Essay on How can children and young people come together to build a peaceful society?
Answers
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.” Peace is the first requisite for a normal life. Absence of peace means imbalance, unrest, disease, or strife. Peace is a must for prosperity, health, happiness and general well-being of all. However, it is missing in many parts of the world. Conflicts between India and Pakistan, South China Dispute, terrorism turmoil in Iraq and Syria, tension between South Korea and North Korea, etc. are threats to world peace.
Those who have seen or experienced the horrors of World Wars and any other war can tell us well the value of peace. Peace is the first and foremost objective each individual, society, community, race, region, nation, and alliance must strive for. Otherwise the world will again be thrown into the hell of another World War, which will be the last war on the planet as the earth will not be able to survive the colossal nuclear holocaust.
There is famous Latin proverb which says ‘If you want peace, prepare for war.’ However, it is most wrongly interpreted by most of us. The war here referred to is the war between the good and evil thoughts going on inside our hearts all the time. We must come out of our petty, parochial, and limited mentalities and thought structures. We must develop cosmopolitan, universal, all-encompassing outlook to life and its people.
Martin Luther King Jr. gave the world the formula to maintain peace in the world. How relevant and meaningful are his words: “If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.” Each one of us must learn to treat others as we would love to be treated by others.
In place of harbouring any anger or grudge against anyone or any nation, we must develop a caring and understanding attitude to the person or nation we are in conflict with. However, we must always be prepared to face any aggression or hostility. We must never ever violate peace of any individual, community, or country. But when our own peace is threatened, we must fight tooth and nail to defend it.
Since children are the future of the world, they must be taught the importance and indispensability of peace. They must be trained also to use the means to maintain peace. They must be taught and trained to develop and use time-tested values such as tolerance, forbearance, understanding, patience, etc.