By: Zahoor Akbar Kumar
Peace is the absence of war, fear and violence. We usually consider peace as the absence of war between two countries, nations or communities but in personal perspective peace is the ability to maintain healthy relationships with those around us. Peace is not only needed in the physical world but it should be present in every soul, heart, and mind. It comes with open communication, respect and willingness to compromise. We should end the historical prejudices, marginalization of those in minority. We should end the biasness of black and white. We should not discriminate people on the basis of colour, caste, creed, sex or place of birth.
Thousands of conflicts have been taken place throughout the history, at various levels and between nations. The cost of these conflicts has been tremendous in terms of human lives, material resources and social stability. In many cases the root cause could have been resolved through peaceful negotiation and compromise but the lack of understanding and mistrust between people led to violence. If the countries (in world war ll) had agreed to signing the fourteen points instead of the Treaty of Versailles, we could have avoided the war. This lack of compromise led to loss of millions of lives.
Martin Luther king was a leader of the American civil rights movement. He said peace is not merely the absence of tension but it is the presence of justice also. He used non-violent civil disobedience to fight against the segregation policy of America against blacks. He proposed equality of both the races and used peaceful marches and speeches to raise awareness and build pressure on the government to change the way things were. Through the practical experience of leading non-violent protests, King came to understand how nonviolence could become a way of life, applicable to all situations. In the autobiographical chapter of his first book, King wrote, “the conviction that nonviolent resistance was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their quest for social justice.”
Mahatma Gandhi is the greatest apostle of peace the world has seen after Buddha and Christ. His notion of peace is centered on nonviolence, individualism, soul force and forgiveness. At first glance, global peace initiatives might be perceived as far-flung methodologies that have wholly diverged from his ideologies. Many modern researchers and philosophers feel that today’s conflicts are far more complex, so as their solutions. Global peace, global citizen, neo-modern trends and global issues have placed Gandhi at the backseat of the global forum. He was against violence and believed in peace only. He wanted to get independence with peace. He used to preach to the people if someone slaps you on one cheek then you should forward the other cheek to take another slap which means he was very peace-loving person. He also said, “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and several other personalities also worked to make this world this world understand that peace is the strength of mind.
The absence of peace tends to result in feelings of despair, helplessness and social isolation which can negatively impact on mental wellbeing of people. Peace allows individuals whether strong or weak to have equal value and opportunity in our society. Taking away the peace would be too disastrous for the majority of humankind. It could even lead to extinction of human race when taken to the extreme. Without peace the world will go through another war (WW3), people will start to lose hope for this world, and if there is no hope then there is no determination to save it.
In conclusion in want to sum up that peace is essential to overcome haterdness, discrimination and inequalities in our society. It is obvious that we will face crisis on many levels but we can manage them better with the help of peace. Moreover, peace is vital for humankind to survive. We need to intact it in every aspect of life. Our society will only progress when there is peace in every inhabitant. Peace cannot be implemented with guns or nuclear weapons but it comes with love, tolerance and willingness to compromise. In our history nothing has been achieved through wars or violence. That’s why the above mentioned personalities did not use any kind of equipments to eradicate discriminations and inequalities from our society. They used peaceful and nonviolent ways to bring equality in our society. So we all need to work together to make our society peaceful and non-violent.
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
“Mother Teressa”
The writer is the BA 6th sem student at Govt Degree College Sogam (Lolab) and can be reached at zahoorzahid885@gmail.com
