Peace - What is Stopping us from Obtaining It?

          Peace, the word with many meanings: "freedom or a stopping of war," "freedom from public disturbance or disorder; public security; law and order," "freedom from disagreement or quarrel; harmony; concord" are just a few of the meanings of peace quoted from Webster's New Age Dictionary ©1982. Peace is the word that brings everyone in the world to one common goal. In an ideal world peace is everyone's wish. Peace is something that people abuse at times, take for granted at times and use as an excuse to disrupt the harmony. People have taken many measures to create world peace but around the world, wars break out with each passing second.

          Many people constantly have wars within themselves. We battle between our wants and our needs. We want to do one thing but we need to work on something else first. It is in a person's instinct to want to relax and work less. Some people can fight that instinct, some can't. Another conflict that people encounter everyday within themselves is the conflict to be the best. People naturally require attention. Having social encounters is our third need according to Maslow's Pyramid. In our society being the best means getting the most attention so that leads to everyone comparing themselves with others. When we compare ourselves we always think that we can do something better, wear better clothes, earn more money, be skinnier and so on. This leads to conflict because to earn the better status you have to work harder and sometimes people push themselves too far. One part of them says, "Stop!" while the other wants to continue and that stops the peace of mind. To obtain peace within themselves, people must give up their want to be the best, look at themselves and be proud. People must also set their priorities in the order that they must be done. Not only do people battle within themselves, but also they battle with each other.

          Every day there are conflicts between the two genders. Males have traditionally been the leading gender but now with females rising up, conflicts have sparked. People still generally look at male and female stereotypes, with males having to be the stronger and clumsier gender while the females are the caring and dainty. Some of the stereotypes have stood the test of time but many have not, but still many people expect the men to lift heavy objects and the women to take care of the children. This leads to conflict because some men and women don't feel that these stereotypes should be enforced anymore. Then they tell the other gender to do it but then the other gender doesn't want to do it and that leads to conflict. Males will feel that they are right, but females will also feel the same way. To solve this gender war, people must forget about the old stereotypes and think of how each individual truly is. Ideally the genders in this world would be equal but unfortunately, our world is not ideal.

          A third type of conflict that people face every day is a conflict with nature. Nature does many good deeds for humans but does many bad as well. But not every conflict between nature and humans are started by nature; every day, people like us start many of the problems. One main problem from humans is pollution. Our planet was once pure where air was clear and clean, but people have been abusing the planet for many years now. We have dug into the earth to search for what we want, we have cut down the mighty forests that let us breathe, and we have scarred the planet and burned its skin. The planet has also returned the hostility with natural disasters and weather changes. Since the beginning of humans, this war between nature and humans has occurred. Even though nature cannot stop itself from unleashing its fury against us, we must appreciate our home more. Many measures have been done to save our planet but our society has grown dependent on materials that harm the environment. It will take us a long time before we can truly stop our offensive against our Mother Earth.

          It will take the human race a long time before total peace can be acquired. Whether it starts with people finding peace within themselves, understanding the other gender or with becoming more environmentally friendly, everyone in this world should take a step towards peace. We need to look at things from both our own and other people's perspectives and we need to understand that we are not always right. Any problem that we create, we can solve - it just depends on how much effort we put into it. We created these wars and we have what it takes to stop them; the power is within ourselves.

Samuel Leung

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