In the spring of 2003, I was fortunate to be among a group of about 50 other people in a seminar taught by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In the first few sessions, he lectured about the Peace and Reconciliation process, which allowed South Africa to begin to heal the wounds of apartheid. The last meeting was reserved for him to answer our questions on any subject we liked.

It was the night of March 16, and Bush had issued his moronic ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to get out of Iraq by St. Patrick’s Day or else. Everyone was thinking of what might happen the next day as we listened to Tutu.

A remarkable man with an air of both impishness and solemnity, Tutu believes that no one is beyond God’s love or God’s redemption. His speech reflects his absolute rejection of the idea that some people are good and others evil. We are all both.

I held my question, sure that someone else would ask it so I wouldn’t have to. Finally I raised my hand. Tutu came and stood next to me and I asked if he had any thoughts for us on the eve of Bush’s threatened invasion of Iraq.

I could see he actually had many thoughts and seemed to be struggling to rein them in. Finally, he spoke. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he said. And that was all.

I subscribe to the usual daily emails: horoscopes, inspiration, news, etc. Today I received one that said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Are other people worrying about Iran and North Korea, as I am? Are other people realizing just how long two years and three months is, and wondering if we will make it, as a country and as people, out of the Bush presidency? Is it time to wake up from our stupor and shed our outrage fatigue and take back our future?

If we do, we have nothing to fear — after all, blessed are the peacemakers.