Peace in today's world

The following award-winning essay was written by Gurleen Matharu, a grade 9 student,  for "Peace & Compassion Day Writing Contest and Festival." On November 3, 2001, she won the award in Grade 9-11 category.

The winners of the Student Writing Contest were judged by Reza Baraheni, renowned author, poet and President of PEN Canada, and Professor Elizabeth Sauer, Brock U, Eng. Dept., and prizes were awarded for the literary pieces that best reflected the festival's themes of Peace and Compassion. With the help of the Toronto District School Board contest details were sent to secondary schools throughout Toronto. The winning essays are to be announced in Eye for the Future magazine (www.eyefuture.com). Click here for the question.

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding" –Albert Einstein.

To me this quote represents a most basic truth of civilization. However, there are many people that do not agree or accept this truth. It is because of these people that there are wars, shootings, and other forms violent crimes.

Many innocent people get caught in a cross fire between two opinions, forces… enemies. In every such case, it is everybody but the wrongdoers that have to pay the price for the actions of evil. The ability to cause or prevent this "evil" lies in all of us, in every citizen of mankind. In everybody that believes that there is still hope to retrieve mankind from where it has sunken.

Everybody makes bad judgments, everybody makes wrong decisions, and it is how we choose to correct them that makes or breaks peace. It is whether we choose to understand the beliefs of others, or overpower them with ours. We either choose to talk or to fight. It is how we conduct ourselves, do we choose to behave like civilized people or act like savage beasts?

I strongly believe that the power to change the world lies in everyone. I think when politicians, teachers, police, premieres, you, me, or any other person sets out to change a situation, what we usually think about is how a situation could be best changed to fit our needs. We think about "What happens if the situation worsens- will it benefit us then?" We think, "What if the situation improves- will it benefit us then?" Rather, we should really be thinking about the real sufferers. The real sufferers being the people that are caught in the crossfire of two oppositions.

We don’t usually think about the sufferers in world crises, we think about how to protect ourselves from it. Right now, we are not thinking about the 1000’s of people that will die in Afghanistan this winter because they don’t have food, we are thinking about revenge for us and repentance for the terrorists that attacked America. We are thinking about ourselves, we are being conceited.

Every conflict in my opinion can be solved. It is a matter of listening, understanding, explaining, and compromising. When politicians sign agreements, they should be thinking about the well-being of both sides, instead they think about their own benefits, how signing a piece of paper will affect their public image.

For everybody starting from teenagers, to politicians, a lot of conflicts could be prevented if it wasn’t for the matter of maintaining a superficial public image.

If there is a fight in the schoolyard, it can be resolved. But the onlookers, the people who cheer these fights on don’t let the conflict be resolved in a non-violent manner. If the onlookers once thought about what might happen to the people actually involved, they would stop the fight; they would not cheer it on. If the people actually involved in the controversy thought about talking instead of fighting, the conflict would be resolved before it started.

As people move on from adolescence to adulthood, their conflicts seem only to grow.

Some adults become authoritarians, while others become rebels. Each just as bad as the other. Authoritarians refuse to listen, and the rebels refuse to explain. But History is proof where there is authority there will be rebellion. Rebellion does not necessarily have to be violent. That is what people like Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. left behind as their legacy. That is what Nelson Mandela is living proof of. It is a peaceful, diligent way of rebellion that makes peace, and history. It is this form of rebellion that is victorious.

As terrorists try to take overall things material in the name of faith, and religion, they forget that instead of choosing violence over nonviolence they have lost and taken many lives. Terrorists that have attacked America are doing so in the name of justice to Islam, when there is nothing written in the Quran about terrorism. In fact the Quran gives a message of peace.

The Americans, and their allies are trying to seek their revenge in the name justice in the name of the American people.

My question to both sides is that: Since when is it justice to kill innocent people? Since when is it justice to deprive people from basic needs of livelihood? Since when is it justice to kill children before they have had a chance to live? And to think that all this could have been prevented had someone, somewhere thought about what their one action can do to their surroundings, to their communities, to their world.

I think everyone should stop thinking only of themselves and start thinking about how what they are doing will affect someone else’s life. If every time we are a part of a controversy we thought about resolving it by negotiating, or talking instead of using force the world would become a better place.

For everybody that seems to think that we can bring world peace by beginning negotiations between nations, you are wrong. Bringing peace starts within everybody, there are compromises and resolutions to be made. If everybody thought that way the world would change slowly, gradually improving, day-by-day, person-by-person.

My message to everyone is a quote. A quote that I think if could improve the world, and mankind. " You must be the change you wish to see in the world" –Mahatma Gandhi

Essay question:Further info here.

History has taught us the power of compassion. While the seemingly strong and tough quickly fade from memory, the virtuous are long remembered by future generations. History teaches that peace and harmony are ultimately created by the kind actions of brave and compassionate people who are willing to stand up for the sake of goodness.

Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life to oppressed people in the name of his civil rights movement. Nelson Mandela, a man of high integrity, endured 27 years of imprisonment to liberate the peoples of South Africa. Mahatma Gandhi persisted in a quest for freedom, advocating non-violence in the face of adversity.

Today, we have the example of Falun Gong practitioners in China who, when facing brutal persecution, have responded peacefully, while upholding their principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Their peaceful call has awakened the hearts of millions around the world.



We want to hear your vision of how you can make the world a better place through your own commitment to principles and virtues. Tell us how you can follow the example of those before you and help to support justice and virtue in our world through your own actions. Write it down in an essay, a short story, etc. in any length, up to a maximum of 1500 words.

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Page updated on: 21-Jun-2002 09:06 PM