I was raised to respect government, to pray for the people who stepped forward to hold office. The President, most of all, figured prominently in Sunday pleas for G-d’s blessing upon those who sacrifice and work hard in service of our country.

We understood his was the greatest burden, the greatest responsibility.

Perhaps parishioners in today’s churches still pray for our public servants, but you couldn’t tell that by the hate and anger spewing daily — hourly — from people along every inch of America’s political spectrum. What does it say about our political system that the national committees for our two major parties have launched a bitter feud over whether President Barack Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize?

I’ve fallen into the trap, arguing vigorously with conservative friends who have called the Nobel committee everything from a “joke” to “a bunchof socialists” for honoring a man who had been in office barely two weeks when he was nominated. More than once I have defended this President, who has sent conservatives into bouts of blind rage and even angered some liberals whose expectations for miraculous change have not been met. Falling into a defensive posture felt natural, perfectly natural.

And then I realized how absurd it was to be in conflict with people close to me over an award given based on this criteria: “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.

Peace congresses. Fraternity. Certainly not at all what I had been fostering in my own life.

In President Obama’s simple acceptance speech, I found my own inspiration in words that outlined his renewed commitment to peaceful causes, his call to action for all of us, that reads, in part:

“We can’t allow the differences between peoples to define the way that we see one another, and that’s why we must pursue a new beginning among people of different faiths and races and religions; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.” (Read or listen to the President’s speech.)

Lord, it is hard-as-nails for me to respect someone whose opinions are filled with negativity and language and thoughts I find offensive. It challenges me every day to remain silent when all I want to do is share my strong and opposite point of view, in strong oppositional words.

But this is the cause of peace for me. My work is not forging relationships with foreign leaders or negotiating around a massive table.

My work is within. Sometimes, I think that is the greatest battlefield of them all. And that our greatest victories are won only there.