World Peace

I know all about the prophecies of the End of the World as foretold in the Bible. But even so, since I have so much attention, I have got to try to do something to make the world more peaceful.

You probably heard this in elementary school or maybe during the Sixties but clearly, it is time to hear it again. For us to be wasting our resources on destroying or preparing to destroy each other when the world has so many troubles that we must work together on is just plain crazy. What kind of world would this have been if we had put all the effort and wealth that has been spent on all of the wars since the beginning of civilization into productive ends? There would be a world that would be so glorious that we would not even recognize it.

What can we do to bring about world peace? The answer is not to just kill everybody that we do not get along with. We have all got to find a way to live together on this planet. I am certain that a major part of the problem is over-simplification in dealing with other people. When some incident happens, such as an act of terrorism, we tend to lump people together who had nothing to do with it. In our world of global news, what could be an isolated incident instead becomes a worldwide conflict.

Our world is like a million rainbows that intersect and produce an infinity of hues. When we insist on looking at this field of color in stark black and white terms, not only will problems occur that did not need to occur but they will be of greater magnitude than need be. Seeing the world as a set of simple pigeon holes and expecting everyone and every situation to fit neatly into one or another of the holes is an invitation to a very non-peaceful world.

We are much more a world of individuals than a world of nations. When an individual or a small group does something, it should be seen in that context and not to lump an entire part of the world together. This applies whether it is an act of terrorism or the publication of an offensive cartoon. It is just so easy to generalize and to lump everybody together but we have created a world in which that is not practical.

Another part of the problem is simply people that think they are special. The rules are for other people but not for us because we are special. All of the people in this world are special. But that means that, as a whole, no one is special. Anyone who thinks themselves or their people to be innately above other people is a part of the world's troubles.

One thing we all have to realize is that the Age of Ideology is over. In this global village of instant news and communications, there is absolutely no reason for any nation or group to force it's ideology on anyone else. We can all see what life and conditions are like in other countries.

Whenever a better way of doing things emerges, it will be obvious to the entire world. In place of the Age of Ideology in the last century, we are now in the Age of Example. The way to show other to a better life or a better way of doing things is by example. The end of the days of spreading ideology by force should be a reason for the drastic curtailment of warfare.