Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk

By Hajime Ozaki, a  journalist and an external relations advisor for RfP/WCRP Japan

 

The first month of the year 2026 has passed. I feel like I’m not recovering from the deep hangover since New Year’s Eve. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say I feel like I slipped out of MY world while I was sleeping and woke up to a parallel world.

Why? Because something is fundamentally wrong here.

As you well know, we commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the creation of the United Nations last year. The international community has been trying to maintain global peace and order even before the creation of the United Nations. The League of Nations was created in 1920. It has been a collective effort over a century.

Everyone knows this regime is imperfect. After the Cold War ended, for example, we had more regional conflicts and more refugees/internally displaced people than before. The United Nations Security Council, one of the highest authorities for maintaining the peace and security of the world, has been malfunctioning for a long time. One apparent reason is that the Permanent members of the council themselves are often involved in those conflicts.

Yet, there are at least pretensions to respect and comply with international law.

Now, the president of the United States says he doesn’t need international law. He says he is guided only by his own conscience. May God bless him.

Mr. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, made an impressive speech at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “Today I will talk about a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality, where geopolitics, where the large, main power, geopolitics, is submitted to no limits, no constraints,” Mr. Carney said, according to an official transcript. He continued with historic observations and the role that “middle power” countries like Canada can play to maintain the world order with multilateral cooperations.

Days later, Mr. António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, warned at a Security Council meeting that the “rule of law is being replaced by the law of the jungle.”

Meanwhile, in Japan, an unnecessary general election is underway. Almost every party is making a populist pledge to reduce taxation. No one talks about reducing the military budget. No one speaks of disarmament. Correct me please if I’m wrong, but I haven’t heard anyone discussing nuclear arms reduction or Japan’s contribution to world peace.

Now you may understand why I feel like I’m in a parallel world. This is too far from the world as I know it.

Come next week, I may feel more powerless to see the outcome of the election.

But there’s at least one enlightening event taking place now to give me hope to come back to a world of sanity.

In the United States, about two dozen Buddhist monks are walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to “spread awareness of peace.” They started the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center on October 26. As of February 1, day 99, they are walking in Virginia. So far, they have covered states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The total distance of their route from Texas to the D.C. is about 3,700 kilometers.

Their daily activities are posted on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. What’s impressive is the way people along the route welcome the monks. The local police control traffic along the road, community members offer them places to rest, and citizens and villagers gather along the road, sometimes in heavy snow, waiting for the monks to come to show their appreciation.

They walk quietly. No slogans, no political statements. They say they want people to think about peace. And they are inspiring not only the people along the route but also the planet’s residents. The number of followers of their official Facebook page has just exploded to nearly 300,000. Events are organized to echo their calling for peace in several places, including Thailand.

And I know this is not the only peace activity in the world. I learned that several Jewish and Palestinian people planted 100 olive trees in the occupied West Bank in the backdrop of Israeli settlers’ vandalism. I’m certain there are tens of thousands of people around the world quietly working for peace, often without spotlights.

The monks’ “Walk for Peace” procession reminded me of the English expression, “walk the walk, talk the talk.” Their quiet dedication is a universal example of how people of any faith can take meaningful steps toward peace. Similarly, the Jewish and Palestinian community members who planted olive trees together demonstrate how cooperation across faith lines can sow hope amid conflict. These acts, though simple, remind us that true interfaith collaboration can bridge divides and inspire change far beyond headlines or borders.

As members of this interfaith community, let us commit ourselves to walking the walk and talking the talk—working together, across traditions, for a more peaceful world. Our collective actions, however small, can uphold the values of compassion, justice, and unity that all our faiths share.