I just browsed this old ESSAY of mine about PEACE. A school requirement way back... “PEACE BE WITH” YOU IN A REAL SENSE by: VIVIAN LAPUT Humans have long been interested in making peace a part of their lives. Movies, plays, and countless songs have been composed to make peace sink in to the hearts and minds of all creations. Did we really have a time in space that peace ever exists? What I am trying to say is, did a minute ever happen that no war, hatred, arguments, fights, and bouts took place? I wonder if it really happened. I wonder if it could ever happen. But I wish it can happen, not only for a minute, but for hours, days, weeks,years,andforever. We have heard of stories from our old folks about how they roam around their places without fear of being harassed or held-up in the middle of the night; whether they are strolling alone or in groups. How we loved to imagine and wish we were living with thosetimes! But, why did things changed so drastically, or shall I say unknowingly? Peoples’ attitude and outlook in life turned to be so different from the past, according to the oldies. Yet, I came to think for a while, how old are these old folks talking of “things are really different now”? They are in their 60’s 70’s and fortunately, some are in their 80’s. If I count back the years when they were young, the “good old days” for them, I can go back to early 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. Weren’t those years the turning point in human history? Did they forget the year that changed the world history? Yes 1914 was the outbreak of the World War I! The horrendous time line that made human slaughtering a trivial thing to do and killing for survival or for no mere reason was the spirit of the world! It did not just have a First World War. There was a Second World War! In the 1930’s, when the reports and accounts revealed, “If World War I killed fifty million of people all over the world, and the account continued, “In the year 1914 when World War I began, never in history had there been such a terrible war. It was a total war. World War I was much greater than all the major wars fought during the 2,400 years before 1914. Yet only 21 years after that war ended, World War II began. And it was four times as destructive as World War I.” Humans never learned their lessons. In wars, they lost their loved ones, their precious possessions whether material or values held in their lives. Yet war never cease on earth, in spite of efforts by some to patch up differences. Let me quote you this news clipping: In 1993, this news headline attracted the world’s attention: Peace accords, secretly negotiated in Oslo, Norway, between Palestinians and Israelis, are formally acknowledged by the signing of the Declaration of Principles at a ceremony held in Washington, D.C. Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasir Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin attend the White House event. The agreements, also called the Oslo Accords, set the stage for a gradual transfer of power to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and urban areas of the West Bank. In exchange for self-rule in these areas, the Palestinians consent to recognize Israel’s right to exist. But, did this effort of peace negotiation or the likes really gears towards peace in the real sense? Issues of human rights that have been the root cause of all wars and troubles among mankind will always end up in disputes and unsettlement, and again, though sad to admit, end up to wars and violence. Am I getting so violent now? My heart is saddened and bitter when I imagined those helpless victims of wars fought in the past, and seeing its effects in the present. Why such horrible things have to happen? Didn’t we all yearn for peace ever since the world began? Didn’t we spend so much time to meet, convene and negotiate for peace to prevail in our world? Yet, pause for a moment. I just watched over the television newsflash of a man who was said to be a peace enforcer turning amok and desperate. He is currently on the set and being viewed all over the world in a hostage drama. Real life hostage drama! He is holding the lives of more or less 20 people, and the worst, they are foreign nationals! Can this be an awakening reality that man can never attain the ever sought, priceless and elusive dream of peace even for a moment in the family, among husbands and wives, among co-workers, among peace enforcers? Am I becoming pessimistic that human beings can never attain peace amongst them in their lifetime? Do I echo that song of Engelbert Humperdinck, “The Impossible Dream – Peace Be With You?” You may say, “It’s obvious”. You cannot blame me to be such. Nevertheless, I am a person who sees life as daylight. If only human beings can be program like computers I should have programmed in our system the essence of peace in our hearts, in our kidneys, in our livers, and in our brains the essence of peace. But for sure the Human Creator has in His mind that living in this kind of scenario of violence and uninterrupted disputes and cold war’s around the globe, does not bring happiness to the Creator Himself. In His own time, peace will prevail. I know it will happen. Why do I say so? Because even us, the creatures are not happy of our outcomes, living in a world with temporary or short-lived peace and most of fears, and worries that we might become the next victim of violence and hatred of our same beings, the human creatures. If when will that take place, I do not know the exact time. But I will continue to hope, aspire and in my own little way, practice to live in peace every day. How? By being peaceful to my husband, be quick to hear what his concerns are, be slow to answer back when he’s annoyed to something else, and be slow to get wrathful when I don’t agree with his stand. By being supportive to my children and widen my patience to their shortcomings and be their inspiration instead of being a nagging mother. By being cordial to my workmates and understand that they are, like me undergoing some hardships and trying lives. By being a good teacher to my students and give them what they deserve from me. By being a true neighbor to my neighbors, in times of need and share their happiness and success, instead of getting envious of what they achieved. I hope I can live on, and so do you, when we say that precious and challenging phrase: “PEACE BE WITH YOU”, in a real sense.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 09:37:58 +0000
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