The ideal of global peace

Grace
Balwyn High School
Australia

If it's a dream, believe it.
If it's a passion, live it.

Global peace is a future ideal of freedom, peace and happiness among and within all nations.

As year nine students, we can only dream that global peace and connectivity will become a reality. Although we may not be able to make our hopes come true worldwide, we believe that if everyone found peace within themselves, it would contribute to achieving peace on a global scale.

Many famous people have their ideas of what peace is, but we look at peace as being the solving of disputes, the equality of nations and the coming together of different cultures to understand and recognise each other.

We know it isn't as easy it as seems. After all, 'sorry does seem to be the hardest word'. As stated by Moshe Dayan, 'If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.' It will take courage, determination and time, but if we persist, persevere and truly believe in the good that can arise from dreaming, then we can make our dreams come true.

Nelson Mandela is one of the greatest leaders in history. To be such a leader you don't have to be an adult, rich or high in society. You don't even need to be famous. Nelson Mandela was barely an adult, when he decided to fight for the rights of all people of colour in South Africa. During the apartheid era most of the South African population was discriminated against. Nelson Mandela was one of the people who was badly treated because of his race. He was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island for defending the rights of his people and for taking a stand against the white Afrikaner government.

Nelson had been a member of the ANC (African National Congress) before he went to jail and he was still a member when he left jail. While in jail people held many protests demanding his freedom and while the ANC had considered using armed force to free him, Nelson maintained a pacifist's view. He emerged from prison to become the President of South Africa.

We need to take our ideals and fight for them today! The saying about kids being the future was just an older person trying to slow down our strides. We are the here and the now. We are intelligent, passionate, ambitious people and if we fight for those ideals nothing can stop us, but we need to do it together. We need to be global leaders and we need to form a globally united nation!

Uniting our nations

The most successful form of a united peace front has been the United Nations. The name 'United Nations', coined by the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was first used in the 'Declaration by United Nations' of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.

The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organisation conceived in similar circumstances during the First World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles 'to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security.' The International Labour Organisation was also created under the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.

In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organisation to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, the United States, in August-October 1944. Representatives of the 50 countries signed the Charter on 26 June 1945. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.

The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.

Leaders

As the global community grows there will, no doubt, be conflict. There will be many leaders. Some leaders will start disputes and other leaders will end them. We should individually aspire to be one of those leaders that end conflicts. Everyone inside them has the ability to feel compassion, to be a guide not a follower, to be passionate and to have a dream. Mother Teresa once said, 'Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.'

Our dream is that there shall be peace in our world, and that we are not alone in this dream. It is only going to become a reality with the help of everyone, but you don't need to wait for someone else first. If you believe in it, don't hesitate. Take the leap, alone if you must. Perhaps one day, future generations will look back and remember you as the foundation for the world of peace that they live in.

A world working in harmonious order can achieve so much more than one in turmoil. We can direct our efforts to eliminating racial discrimination and poverty rather than building nuclear weapons that destroy millions of lives. Together we could share our knowledge and we would be able to make astounding discoveries such as lifesaving medical cures. Our world would grow as one. It would be a world that is healthy, happy and strong.

Martin Luther King Junior was a leader who reached for peace between races and he influenced a whole nation. An entire population began to dream of the same situation and his dreams were achieved.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank strive for global poverty to come to an end. Muhammad is a leader, who took action that benefited millions of people throughout the globe. Micro-credit is the operation in which underprivileged people have the ability to obtain small loans, something that assists survival immensely.

Mother Teresa was a catholic nun responsible for establishing the Missionaries of Charity in India. She worked among the impoverished and was presented with many awards, from the Nobel Peace Prize to the Templeton Prize. She had a dream, she followed it, and met with success. She gave herself to caring for and loving those most in need. She waited for no one to lead her, but instead became a leader herself. Those that had mutual passions assisted Mother Teresa with her goal. As a combined force they achieved much greater feats than they would have alone.

Life is lived in the present. Yesterday is gone. As a global community we have struggled through many obstacles, but here we still stand. We are stronger. Tomorrow is yet to be. The world still has its glitches, so our journey is not over. We can learn. Today is the miracle. We are capable. We are strong. And together we can do anything! So how exactly can we bring peace to our planet?

Achieving world peace won't happen in the blink of an eye and after all, 'Rome wasn't built in a day'. It is something that we, as a nation and as a world, are going to have to continually and constantly strive towards if we truly want to make it happen.

At the moment, there is so much global conflict caused by difference of opinions between cultures and religions and we believe that people aren't educated enough about such things. We should at least be fully aware of the situation and realise that such problems could be caused by mere misunderstandings.

If we, as a world, listen to what each other has to say, we will gain a better perspective of why things happen and ultimately, how we can stop them from happening again.

Peace is a dream! It starts within the individual and it expands to those with the same dreams. There have been many people in history that have achieved their dreams, however big or small.

• Andrei Sakharov was a Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner devoted to justice and human rights. A dream of his!
• Andrew Greene Junior of Sierra Leone teaches the world about peace. A dream of his!
• Chief Arvol Looking Horse appeals to indigenous voices across the world to bring peace. A dream of his!
• Elie Wiesel wrote the famous Holocaust memoir 'Night'. A dream of his!

These are people who achieved their dreams and fulfilled others' expectations. Anyone can do this if they have the determination and perseverance. While individual achievements contribute to society, they are still contained within a small bubble. They might inspire others but in order to reach a global scale, their dreams need to be broadcast the world over.

Nelson Mandela emerged from prison to liberate the South Africans and establish a fair country. A dream of his!

Martin Luther King Junior spoke to the Americans and persuaded them to strive for a nation based on equality. A dream of his!

Franklin Roosevelt helped establish the United Nations that still stands today. A dream of his!

Ryan, a young boy, who raised money for a community less fortunate than the one he lived in. A dream of his!

All of these people had dreams that went beyond their own personal bubble. The dream of global peace needs to be like this, except it needs to be the dream of many people. However, it needs to be more than a dream, it has to become a passion and it has to then become a working action. We need to share our dreams with others and we need to make them a reality.

If it's a dream, believe it!
If it's a passion, live it!

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