenders I have nothing to do with. However, for a period of time, I did have contact with a wide range of offenders. All the young first incarcerates from the province were processed through a unit in which I was working. These young people were tough enough, as I suppose you might expect offenders to be. But they had not yet become hardened by hopelessness and the effects of being institutionalized. One of the interesting things about them was that, when each was in private with an understanding and interested person, almost to a man they were in despair about their lives and wanted, if possible, to change themselves. Maybe ten or twenty out of a thousand were content with their lives and their offenses, and I suspect that even those few will later have wished they had tried another way –