PEACE: THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION Dennard D.

Dacumos

What truly constitutes peace? I have been walking this world since time immemorial but I still cannot provide a concrete answer to the aforementioned question. To an illiterate mother in a backward island, peace is seeing her child get a decent education. To a yuppie, peace is equal to hitting his monthly sales target. To a person trapped in a conflict zone, there can be no peace until bullets stop flying. Benedict de Spinoza said: Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. Peace is certainly a subjective matter. It is a universal goal shared by 6 billion human beings who are inherently different from one another. Add the fact that almost 200 countrieseach with its own interestsmake up todays international community. Whenever I take a peek at whats going in the global arena, I cant help scratching my head. The five major guardians of world peace sitting in the United Nations Security Council have yet to formulate a unified response to Irans suspect nuclear program. North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces seem to be losing their fragile hold on Afghanistan. Israelis and Palestinians are endlessly debating on how to divvy up the piece of land they commonly inhabit. Ethnic tension in Kyrgyzstan is spiralling out of control. I need not look far, though. Every day I stare at realities that are antithetical to peace: street children, rough-and-tumble dwellings, dirty waterways, bickering strangers and chaotic traffic. Such things can numb you to the core. You want to do something yet you are clueless on where and how to begin. After some hesitation, you end up doing nothing at all. A peaceful and harmonious world is where hope is never in short supply. It is a place where help does not come with a price tag. Those who want to take a stand against societal ills are no longer impelled to put their lives on the line. Public institutions are beacons of integrity. Corruption is a relic relegated to museums and a topic confined to history books. Principled consistency is the norm and not the exception. Disagreements sans violence are always welcome in that world. Peace emanates from a healthy clash of ideas. There is no room for selfish pursuits. Nary is there a tolerance for inequality. Money and power are tools for bettering (and not worsening) a neighbors lot. I, along with other young people, have this vital role in establishing lasting peace. There are five things we need to do: listen, think, believe, act and improve. To listen goes beyond letting sounds and words pass through our ears. It is essentially about observing as well as distinguishing between truths and untruths. Hearing is a gift; it is a pathway to understanding. Peace is way more attainable if only we talk less, listen more and graciously wait for our turn to be heard. To think is to dream beyond perceived limits. Changes sprout from seeds of visions. Every mind is a battleground. It can opt for either war or peace. Our contemporary circumstances are shining reflections of the way we operate our minds. To believe is to stop treating peace as pie in the sky. Now is the moment for us to take peace out of debate classes and bring it to places longing for a good nights sleep. Letting peace prevail demands unbreakable resolve. Persistence is the name of the game. To act is to scatter peace in every nook and cranny of the world. We are not commanded to produce accomplishments on a grand scale. Basic acts of compassion are more than enough. The roots of lingering conflicts such as land and water are plain

simple. It is the reaction of the concerned individuals and nations that compound the problem. To improve is not to be discouraged by failed efforts and elusive results. This is where discernment is of utmost importance. It is all about striving for more effective ways to institute peace irrespective of our complexities. Peace is not designed to rely on threats of mutually assured destruction let alone the presence of standing armies. We can develop the most potent weapon in the world but it cant defend us against our excesses. Our human senses are what we must utilize. Peace is an effect of collective action and not a mandate issued by the few. Now I have a set of ideas on what truly constitutes peace.