Global citizens striving for global peace

Madhur
Maharaja Man Singh Vidyalaya
India

The Almighty made the world devoid of any boundaries. He created Nature to take care of the needs of human beings by creating trees and forests to provide for food and shelter. The power of thought in human beings led to the division of the world into countries and ultimately castes, creeds and communities. People of one country started condemning each other because of their colour, caste, or race. From there arose a discrepancy and gave rise to unrest, which persists up until this day. There is conflict both between humans and between humans and their physical environment.

The modern world lives in an era of scientific achievements and discoveries. Whether it's crude oil extraction or just a simple coffee-maker, everything is made with the help of the human scientific mind. In fact, the world has reached a stage where nothing can be considered 'impossible', whether it is increasing the life span of human beings or planning how your child's physical features will be when they are born. But the irony is that we also live in an era of increasing violence, nuclear bombs, weapons of mass destruction, and global warming. Humans, in order to feed their ever-increasing demands, have been progressively obliterating the environment. The nuclear clock is just five minutes to 12 and there is an ever-increasing danger of a Third World War.

Peace has also been hampered by the large economic gaps between the various regions of the world. The world domination at the hands of a superpower has given rise to monopolies in almost every field. In order to satisfy its 'crude oil endeavours', the USA is invading countries like Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of encouraging democracy. Peace has become a farfetched phenomenon in the modern world. The Third World War could, unbelievably, be just for water!

Measures are, however, being taken at the community as well as global level. Organisations like the United Nations have been very active in encouraging global peace with the help of its various organs like the Security Council, UNICEF, and the UNDP. Plus it has also been active in restoring peace between various nations, eliminating global terrorism and propagating the ideal of democracy in nations where it is still a dream. But the picture is not as 'democratic' as it seems. Several evils have crept into these organisations, such as, proportional representation leading to partiality against poor countries, and a lack of advertising which has lead to the failure of large projects and so on. The example of the World Bank is very apt in this case. Its president has always been a citizen of the US, which is the largest monetary contributor. The Kyoto Protocol, which aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 has received a 'boo' from the first world because it hampers their economic growth. The situation is futile and the future unpredictable.

The present generation should be a torchbearer that leads the way by creating a better tomorrow and restoring global peace. We, as global citizens, should realise our responsibility and must pull out all stops to save the planet. We can start our endeavours by propagating human values like peace, non-violence, tolerance and harmony through the mass media like television, radio and the internet. We must follow the principles of leaders like the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. We must also realise that this work requires relentless effort on the part of individuals. Maybe it seems too easy that peace between two individuals can lead to peace between people, which in turn can lead to communal peace, peace within a city, state, country and then ultimately global peace. Nuclear weapons should be banned and the defence budgets for various countries should be channelled into areas like poverty alleviation, economic development and literacy promotion, so that the economic disparities between countries can be reduced. In the words of the Dalai Lama, 'In this modern era we should be selfish but we must practice this selfishness wisely. If we want peace and happiness then we must also know how to give it. We must build an environment where all living beings can coexist among each other in harmony.'

In the end, we should realise that peace should not be treated as a problem but as a challenge that the entire global population should work for. It should be integrated into the A-list of the policies of all countries. Achieving peace is difficult, but not impossible. We, as global citizens, should work in such a way so that we can change the present crisis of violence, crime and treason into a new beginning for planet Earth.

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