Is peace free or does it come with a price

With all due respect, I disagree with most of what your article says, except for the central message: peace comes with a price. Even then I would not use the word price. It implies peace is something one must pay for.

Peace comes not with a price but under a certain condition: tolerance and realizing that everyone is equal and everyone at their deepest level has a desire and right to seek happiness and avoid suffering.

Understanding that is peace, not dropping a nuclear bomb and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. There is nothing brave about that specific action. Fear may end a war but it will not bring peace.

Then again, perhaps our definitions of the word peace are quite different.

well ,

i am 36 .. i don't think the Usa has known peace in my lifetime .

there is a greater price when a society is constanly at war and has given up most of it's freedoms ..for safety ..and safety from being offended .

I do not like the word "peace" by itself. It conjures up images of political and religious bickering, which is an irony already. The term 'peace' is so vague that it must used within context.

We may have peace of mind from time to time, which should be our goal and ultimate hope in life - peace of mind. But after experiencing peace, then what?

Reality tells us that "suffering" exists and there are always ways out of it (basic principles of Buddhism). That way out of it is accepting the contrast of reality as it is. When there's up, there's got to be down. When there's ying, there's s a yang. How could someone know what light is without seeing darkness? How can one experience true joy without experiencing pain/sadness? How can there be comfort without the experience of unsatisfactory? How can there be quietness without experiencing what loud noise is? As such, you know something once you lost it; the foot only knows it is a foot when it touches the ground. It's the contrasts in life that tells us what reality is.

There will always be differences of opinions, ideologies, beliefs, philosophies, etc. They all serve as a contrast for us understand others and ourselves better.

Thus, how can long-term peace last if there's no contrast to experience? It's all relative and unique to everyone. This is not to imply that we must experience and accept the negatives, but that those negatives exist and we must rise above them, in order to really experience true peace/joy/harmony.

Wars, political protests, violence, etc - are beyond the scope of all of this. I tend to avoid those types of discussions, as different sides bicker and cherry pick issues against one another in a never ending cycle.

Rather than focusing on peace by itself, which implies something we must wait for externally or pay for, focus on being happy internally. Happiness is a choice and a state we can choose to be in right now. If everyone all choose to be happy internally, peace will come automatically as a result.

Focusing on what you want, striving towards your inner peace, internal happiness, giving more, helping others, forgiveness = peace.

Focusing on what you don't want, people/group you don't like, worrying, depression, fear, hate, finger pointing = not having peace.