Commemorating the need for peace

 Peace exists and can exist when we make our peace with the earth and replace dominance with respect 

Governments of nations are there to uphold peace, unity and celebrate life; not to transform humans into electoral numerical pawns who can be manipulated puppet-like to rise against each other so that a privileged few could benefit and be leeches of the ensuing discord

By Surya Vishwa

In several parts of the Western world such as the UK and Europe, September is synonymous with fertility of the earth and therefore harvests. 

It is only apt that peace, the most crucial asset to earth and human, is associated with this month. 

September is significant because it is the month in which the man-made curse of World War II formally and fully ended. 

While Nazi Germany, responsible for putting Europe into a hellish misery surrendered unconditionally on 7 May 1945, imperial Japan which took over much of the Pacific through war, surrendered on 2 September that same year after the atomic bomb of America wiped out thousands of lives and maimed thousands more.

UN Charter to uphold world peace

Thus, a phase that recorded war crimes in an unprecedented manner ended and a new world was envisioned with the setting up of the United Nations. The UN Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of 50 countries with the aim of upholding the concept of world peace, stability and equality, and was ratified on 24 October.  Thereafter, the world has been held together without the level of violence as seen in World Wars I and II. Yet, the lofty objective of peace continues to be challenged in the present times, repeatedly in diverse parts of the globe and gaps between the powerful and the non-powerful dominate world order.

Wars still exist, to date. The love for power and conquest overrides the power of love for the earth, inherited by each human remains equally traumatised, chequered and bloodied. 

Yet, hope cannot be abandoned. Hope for a gentle world, an authentically happy world, a peaceful world, not just in the absence of gunfire but also in the absence of cruelty and dominance of the earth as well as humans has to be upheld.

International Day of Peace 

It is for this reason that an International Day of Peace was initiated in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and officially celebrated in 1982, recognising the need for peacekeeping awareness. In 2001 the UNGA unanimously voted to designate 21 September as the day dedicated to non-violence as well as ceasefire. 

Common sense tells us that on each day of the year, life should be heralded and each and every day hold a special opportunity to respect nurturing peace and abhor killing. On the one day where special dedication is made to commemorate peace man should remember that every day should be a day of peace and work towards this goal.

Governments should uphold peace

Governments of nations are there to uphold peace, unity and celebrate life; not to transform humans into electoral numerical pawns who can be manipulated puppet-like to rise against each other so that a privileged few could benefit and be leeches of the ensuing discord.  A human being is naturally disposed towards a peaceful state, as no child is born a terrorist or a militant. It is the world that creates them to be so. Therefore, maintaining the natural human endowment of peace has been the quest of every spiritual leader and seeker over the ages. All religions as its core message emphasise peace. The ancient indigenous tribes of the world across cultures, held as paramount the enshrining of all life into the framework of an earth protecting a mindset binding humans with the entire paradigm of earth. 

The soil and earth was seen as a living body that had to be nurtured and in times where we highlight sustainable development for the survival of the human and the planet, this has to be remembered daily and not make it a mere theoretical rhetoric of peace. 

Peace exists and can exist when we make our peace with the earth and replace dominance with respect. Modern man dominates the earth and her resources. He does not respect it. This same attitude pervades his association with fellow human beings. This is how conquest, occupation and the obsession of invading other countries with the power of guns and bombs have come upon our histories.

Hence, as we reflect on the basic premise of peace let us remember that peace is an all- encompassing state of mind and that one peaceful person can have a positive ripple effect just as a non-peaceful person would have in influencing vast scale consequences. 

Peaceful leaders cannot be created overnight. It is a lifelong task that begins with each parent and teacher. For peace to be championed in this world the same importance should be given to wisdom. To be cruel to the earth and gentle to the human would be a paradox. 

Hence, in reflecting upon peace we must look at the entire graphic of thought and not a random arbitrary and fanciful sketch.