It's A Privilege

Privilege of Peace (Part 2 of 2): Beyond Absence of War with Lauren Coffaro

• Jason Browne • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Welcome back to another enlightening episode of "It's a Privilege" podcast! In Season 1, Episode 10, we continue our deep dive into the Privilege of Peace. If you haven't listened to our earlier episodes, we highly recommend catching up to gain the full perspective on this ongoing conversation.

In this episode, host Jason Browne is joined by special guest Lauren Coffaro, a Rotary Peace Fellow and Interim Executive Director of PeaceJam. Lauren shares her unique insights into the multifaceted nature of peace, drawing from her experiences working with Nobel Peace Laureates and educating the next generation of peacemakers.

We're also joined by two very special guests:

  • Rebecca Force: A brand marketing and strategic communications leader, storyteller, and wonderful human.
  • Maurice Browne: Former radio DJ, TV anchor, actor, photographer, and Jason's father—whom he proudly calls the best dad on the planet.

Together, they explore:

  • The nuanced definitions of peace and how they have evolved.
  • The relationship between peace, privilege, and power.
  • Personal stories that highlight the challenges and opportunities in pursuing peace.
  • Practical steps we can all take to foster peace in our daily lives.

What to expect in this episode:

  • A deeper exploration into the Privilege of Peace.
  • An engaging Q&A segment (Questions, Answers, and Privilege) with Lauren, delving into the complexities of peacebuilding.
  • Thought-provoking discussions on how individual actions contribute to broader societal peace.

Join us as we navigate these important topics, challenge our perspectives, and seek ways to contribute to a more peaceful world.

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review "It's a Privilege" on your favorite podcast platform. Share your thoughts and continue the conversation with us on social media @privilegepod.

Listen now and be part of the journey toward understanding and embracing the privilege of peace.

For more information about the host, go to www.thejasonbrowne.com
Check out the TEDx talk here: TEDx Possibilities of Privilege
Thanks you for being a part of the conversation.

Jason Browne:

Welcome to It's a Privilege podcast, where we explore the possibilities of our privileges. This is part two on the privilege of peace. We highly recommend that you go back to the earlier episodes to get the full perspective on the conversation. On today's episode our special guest is Lauren Coffaro. She's a Rotary Peace Fellow. And what that means you'll find out very soon. We also have two very special guests. we have Rebecca Force, a brand marketing strategic communications leader, a storyteller, and a wonderful human. And we have Maurice Browne, a previous radio DJ and TV anchor, actor, photographer, and he is my dad, and I have the privilege of having the best dad on the planet. So what can you expect in this episode? First, our crew is going to dive even deeper into the Privilege of Peace, and then we'll hop into the QAP Questions, Answers, and Privilege with Lauren to further explore the nuance of peace. We just finished watching Lauren's Privilege Perspective. Let's see where the conversation takes us. Welcome back, everybody. We just heard from Lauren Coffaro about peace and her brother and her experiences. What are your first thoughts as it relates to our conversation from before?

Maurice Browne:

A couple of times you brought her up also when she was talking about how she wasn't able to enter the mall. It was only available for the elite. that kind of privilege, that she experienced. And I think that, you know, many aspects on different levels that we all see that every day, whether you have a privilege of going to a college or, You have a privilege of living in a particular type of neighborhood. You have a privilege of getting a good edu what type of education you're able to attain. and I think, you know, this particular case that she brought up, how you're privileged of even entering a mall, of getting what you think should be available to everybody at the same time. and no one probably thought differently about it because you're used to it. And I think that happens across. different communities in the U. S. around the world that you're just used to and you get kind of complacent to just accepting it. sometimes you have to and sometimes you don't.

Jason Browne:

just to point out earlier, you did say that accepting what is reality, that's where peace is, just pointing out the callback.

Rebecca Force:

What, stuck out to me. There were 2 things, that her foundation was laid through mediation. On behalf of her brother, and that she. Has this aura of empathy. and wanting other people to understand where someone else might be coming from. I thought that was really powerful. The other thing that immediately, it just like a bell went off - ding ding ding ding When she was saying that she just has this honor of training the next generation of peacemakers And, and these students take it very personally. They're on these personal and passionate missions. I'm, I'm imagining it's a global group of students. So they're, You know, not just from the U S or from all over the world. My initial thought was, how can you empower these students to go back to their homelands without power? Like they have all this knowledge, but then how can they do anything with no power? And then immediately I thought of the greatest peacemakers were not wealthy. Martin Luther King Jr, not wealthy. Malcolm X, though, controversial, not wealthy. Gandhi, not wealthy. Like if you just go down, world leaders peacemakers and change makers were not wealthy. So I thought they're literally creating another dynamic of power that people can go back to their home countries now armed with something that will bring them on the same level as the elite Really going through that door and be able to I thought that was really cool.

Jason Browne:

initially when you started that you, you mentioned power and then you mentioned peace is almost like that's the power that these kids are receiving to come back with. So how is peace power in mind? Like you mentioned a few folks who've done some really amazing things around the world and impacted lives around the world, but how is peace power?

Rebecca Force:

Many ways that I don't even know. we've seen examples of it. Peace can be disarming. Peace can be, uh, a revolt without hurting anyone. I mean, lunch counters, sit ins, peaceful protests, walks across bridges. These were all done with a peaceful spirit, but they were very powerful. And pushed laws to be changed. So peace is powerful in that. like a major element, air and water and fire. It can't be contained. You know what it is, but it can't be contained and it can actually change the environment

Maurice Browne:

I have to agree with that 100%. I also look at the reverse, that being peaceful prevents conflicts. If you're able to accept certain things, the reality of your existence, of what's happening in your life, in your community, in your race, your sex. If you're able to accept that. I think it prevents a conflict and that is a positive. some things you can accept, some things you cannot, but if you're able to live with it, without causing conflict, I think that is a powerful part of peace.

Rebecca Force:

Well, my parents are the same. I presume we're the same generation that your father is, And there's a duality to their upbringing in that you had to know your place in order to make change. You couldn't go in flipping the table over. You know, I will sit here, you know, I'll get you shot and killed. But if you dressed a certain way and spoke a certain way and kept your eye level at a certain height, there were ways that they did accept the position so that they could get in the door and use peace as a means of defiance to actually make change. So I agree with your father wholeheartedly. That is definitely a tactic for peace and change.

Jason Browne:

And in that example, one has to sometimes accept the thing that is not fair. The ability not to walk into mall, or even from a civil rights point of view maybe I'm not allowed to sit on a particular bus seat. if that is the method through which somebody can create peace longterm, how does one find peace in the meantime, internally. When having to sacrifice all the things along the way?

Rebecca Force:

That's the struggle That's the struggle of peace. I mean if we knew the answer to that we wouldn't have a struggle. We wouldn't have this podcast I think that's the daily search

Jason Browne:

of the balance between knowing what should be the case, finding a level of acceptance, and then trying to find peace until you are able to receive what you really want at the very end?

Rebecca Force:

It's the long game. for sure. It's the, okay, we'll see.

Jason Browne:

it's

Rebecca Force:

you know? Okay. That's okay. We'll see. I got you. And I'm gonna go to work and I'm gonna be on time. And I'm gonna dress a certain way. I'm also gonna work after hours. I'm also going to get my degree over here. it's a parallel road. Two things can be true at same time.

Jason Browne:

and even from her work, Lauren's work, it's like the long play is, I need to sit down with these kids who've gone through traumatic experiences, and we have to work through these things, accept the things that have happened and move forward to find the peace long game. how do we create this for ourselves on a day to day basis?

Maurice Browne:

you know, people who weren't rich, who had a movement to go forward. You mentioned Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, want to use that as an example, where, you know, both of them had different directions on how to move forward. you can be at peace to an extent now if you're, I think, very forceful, which sometimes seems to be necessary. That causes conflict. And then you're not at peace. Some people are not at peace until they reach a particular goal. until you have equality, until you have, that job when women can get to be a CEO, can own the company and get the same pay, when there's more equality, regardless of who you are. some people are able to accept that and move forward gradually, some are not, but some people can accept not being at peace, and some people think that not being at peace is what you have to go through in order to get from point A to point B.

Rebecca Force:

mean the search for peace may be the fuel Sometimes you cannot rest you must push until you reach that level of peace. And to answer your question of like, how do we get it? The reason why we don't have an answer for that is why there's such a huge industry, a multi million dollar industry for wellness and mental health and, and all of the things that support this search for peace whatever that means for a person. Not everyone has the religious beliefs I don't like long distance running. That's not how I'm going to find peace. You know what I mean? I like to lift my wine glass, but I don't want to lift weights, but somebody else might find peace in the weight room. So I think we, we are all still searching for this way to make peace, to find peace.

Jason Browne:

Before we hop into the QAP, the questions, answers, and privilege, any last thoughts about her story, her brother, the moments working with youth, her definition of peace and how to attain it.

Maurice Browne:

Rebecca, you hit it right on the money when she's talking about her brother I think it was very powerful and how she dealt with it and how the family was dealing with it. especially after you mentioned, going to the store and what she had to do and apologize for what he did. But also how, she knew what her responsibilities were and how to address the problems,

Rebecca Force:

The other thing that stuck out for me is that she's made a career out of Peace making peace training I think like many other traits when someone is calm or a mediator or empathetic, you might think that's just the way they were born. But her stories are a testament to that's a skill she also developed and her parents helped her develop. think it's really cool that now she is teaching other young people to develop those same skills. It also made me think I'm really grateful for your podcast because I don't know how many people know about rotary and that you could get a fellowship to study peace. I thought that I was like, wow, she's Living her life and her life is being financially supported for this mission.

Maurice Browne:

And I think one, one other comment, is that, the lack of certain privileges is what disrupts peace. And, a lot of folks, a lot of individuals, a lot of countries, a lot of societies, are entering a phase where if, privilege isn't there. If they don't reach the privilege that others have, that's where you have conflict, and that's where you do not have peace.

Jason Browne:

You said a phrase about these things disrupt peace as almost as if peace is naturally inherent Without these negatives, Is that peace, our natural default state. If you remove money, if you remove power is peace, that thing that we will all exist in, or is it still something that we would even have to work for if the playing field were level?

Maurice Browne:

That's a very good question. if all things were equal, there'd be something to fight about. We're going to keep questions, answers, and privilege, and

Rebecca Force:

There you

Maurice Browne:

see

Jason Browne:

enough. On that note, we're going to hop into the QAP, the questions, answers, and privilege. And let's see if Lauren can answer maybe that question and maybe a few more, and we'll be right back. Welcome back everybody. I have the privilege of hanging out with this wonderful human. She's a Rotary Piece fellow She's managed international cultural diplomacy programs. She's an adventurer. She likes to scuba and she travels the world with like a childlike curiosity, but most importantly, she's the Interim Executive Director of Peace Jam. It's a foundation whose mission is to support and create young leaders committed to positive change to the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates. It's intense and beautiful. Please welcome the wonderfully peaceful Lauren Coffaro. It's a privilege to have you on the show, Lauren.

Lauren Coffaro:

It's a privilege to be here with you, Jason.

Jason Browne:

Every day might be different. But today, what are three privileges that you're feeling today?

Lauren Coffaro:

I am feeling the beautiful support of my life partner today. also a lot of gratitude for this tech setup and this space that's allowing me to connect with you and also my community here in Denver, something I really grateful to have after the pandemic and a lot of times of isolation. And, Really cool folks also, working here on social impact.

Jason Browne:

So you are a peace fellow. So you know all about peace. So how do you actually define peace and how has it evolved over time

Lauren Coffaro:

That's such an interesting question because when you ask people to define peace, everyone has a very different answer. And I think what I've taken away as people often think peace is a very like light and fluffy thing. Like peace is. feeling of serenity or like a cloud, yeah, meditation, and it is those things, but I think peace is radical and peace is, something that, everyone wants, but not many people can define. I would define peace as the presence of social justice and the conditions for, dignified life for all human beings. I Also define it personally as nonviolence or the absence of violence or. physical war, physical violence.

Jason Browne:

So you mentioned a word that many people often put right next to peace, which is war like I want to dig into this what is the what is the difference between those two and because you spoke in your story about how giving people dignity and making sure that they're being seen as whole how does that get into this equation of like war versus peace?

Lauren Coffaro:

absolutely the backbone of pursuing peace. And you can't have peace unless you. end war. So war being any kind of physical violence, or we call it like in the theory, the peace building theory, direct violence, also cultural violence, like social violence. there's all these different kinds of violence. You do have to end violence in order to pursue peace. You can't have a, just society freedom, access to education and, conditions for dignity. If your life is under threat, right. Or if there's gunfire at your door. but there's, I think of it as two steps, you know, important steps, or maybe like two sides of a coin. There are a lot of people who are really devoted to, ending war ceasefire. the idea of what does our world look like if we end war and that's critical. And there's a whole other, component to peace building, which is, development, education, access to resources. I mean, if you think about it, if you are living in a conflict zone and the conflict ends, you're still going to have enormous, needs that are going to be met. You're not going to feel necessarily peaceful in yourself. You may still have a lot of insecurities, food insecurity, lack of access to education and inequalities that you're facing. So, there's this whole kind of, unseen, like invisible component to peace, which is, all of the. You know, pursuit of social justice, that is critical to building peace, but often like left out of the conversation.

Jason Browne:

So often, at least in circles that I see in on the news, like you said, the tendency when you don't have peace is to be like, sign a treaty, stop, stop shooting. Like you, you, you jump to the ending of like the violence portion, should our perspective change? Should our energy to ending conflict move away from like, cease fire. Let's get Taylor Swift to tell them this. You sign a treaty versus like, is there, is there something else we should be doing instead of just asking from afar to sign a treaty and stop shooting each other,

Lauren Coffaro:

Yeah. The treaties cease fire. That is a critical component of peace building. I think peace is absolutely tied up in development is absolutely tied up in, the pursuit of equality. It's absolutely tied up in education and distribution of resources. even in, cultural heritage and being able to, express yourself through family, religion, through different aspects of society. my message is that peace, goes so far beyond just ending wars. And there's things that people can do from their place in society. every single kind of sector of our society has a piece of the peace building puzzle.

Jason Browne:

the piece of the piece building puzzle.

Lauren Coffaro:

Maybe I'll give an example. Um,

Jason Browne:

Yeah, please do.

Lauren Coffaro:

there's a tool that I think is really useful for understanding peace. and there's a organization called the Institute for Economics and Peace. They put out a index or like a ranking of most peaceful countries, but they have one that's called the Positive Peace Index. that really breaks down when you look at that. What are the components of peace? a peaceful society from that holistic sense that I talked about, right? What does it look like when you have positive peace and something that's really interesting? Actually, the US is not as high up on that list as you might expect. I think right now it's sitting at maybe 26, on the list. And you know, some of the components, for example, the US ranks really high on sound business environment.

Jason Browne:

Business environment is part of peace.

Lauren Coffaro:

Yes. No, being able to have your own business or pursue, economic mobility. Like, that's part of, building a peaceful, having a peaceful society, from the holistic sense. One area where the US ranks very low is good relations with neighbors. And that's not talking about Canada or Mexico. That's talking about internally relations between ethnic and cultural groups. Right. And that's pretty, people who live here is pretty, obvious that that's a place where, the U. S. really struggles and that's something that is a component of a peaceful society too.

Jason Browne:

So give me, what are we good at then if the US is not very good at peace in general, what is One of the things we're like, okay, there is, there's this little glimmer of hope that we do well. Like what is. What do we do? Well, anything.

Lauren Coffaro:

Capitalism.

Jason Browne:

So the U S struggles to create peace in all the ways that you spoke about in a holistic sense. And there with all these levels to it, it's beginning to seem like peace is super complicated, which obviously it is. So let's, let's simplify this for a moment. Is peace possible in your mind? Like When I was a kid, I was like, world, peace, let's hold hands and sing songs. And Michael Jackson came out with like, heal the world. Like everybody was vibing out. And like today, after you've seen all this, is peace possible? And if not in the tradition, in the old school sense. What does peace look like going forward for you?

Lauren Coffaro:

That's like the pageant queens when they're always asked what they want for the world, world peace.

Jason Browne:

Yeah, well, peace, right?

Lauren Coffaro:

That's a complicated question. And I think I have a complicated answer to,

Jason Browne:

sure.

Lauren Coffaro:

is that peace in terms of like a dignified life our lifetime? And I don't think it's probable, but there's different levels of peace too. there's inner peace, there's peace in a home, peace in country in the world. And I think in the pursuit of peace in our lives, in our lifetime, Improvement is possible. Pockets of peace are possible. in my work with Peace Jam, when we work with young people, often they're facing conflicts in their homes or in their schools. they're trying to confront bullying, or they're trying to confront, issues they're having in their relationship with their parents. And it is possible with the right tools, and with an understanding of, how to, relate to people, how to, Create change or transformation. It's possible to resolve those things. So I feel optimistic that there's many possibilities within our lifetime and especially in educating the next generation. I feel this optimism. There's opportunities to have a more peaceful existence. I do think that world peace, is gonna be a lifelong work for all of us.

Jason Browne:

how many factors are on this list of the U. S. is ranked 26 and I'm sure people are going to be like, we should be higher than that, but like what else, how many of them, how many factors are on there?

Lauren Coffaro:

So there's eight different like pillars that they use to measure positive peace. and then they rank all the countries in the world. So 20 isn't that bad when there's, you

Jason Browne:

Yeah, that's

Lauren Coffaro:

200 countries in the world. But, yeah, probably not what people would think.

Jason Browne:

So there's eight. So having those eight categories gives you a better chance of having peace in whatever country that you're in. I guess I'm curious by not having them, does that increase the chance of violent conflict?

Lauren Coffaro:

Yes, definitely. I mean, the pillars of building peace are, what makes a society resilient and what makes you able to prevent conflict. you know, 1 of those pillars, for example, is low levels of corruption. If you have high levels of corruption, then your propensity to, have greater conflict or move into war when different situations arise definitely is higher.

Jason Browne:

In your story, you at least alluded to this idea that more understanding helps to create peace. There's a certain level of like, I have to understand you and you understand me. you did that when you were in situations with not only your students, but with your brother and throughout life, it seems to be a very common theme. Now, when we're dealing with current events, Gaza, Ukraine, other very difficult moments around the world, all of these things can be deeply polarizing and personal. So how can you create a conversation or create the moments to understand when you can't, it's very difficult to even open your mouth without somebody turning around and being like, I'm not, that's not, nope, not going to do it. Like, how do you create that understanding in that kind of situation?

Lauren Coffaro:

Peacebuilding takes, definitely a high level of self awareness of your own positionality in the world, your own, biases. and I think that understanding yourself and where you're coming from into a situation, and especially those biases, That, may even be, ingrained in you from where you grew up and you're less aware of. That's a great place to start in order to come to these kinds of conversations with, an open mind and a self awareness that lends itself to being able to have a dialogue. I think the other piece of it is, humility. Peace work takes a great deal of, humility, of listening, of seeking to truly understand others. and When you're dealing with these kind of protracted conflicts that are deeply embedded in people's identities, you're not always going to be able to have a productive dialogue with them. but I believe if you come at conversations from a place of, genuinely seeking to understand, and care and compassion for other humans, that's. Where you have the best chance to make progress.

Jason Browne:

Sure, that takes a lot of emotional intelligence that there's a very high level emotional cognitive, cognitive places that a lot of us aren't even in, especially if you don't have coffee in the morning, right? There's like a bunch of who we are in that space. let's assume that we, have the ability to operate there, but we have folks in our communities that may need a place, an environment, a safe space to be able to get to that point. How do you create that environment to allow folks who might not be able to get there yet to want to share, to be open enough, to be vulnerable enough to have this kind of conversations?

Lauren Coffaro:

I feel like the question you're asking, like the answer to that, it's the key to transforming the world,

Jason Browne:

enough.

Lauren Coffaro:

you know,

Jason Browne:

Today though, if you had to tackle it, how would you go about it?

Lauren Coffaro:

I, you know, in the work I do with young people, we create spaces where young people want to show up because they, because they want to meet other people, because they want to seek inspiration because they know there's a problem and they don't know where to start to tackle it. and. They come to the space for different reasons. A lot of them don't necessarily believe that they can make a difference or that they can build peace. A lot of them don't have much peace within themselves, right? They're struggling with that inner peace, creating a space where you facilitate peace. starting with, again, that process of self reflection, understanding who I am, what I care about, why, what do I want to see changed in the world, like, facilitating that process is that first step to what I just talked about, right, to having that level of self awareness that allows you to, actually open a productive dialogue with other people, And so sometimes you just got to start with, you know, the square one, like, how am I addressing, what's going on inside myself and my own life, before looking to solve all the problems in the world.

Jason Browne:

Which, sounds very individual. peace is one of those things that's difficult. And this is, you know, I don't know if there's a question here more so than just like a thought. it makes a lot of sense to, you have to find your foot, ground yourself to be able to create the other additional spaces that are needed for other people to be able to ground themselves and be vulnerable to like, it's this chain reaction. And it's incredibly frustrating that it starts so singularly. It's like with all the things that are happening around the world and as many people are being impacted by what's there, it's, It's I believe you're 100 percent right, but it's also super frustrating to think like it has it's it's start start with you start with you and build out and find other people who want to do that too and continue doing it. It's lots. It's slow. It's slow. I guess my problem is that it seems so slow. And when it's like in the dominoes just go you.

Lauren Coffaro:

Yes.

Jason Browne:

opposed to like a snow avalanche effect.

Lauren Coffaro:

I see that. It is frustrating because these problems are urgent. there is death happening in the world. There's war happening in the world. That urgently needs to be solved. And so there is a tension there. I recently was in a conversation with Jody Williams, who's one of the laureates who works with PeaceJam. She led the international campaign to ban landmines, and a young person asked her like,

Jason Browne:

ban, to ban landmines.

Lauren Coffaro:

ban landmines. It was the only successful campaign to ban a weapon globally. So very amazing. And a young person asked her, you know, how do you grapple with the fact that there's so much suffering going on in the world and so many of these urgent Issues that need to be solved. yet you have to live your life and you have to work on yourself and find moments of peace in your own life. That's a struggle that a lot of our young people are feeling too. Like there's a conflict between that urgent activism that needs to happen and being able to prepare yourself and sustain yourself in this work.

Jason Browne:

I'm still that way. I relate to that too.

Lauren Coffaro:

And what she said was. You know, my activism is for me too, because I want the world I live in to be a better place for me. So it's as much for other people as it is for ourselves and our lives. And I think recognizing that duality, there is a tension there. it's part of the process.

Jason Browne:

how many peace laureates do you work with? Have you worked with?

Lauren Coffaro:

Fourteen.

Jason Browne:

That's pretty awesome. give me one more story. So this is the one that you just spoke to ban landmines. what's one other cool thing that another peace laureate that you did that, that you work with.

Lauren Coffaro:

So I work with Lima Bowie, who is from Liberia in West Africa, and she brought together Muslim and Christian women in the civil war in Liberia. And that was a horrendous civil war, like child soldiers, huge amounts of, of death. And she brought together Muslim and Christian women. And they would sit in the central square of Monrovia in Liberia and demand peace and say, we, the women don't want this. We're half of the population and more if you take all the children and we want peace. And that movement spread across all of West Africa and they got. The men to put down their arms and she now does women's and girls education and give scholarships to girls in Liberia and does a ton of work to support with the. Development of the country. and she's so amazing with the kids. Like she can relate to them on such a personal level that just, really inspires them to confront the problems that they face in their lives too.

Jason Browne:

And I love the fact that that's the snowball effect. that's the dominoes, all of them falling in the direction to create a real change. it doesn't happen all the time, but that's, that's why she's a peace, a peace laureate. She's a Nobel laureate, as we wrap up here on the podcast, we like to define and think about the possibilities of privilege by doing three things. one, know your privileges. Two, use your privileges to help yourself kind of close to what you were just talking about. And three, use your privileges to help others. Also, what you were just talking about. So after this podcast, how are you gonna tackle those three things?

Lauren Coffaro:

So in my work with peace education with young people, we're teaching young people to, know themselves, know their own power and privilege, and then, identify the places in the world very similar to what you shared, where they can use their unique skills and their unique passions to make a difference and uplift others. And. That's something that I have to constantly remind myself within my work and within my daily life, like to apply to myself to always sit down and think about when I go into a conversation, when I go into a new project, you know, what's my best way to use my unique skills or my unique position in the world to, affect change or to be successful in this way. And who do I need? Right. Always looking for the local partners, expertise, people who are already doing, work in this area who I can bring in because that's where the innovation happens. Like, that's where I think, personally, I can make the most impact is working in partnership with people who complement the local partners. You know what I'm bringing to the table, so I think those are three questions. I'd like to ask myself every day.

Jason Browne:

That's right. And that response is probably the best answer, of them all, that we've had so far on the show. Lauren, thank you so very much, for being here. It's been a privilege to hang out with you before you go. Is there anything that you want to share, get people involved in, is there anything that you want to promote? at all?

Lauren Coffaro:

I Would love if everyone who listens To this podcast could take some time to think about what a peaceful world looks like to them because then we can start to build it.

Jason Browne:

Lauren, it has been a privilege to have you on the show. Thank you so very much.

Lauren Coffaro:

Thank you. It's been my privilege to be in this conversation with you.

Maurice Browne:

Welcome

Jason Browne:

everybody. It's a privilege, a lot of great nuggets of inspiration. I know I found a piece of inspiration in there. Okay. Uh, what are your thoughts? What are your thoughts about, some of the things that we chatted about? How does that evolve our conversation about peace for you?

Rebecca Force:

one thing that stuck out to me is that this next generation of peacemakers are, they're young, they're young, you know, she kept talking about their age and how they're figuring out life for themselves, but also this is their mission in life. And I thought there, there's a strategy in that, like she was saying, peace is layered, you know, it's got a long term strategy. It's got, there's some thinking in there and it's great that they're targeting these young people before. Major heartbreak and pivots and you know There's a lot more hope and drive and and frankly energy and a younger group that's what stuck out to was just sharing.

Maurice Browne:

when she mentioned that piece has to begin with yourself. That you have to have inner peace before you can move forward. I think that, you have a lot of forces outside of yourself, which promotes anti peace. And, that's something that you have to be aware of, and sometimes it controls you. You have influences that direct you, well, this is what you have to do, and it's counterproductive, but you have to have inner peace first in order to have peace with yourself and to promote peace elsewhere.

Jason Browne:

I like this concept of like this anti peace It's not war, it's anti peace. I think that's a unique way of thinking about the areas of our lives, whether that's externally or internally that impacts how we treat peace. So, what is an aspect of anti peace in your mind?

Rebecca Force:

Really, what came to my mind. the first thing is I was rushing one day and I have a routine and I feel like we all have our sensory routines right? We know where we put our keys. Our bag is here. We do the same routine when we leave the door. We get in our car. You know where you're going in terms of your commute. And so it's just on automatic. And I pushed all the buttons, the garage door. Open the car door, sat down, plug in my phone, give my daughter her juice. Like I'm, I'm doing it. And I'm backing up and I just hear a scraping sound. Thought, that's that's not part of the routine for the morning. What's going on? I didn't actually push the garage door all the way and I didn't time the waiting. So the garage door opened half the way and I backed out and I scraped the fin off the top of my SUV. Oh, it's heartbreaking.

Maurice Browne:

Expensive.

Rebecca Force:

It's expensive for sure. So I don't have serious XM right now, but that's okay. It's the least of my worries for sure. But, the anti peace in my world, and I feel this for all my friends, all my mom friends, is that when there's a wrench in your daily routine there's already so much going on and mental load and planning and working and balancing the checkbook and everything that when you scrape your car or hit a pothole or anything happens, it feels like a personal attack. You ever been driving and you think, is everyone driving at my car today? Like what's going on? and that's To me, those are those moments in your daily life of anti peace in in the in the bubbles we create for ourselves

Jason Browne:

the one thing that I'm picking up from your description is that what you described is a situation that that some Americans can relate to. This idea of having a car kids routine, scraping car. My day is now shot, though any peace that I just had is completely squashed, like nothing internal, it's all like, who, who wants some next? Right? I get that. but if you were to expand that out to not just a single person, but to a group people. A group of people. that may be struggling or working super hard for a while. And one small thing, just timed slightly different, changes the whole mood of a group of people from being on a regular path to a path of being like anti

Maurice Browne:

anytime.

Jason Browne:

peace.

Rebecca Force:

yeah, And

Jason Browne:

When you think about it on like these larger and larger scales, when we see some of these conflicts around the world, it could just be this metaphorical garage door just went up a little too slow. One day, it may not be as aggressive as like what you were saying earlier. Dad is like, I want power. It could just be like something happens to a group serendipitously. That really causes a shift in perspective. And that could be the snowball effect. Which is really frustrating because it's like, you do all this work, you put all this work in and the garage door is is the thing? That's the thing that stops me from having

Maurice Browne:

peace. So

Jason Browne:

I don't know. I'm going with this aside from the fact, like there's a garage door that I'm

Rebecca Force:

currently at. I mean, it happens in major cities, right? I mean, the L train is now shut down. Yeah. The doors open, hundreds of people spill out, and if you could follow each one of those hundreds of people to see how that one train Schedule has affected their whole day. You're going to see a lot of anti peace

Jason Browne:

So in those moments, dad, when you have this metaphorical garage door that doesn't open and you back into it and scrape your car and now really expensive and you're really mad at the world. how do you find peace for yourself And for those around you

Maurice Browne:

Well, I try to look at it. From a little different way. I look at it as I expect. Anti peace along the way. And I consider it a privilege not for it to happen. So when it does, it's part of the routine. So, I look at, look at somebody, you know, the trash can falls over and the trash is all over the street when you're putting it out. You have to pick it all back up again. You know, lawnmower doesn't start. You know, it's something. It's a routine. the cat misses the litter box. Okay, so I look at the unexpected. I expect that and that way I'm prepared for it. And I'm not really disappointed and I can deal with it. Most people expect peace throughout the day when you start the day. I don't. I expect the unexpected. I expect that anti peace and it doesn't happen. There you go. What

Jason Browne:

I really liked that approach of being like, you know, I plan for the worst and when the best happens, then that's good. Let's say it's a really, not everyone. Can be happy and live with that perspective, a more pessimistic perspective. but I see the value in it for sure.

Maurice Browne:

I expect the computer doesn't start right. The program doesn't work, the power goes out. I expect that. And when it doesn't happen,

Jason Browne:

you almost make it sound like you don't ever get to a point where you don't feel the anti peace and I feel like that's not

Maurice Browne:

no, no, there's a, there's a level,

Jason Browne:

Okay. So what, like we talked about that level then, like if that level happens, what do

Maurice Browne:

you know what? I don't expect to somebody to ram into the car while I'm driving. Okay. That, that goes over that little threshold of trying to maintain peace,

Jason Browne:

So when you go over that threshold, you come back? Yes. how do you come back

Maurice Browne:

You just have to accept this as part of life.

Jason Browne:

How do you accept it? You keep saying you're accepted, but it's, I find it hard to believe that you're just like, that's it. And then you go about your day. Like, what else is part of that process?

Maurice Browne:

No, there's a couple rules in life, that have helped me since I was a little kid all the way up to where I am today. One is not to benefit from somebody else. You know, a disadvantage. some people do that, somebody loses the job. So you just don't take advantage of a situation at somebody else's expense. That's one major rule that I have, but you, if you get to a point where you have a traumatic event, I've always, because of things have happened in my life. I automatically get into a mode, you know, you get really depressed and then you have to get yourself out of it and I do it pretty quickly. Usually. I don't look at what I don't have, I know everybody says it, I try to look at what I do have, okay, this happened, so what do I do to move forward, that sounds pretty easy, but I, center myself on doing that. Okay. I don't know if that answers your

Jason Browne:

No, but I think that it does. It's. That is your mechanism. That's how you ground yourself,

Maurice Browne:

Yes.

Jason Browne:

If all the, the wine glasses in my cupboard broke and there's one left standing, I have one. Glass that's standing and you've trained yourself You've worked with yourself and you figured out a way to coach yourself to do that And that's what Lauren's doing with youth on a wider perspective. It sounds like of being like, okay When the garage door doesn't open and all the wine glasses break, there's one left,

Rebecca Force:

it was very first world, right

Jason Browne:

very first It's Very it's

Rebecca Force:

very very first world, right? Yes

Jason Browne:

I don't think there's anything wrong with using that as the reference point for our conversation to to address the ways that we not only cope, but we deal with anti peace in a productive way. And I'm hoping that, like, the youth that she works with, maybe they're not wine glasses, Rebecca, maybe they're not wine glasses, okay,

Rebecca Force:

Okay.

Jason Browne:

but, whatever the thing is that they're faced with, she said the kids, survived the trauma some shootings. She mentioned that if, which is way different than a wine glass, way different than a garage

Rebecca Force:

and I don't want to be misleading But i'm just saying I don't want to trivialize

Jason Browne:

right? I don't want to trivialize what they're going through either. However, the disruption of peace for an individual or a group of people, it doesn't have to be a bullet. To cause disruption. It can be something simple. And that is what I'm getting from this conversation. It's like, Both can impact the way that we approach things.

Rebecca Force:

Hundred percent. I mean in our school district now, especially with the middle school age kids The anti peace is bullying We've had a child not even in high school and a middle school student take their own life so Not only was she experiencing anti peace externally with bullying But internally not be to take it anymore. There's so many layers like like she said, I mean like lauren layers to and to anti peace.

Jason Browne:

Lauren is extending her resilience to anti peace and training other folks to deal with that and Coaching leaders to create peace in other places. What do you two think that we can as human beings, as individuals What can we do to share that with others throughout our day? So dad, your level for anti peace is fairly high. You expect bad things to happen like you're good for most of the time. So how do you share

Rebecca Force:

skill

Maurice Browne:

with us? It's a good question. Simply, you just have to persuade others for a consensus to move forward in one direction. That is the beginning of a communal type of peace, where as a group, more than just the individual, others are moving in the same direction. You have to convince others that, you can't do it by yourself. You have to gradually get a consensus for others to agree on something. And that's the major problem. everybody has a different perspective. So it's hard to get that agreement. collectively. And so you have splinter groups and they branch out and then they have conflicts with each other. so you have to make some sort of compromises. And if you have the compromises, within the group, then you can move forward, but you do have to have some sort of consensus of how you want to go forward.

Rebecca Force:

build off of that, that consensus often comes from a tragedy. when we're talking about peace movements on a global scale. even here, county wise in Pennsylvania when, and please if I say his name incorrectly, Osaze was killed by the police, It completely activated a group fighting for not only justice, but peace and a relationship healed between the police here and the residents in Centre County.

Jason Browne:

In many of the examples that we are finding, it almost like conflict is necessary and anti-peace is necessary for us to come together to find peace as a whole.

Rebecca Force:

Lauren even said it herself, there cannot be peace without war. They go together.

Jason Browne:

They go together, but I did not hear that one was the prerequisite for the other.

Rebecca Force:

Let's roll the tape back.

Jason Browne:

Well, we actually didn't do that. So we don't know. we're just going to roll the conversation. yeah. So that's what, that's what just happened. Yeah. Well, you judge for yourself. You leave comments in the comments section. What is the prerequisite before the other? I don't know.

Rebecca Force:

know.

Jason Browne:

dad. What did you hear?

Maurice Browne:

I did not hear it was, that it was a prerequisite, but that is probably true.

Rebecca Force:

Thank you

Jason Browne:

Okay. Okay, fine. I was just wanted to comment that I didn't hear come from Lauren you know what I mean? I'm just

Rebecca Force:

know, it's just a simple push of a button

Jason Browne:

no. we're not going back. No, we're not go. No Can't go back. No, moving forward, but y'all, y'all can go back Y'all can go back. maybe that's where we end it. Maybe

Maurice Browne:

that's for

Jason Browne:

end it. is, is peace possible without initial conflict? And the other question I want to ask is if everything else for equal is peace, our natural state. I still

Maurice Browne:

not so certain. No.

Jason Browne:

My dad,

Maurice Browne:

now it's a definitive. answer. I think if all things were equal, we joked about it, but at least in the mental state of humanity as it stands right now, you have to have something to instigate you to move forward. And if so, if everything's equal, it's gonna be conflict somewhere. Somebody doesn't like your hair. your clothes. Somebody doesn't like something. There'll be something to combat, something you're gonna disagree with always.

Jason Browne:

All right. Dad, that's, those are your final thoughts for the show. What Rebecca last final

Maurice Browne:

thoughts

Jason Browne:

peace before we head on out.

Rebecca Force:

That's so hard. He's talking about conflict. I'm thinking about children as a parent. I'm thinking about a sandbox And these children aren't taught to not like each other. My daughter goes to basically we joke around. It's like baby you in, in and yet they get along, but they also argue Logan's favorite thing to tell me is I was line leader today, you know? So there's even positioning for leadership at the age of four. My final thoughts are not to sound like a Whitney Houston song, but the younger generation is our future. I'm glad there's people like Lauren who are training people who have not been swayed or become cynics to be. Change makers and advocates I hope for more like Lauren and more people like the people she is teaching.

Maurice Browne:

I would like my final comments to be that privilege will always exist and it's the level that you are able to accept it. That'll bring you peace.

Jason Browne:

Of course, my father ends on like a very quotable thing. That's what my father does. Okay. Did you, did you write that down? Is that written somewhere on the wall? Anyway, everybody, we'll see

Maurice Browne:

you in the comment section.

Jason Browne:

And that's where we're going to end it for part two on the privilege of peace. What questions emerged for you? What ideas were challenged? What emotions came up during those conversations? Feel free to go to our social media @privilegepod on all platforms and share your thoughts. And let us know your thoughts so we can continue the conversation about privilege and about peace. Cause you know, the world needs it so much right now. Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing. And of course, it's a privilege.

People on this episode

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Jason Browne

Host
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Lauren Coffaro

Guest
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Maurice Browne

Guest
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Rebecca Force, MBA, MFA

Guest