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Imagine waking up to this headline: "Peace throughout the world!" Imagine news reports of decreasing crime. Imagine peaceful solutions to conflicts with co-workers. Imagine your children being taught peaceful communication at school. Imagine how a world at peace would look and feel.

The United Nations took a first step toward this goal in 2001, when it declared an International Day of Peace: a day of cease-fire throughout the world.

This year, New Mexico was one of 19 states to proclaim a Day of Peace, and the strong language of the New Mexican proclamation recognizes this effort for peace and justice as "not merely part of a Utopian ideal" but rather as a "key to national security."

The proclamation lists the use of mediation and conferencing circles, as well as conflict management in schools, as necessary elements to effectively address conflict.

New Mexico is at the forefront of shifting from addressing problems with war or litigation toward nonviolent methods of conflict prevention and facilitating peaceful resolutions. In addition to declaring a Day of Peace, New Mexico was the first state to initiate a bill for the creation of a state-level Office of Peace in 2002.

The bill states, "The purpose of the Office of Peace Act is to establish an office dedicated to peacemaking, justice and human rights; training that will enable prevention, management and resolution of conflict without violence; and the study and implementation of conditions that are conducive to a culture of peace."

There is reason to be hopeful that 2007 will be the year the Office of Peace becomes a reality in New Mexico. In March of 2005, the Office of Peace Act passed in the New Mexico House of Representatives but was then tabled in the Senate Public Affairs Committee.

Gov. Bill Richardson continues to demonstrate his support for nonviolent approaches to conflict, and most recently he expressed his support for nonviolence in national TV interviews by stating his belief in the need for face-to-face talks with North Korea. Along with his trend of supporting peaceful initiatives, Gov. Richardson has told local citizens that he will sign the Office of Peace Act when it reaches his desk.

Although New Mexico is the furthest along in the process of creating a state-level Office of Peace, Arizona, Vermont and Florida are following with initiatives to bring similar bills before their legislatures. In Arizona and Florida, committed citizens have worked off drafts of the New Mexico bill, and there are plans to introduce the bill in Florida during their next legislative session.

The movements to create a New Mexico Office of Peace and United States Department of Peace are grass-roots efforts in the mold of the women's suffrage, civil rights and other movements based on nonviolent principles that challenged the paradigms of their times. When established, these institutions will promote the best practices for addressing the root causes of violence and apply nonviolent solutions to conflict on the local, national and global level.

The yearning for a world of peace and for our society to act and live from peaceful ideals leads many citizens to take a stand. Once again, it is those of us who are standing up because it is the right thing to do that are going to enact change.