Peace

Peace

Peace. What is peace? It is such a broad subject. The dictionary states peace as a state of tranquility or quiet. In reality, the word could be characterized as so many other things. Isn’t it also the ability to live with others and make life pleasant for yourself and them? Peace is not a tangible thing; it is inside the mind and the soul. One can choose to either use it or neglect it.
The Dalai Lama teaches us that humans should have compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline. These traits are all essential to reach peace. Our modern world if filled with anger and war. The problems that are responsible for this are not those which could be thought of as peaceful ones. If we could only realize that life is precious, and that every moment is extremely costly. Everyday that we live, we have to be thankful. Each day could be our last. Why do we spend so much time on being picky and angry at problems that don’t exist? What’s the reason for all the wars that are going on in the world? Haven’t we learned yet that all of the reasons for war are impractical?
We need to look at everything in perspective. If you look at yourself in the mirror and decide that you need to lose weight, it becomes your problem. You can choose to walk around, pouting and making other people’s lives negative. You have another option; you could look at the global picture. By being negative, one can ruin their life. If you look at the situation in perspective, you will see that something so minor will not affect anyone. We should focus on bigger problems; for example the situation in Darfur, Sudan, or global warming. There are so many issues that our world faces, and we should stop concentrating on small troubles and see the world from a different standpoint.
Peace comes in many shapes and forms. The word for peace in Russian, mir, also means “the world.” I think in order for us to achieve peace, the whole world needs to be in balance. People all around the world need to be able to live in harmony.
What about peace of mind? In order for the whole world to be peaceful, each human being needs to be in peace with themselves. How do you achieve internal peace? In my opinion, you do what you love. If you live for someone else or try to please someone, you are inevitably going to self destruct. You will end up blaming others for your losses and hardships. The sense of self sufficiency will fade away. One needs to live life to the fullest and regret nothing.
Peace is a hard thing to achieve and there are many obstacles that prevent it from occurring. If there are limited resources and absence of justice, war is inevitable. When people have nothing to eat, they are going to fight. Food isn’t the only problem. People fight for resources and even moral values and religion. Take our current war. We are fighting for justice and revenge. I think that we, the rich developed super power, took on the role of trying to make the Middle East a “better place.” There is no rational explanation for our war with Iraq. If only our current leaders could look at the situation and analyze it with a neutral eye, maybe then some sort of peace agreement could be found.
Is peace possible? How do we reach peace? It would take a lot of effort from every individual on our Earth. We all would need to find some sort of way to reach beyond our basic human needs and become selfless. We would need to rise above our problems and necessities and try to help others. There are many things that one could do to help people that are less fortunate. I think that the first step to achieving peace, both internal and global, is to stop thinking too seriously of oneself. We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and need to step up and make a difference. It is easy for me to say this, I am telling people how to live, but the challenge isn’t acknowledging the fact, it is getting up and actually doing something about it. But wouldn’t we fall apart if the world was all filled with peace? It seems like a perfect life, but without any opposition, we could destroy ourselves. This is a major issue. I guess it is sort of pointless to even think about it though; we haven’t come to that far towards peace yet.
The search for peace is an eternal one. Who knows if the world will ever function in peace? The least we can do is try to reach this goal. If we truly want peace, then people will need to become educated about it and about different ways that they can help improve the world. Steps need to be made to achieve this almost impossible goal. If we believe, I think anything is possible. Commitment is everything, and so is peace. I hope that someday, even if it’s not in my generation, the people of the Earth will be able to live in harmony and peace and will be able to experience how truly tranquil the world can be.