What we carry from the Peace Table

What if peace begins at the breakfast table?

Not with a grand speech. Not with everyone agreeing. But with people sitting down together, making room for one another’s stories, and being willing to listen.

That is what made the Peace Learning Center’s “Better Way Breakfast” so meaningful to me. As a proud board member, I had the opportunity to sit at a table with community partners, local organizers, nonprofit leaders, educators, and people who believe that conflict does not have to divide us. Sometimes, it can become an opportunity to learn about one another.

The Peace Learning Center has been doing this work for years: teaching young people and adults practical ways to navigate conflict, communicate, listen and respond with intention rather than reaction.

But perhaps the most powerful part of the morning was hearing directly from the people who have experienced that work.

We heard from students who are using Peace Learning Center programs and from teachers and school staff who see the impact in their classrooms and communities. Their stories reminded me that peace education is not an abstract idea. It is something a child can carry into the hallway, the classroom, the playground and eventually into adulthood.

One story especially stayed with me.

A former FOX 59 journalist shared that she had attended Peace Learning Center camp as a junior high student. The lessons she learned as a young person never really left her. She described carrying those tools in her “backpack” throughout life – tools that help her recognize conflict, pause, understand another perspective, and approach difficult moments with curiosity rather than immediately blaming or pointing fingers.

I love that image.

We often think about what we put into a child’s backpack: books, pencils, lunch, sports equipment, and homework. But what if we also helped them pack tools for life – how to listen, how to communicate, how to calm themselves, how to understand differences, and how to work through conflict?

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Alicia Johnson also spoke about the realities many young people are navigating today. Children are growing up amid challenges and conflicts that can sometimes feel overwhelming. Giving them tools to pause, listen and make thoughtful decisions matters.

And perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts Peace Learning Center offers: not simply telling young people to “be peaceful,” but teaching them how.

How do I respond when I am angry?

How do I listen when I disagree?

How do I make space for someone whose experience is different from mine?

How do I address a conflict without making another person the enemy?

These are life skills – not just classroom skills.

Sitting around that breakfast table, I was reminded that community is built much like peace is built: one conversation, one relationship, and one willing listener at a time.

We may not be able to prevent every conflict. But we can decide what tools we bring to it.

Maybe peace starts with something as simple as pulling up a chair, sharing a meal and listening long enough to understand.

And when we leave the table, we carry those lessons with us.

What are you carrying in your backpack that could help create a little more peace in someone else’s world?

Pooja Thakkar is working to build cultural connections. You can read her column each week in the pages of The Reporter.