We read in the press about the "War on Drugs" and the "Battle of the Bulge". Television tells us to fight the flu, legal battles or the war in Haiti. Our doctors tell us we are fighting cancer or in a battle with obesity.

These messages leave us in a continuous struggle to survive. Bacteria are smart as they mutate two generations ahead of the latest antibiotic. Bugs and weeds adapt to the latest herbicide or pesticide, and now we have several generations of these toxins changing our landscape and our animals. Governments create laws to prevent fraud and deception, and the courthouses are overbooked.

Who is winning these wars? Is there an end to the battles? In our constant struggle to survive, we are not making headway. I wonder why. I wonder and I ponder, what would happen if we stopped fighting the bacteria. What if we allowed it a place to survive -- a place where it was safe and no longer had to mutate? What if we no longer had a war on drugs or the battle of the bulge? Can we imagine such a world? We know it works, for some have chosen to assign areas of their garden for ants and gophers while the remainder was designated for crops to flourish. In this scenario bees move to different hives and weeds become indicators of nutritional deficiencies. Bark beetles show up to reduce weak, dying trees back to the forest floor to provide food for the next generation of trees.

With these systems working around the world, how can we develop systems to follow similar paths? Why is there the battle of the bulge? Why do we need the war on drugs? Are these "wars" really an indicator of something missing in the diet, the home or other areas of our lives? What do we need to flourish and live drug free? We are fighting the results of something missing rather than identifying what is missing! The first step in changing our paradigm is to know it is possible to stop fighting. We need to believe from deep within our being that the battle is over. It is in that shift that we come to know or discover our place of peace. In this place, we no longer have an outside enemy like the weeds, pests or "fat". We find the missing pieces, the messages they bring. Our soil many need lime, our trees may need water, and our bodies and lives may need love.

It is a concept I call the Peace Alliance. In the spirit of peace exploration, I have worked on myself and with some of my clients and projects. The support has been unusual on many levels, and we are making progress. Stay tuned for more on this topic. ? 2004 Sue Trumpfheller

Susan "Sue" Bacon Trumpfheller is an author, researcher, teacher and coach. Contact her through http://www.ecoentrepreneur.org