On September 21, the whole world celebrates the international day for Peace. This past year the United Nation’s designed theme was “Action for Peace: our ambition for the global goals.” There is something transformative about taking a moment to think about what Peace is, what it feels like, and how it impacts the world. Through “Peace You Have My Word,” a writing competition organized by Africa Learning International (ALI), students from international schools in Africa and Europe have put pen to paper to celebrate Peace, Africa, and Antiracism. Each piece of student work shows evidence that education for Peace is a powerful tool to develop self-awareness, poetic appreciation, and critical thinking. It is inspiring to see African and European students countering afro-pessimism as one. Enjoy the enchanting words and the provocative ideas!
-Estelle Baroung Hughes, Founder of Peace You Have My Word competition
Peace
What is peace? Peace is not simply tolerating other people and their cultures. I believe that peace is entirely a result of unity. Unity is simply oneness or wholeness. This can only be achieved when people within a community learn to accept and welcome other people surrounding their community. This does not imply that there should be a lack of cultural, political, or religious diversity. Far from that, this merely means that there should be mutual respect and appreciation for the differences that you have with others. One must understand that you might not see eye-to-eye with everybody or share the same principles as everybody. Accepting this, and being open-minded enough to consider the benefits these differences could present, is the beginning of peace and unity. Taking the differences in the lifestyles and ideologies of other people and being open-minded enough to consider applying beneficial aspects to your own life is a further step towards unity. The achieving of an understanding of one another, unity, respect, equity, and cordiality, creates a breeding ground for peace. Peace between people relies on the wish for fairness, understanding of different people's situations, selflessness and humility. All lives have equal worth and no one deserves to feel less than human, or less/better than anybody else. Peace between people is the ability of people to appreciate others and exist and handle conflict together in a friendly manner. Lastly, I would like to end this essay with two quotes.
“If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It's one world, pal. We're all neighbors.” —Frank Sinatra.
Finally, “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” —Albert Einstein.
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Kiros is a student at the Tema International School in Ghana.
