I had every intention of meeting the Monks Walking for Peace when they came through Atlanta this past weekend. Their mission resonates deeply with me, the deliberate, contemplative act of walking for peace in a world that desperately needs it. I wanted to stand on the sidelines, bow my head in reverence, and honor what they're doing.
Then I watched what happened in Morrow. And I realized the most respectful thing I could do was stay away.
The monks were practically running down the street. Not because their mission demanded urgency, but because they were being swarmed. Personal space collapsed. Cameras thrust into faces. The crowd pressing in, not to participate in something meaningful, but to capture proof that they were there.
This wasn't reverence. This was consumption.
We've done this before, haven't we? Turned pilgrimage into performance. Transformed contemplation into content. Made witnessing about being witnessed. The monks' walk is supposed to be a meditation, a physical prayer, a bridge between intention and action. Instead, it became a photo opportunity, another thing to check off the list, another moment to commodify for likes and shares.
There's something profound that happens when we approach sacred things with restraint. When we hold space instead of taking space. When we allow moments to breathe without needing to broadcast them immediately to the world.
The monks are walking for peace, and we couldn't even give them peace as they walked.
This isn't about judgment; I totally understand the impulse. We want to be part of something meaningful. We want to document moments that matter. But somewhere along the way, we've forgotten that not everything needs to be captured. That presence doesn't always require proof. That the most powerful moments often happen when we put the camera down and simply be.
So I've changed my approach. I will support the Monks Walking for Peace from a distance, with donations if they need them, with prayers if they want them, with silence and space if that's what they need most.
Because real reverence sometimes looks like backing up. Real support sometimes means not adding to the noise. Real respect sometimes requires us to resist the urge to insert ourselves into the narrative. The monks don't need more footage. They need their sacred walk to remain sacred. They need their contemplative mission to stay contemplative. They need us to remember that some things are too important to be reduced to content.
Imagine if instead of crowding them, we lined the streets in quiet solidarity. Imagine if instead of shoving cameras forward, we simply bowed as they passed. Imagine if we treated their walk with the same reverence we claim to feel.
What if we let sacred things be sacred? That's the world the monks are walking toward. The least we can do is not stand in their way while they're trying to get there.
Photo Credit: Walk for Peace
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