Peace

This is an essay I wrote several years ago as a high school assignment. I kinda like it.

Peace


With the enormous diversity of the world, is peaceful co-existence achievable? This world is not built on one idea, on one belief, or on one view on anything. There are over six billion individuals on this planet, following many different beliefs and ideals, everyone with their own idea of the world. With this in mind, how can two people, let alone six billion live together in peace, be able to co-exist without quarrel, to the end of time? As humans, can we achieve world peace?

Peace is a concept that everyone has an image of in his or her head, shaped as everyone themselves sees it. Is peace a world of butterflies and green pastures that some people may see it as? Or is it to be able to wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and at night go to sleep with the very same smile, undeterred? Or is it something more political, such as the elimination of border disputes, armed conflicts, and going to war over menial issues such as religion, race, or personal grudges of political leaders?

As humans and as nations, we’re never completely satisfied. Humans always want more, want the best, want everything better and more expensive that our neighbors. Countries always want more land, more money, more resources, more markets, more of everything good. The world is greedy. Human and national differences will always get in the way of achieving peace. As humans we bicker and quarrel over menial things such as money, jobs, fame, looks, even the fact that our neighbor’s apple tree is dropping it’s leaves on our yard. And those are the smallest of things we fight about. Caucasians, consciously or unconsciously, see themselves as the main race, the main skin color. It’s the White Man’s World. Everyone else is lower on the list. Doesn’t fit everyone’s view of a peaceful world, does it?

Earth is a melting pot of a great number of religions and beliefs, one major reason for the fact that people still quarrel and wage war on each other. Take the world today. Islamic fundamentalists are waging war on the West, on America in what they call Jihad, the holy war. For those participating in Jihad, their cause is to hate and destroy something they do not believe in, something that goes against their beliefs. For them, peace cannot be achieved before the “infidels” are destroyed or converted, before everyone believes in Allah and adheres to His rules. That’s not most of the world’s view on peace. Western thinking is more liberal in defining peace so it involves all religions. Freedom. Freedom to do, say and believe in whatever one says. Looks good on paper. In reality, someone or something must always be at the top. One or a few religions or beliefs are above most. To say that one may believe and live without being prejudiced doesn’t ring true in reality.

“Nothing is impossible, just improbable,” someone once said. The quest for peace, for peaceful co-existence fits this quote quite well. We don’t all think alike, believe alike, nor do we all dream alike. There is no one definition of peace on this planet. We all want something different. Sure, it’s easy to say that we should all stop fighting and arguing, but we’re humans. There’s always something nagging us. Even as nations we can’t just drop everything and begin to live happily with everyone else. It’s a good idea, but all nations are run by individuals or groups of individuals. There’s always something in the way. Such as religion and beliefs. We don’t agree with everything in this world, especially with everyone else’s opinions, beliefs nor looks. One quote we have all heard at one point in our lives is ”Can’t we all just get along?” When is this day coming? When we stop being humans.

Jani Helle
08.09.02
English Lang. 1