Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Simmons.
Hi Barbara, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When my children were in elementary school, I was working as an archeologist in Pt. Pleasant, PA during the time when the community around me was fighting the building of a pumping station that would extract millions of gallons of water from the Delaware River (right where I was excavating) to send to a nuclear power plant. I began to research what the ramifications were of nuclear power and our reliance on it, and it became an ‘awakening’ for me. I found a local organization that was actively involved in building awareness of nuclear weapons and its build up in our country, in an arms race with the Soviet Union. I feared for my children – and all children in the world. As my awareness grew, so did my involvement with The Peace Center. I started out as a volunteer, then assistant to the executive director, and then I became the executive director. I have been involved with The Peace Center for 35 years now. I am a mediator, an educator, a facilitator of many peace processes. I also taught for twenty years in Arcadia University’s International Peace and Conflict Resolution Masters of Arts program, always with a goal of training new peace builders for the future.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When you work for peace, and you are a woman, you are rarely given a seat at the table where decisions are being made. And, if you got a seat at that table, the men did not really give you the respect due. I see myself as a warrior for peace, vs. how people may view peacemakers. Another of the challenges was bringing skill-building in subjects such as racism to people who did not believe they needed to learn anything about it. If you spent a day in the room with 30 people, you might only be successful in bringing awareness to only a few of those who were open to it. Also, fundraising for peace is not nearly has popular as raising funds for those in most need: homeless and hungry. So it is always a challenge to let people know that peace building is also a critical need – especially in our very divided society.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am always stepping into conflict! It is the nature of the work I do. I invested many years and funds into building my skills in peacemaking. I work to de-escalate tension, conflict and interrupt violence. I spent half my life avoiding conflict, so I am proud of the skills I acquired and how I use those skills with courage and lack of fear!
What does success mean to you?
In my work, success is being the one who is called in when there is a volatile situation and the tools word to bring down the temperature. I go in, quickly asses the level of tension, upset, outrage, etc. and see how I can help. I have spent time in Rwanda, South Africa, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and I see how badly peacemaking is needed – how badly dialogue and compassionate listening is needed – or mediation – or restorative justice can help turn a bad situation into one that has possibilities for healing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thepeacecenter.org
- Facebook: The Peace Center; Bucks County
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-simmons-28594b1a
