Today is the International Day of Peace. ‘Peace’ is deemed to signify an absence of antagonism and aggression. But it also represents a broader outlook of healthy interpersonal relationships in an interdependent world. Reasons for the absence of peace are primarily selfish greed, hateful prejudice and regressive discrimination.
Various peace movements have marched to the determined chorus of the peace anthem – ‘we shall overcome’. This protest song of the US civil rights movement is believed to be derived from a hymn penned by Reverend Charles Tindley in the early 1900s. Martin Luther King used it in his oratory. Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen and many other singers have lent voice to it. Nations across the globe have created versions in so many languages.
Indeed, it isn’t enough to sing ‘we shall overcome’. Quite often peace becomes a shifty virtue that changes with situation. The cause of peace is oft sacrificed at the altar of selfishness. We may seek peace among religious communities, and yet play antagonist to our own neighbours. We may applaud efforts towards international peace, and yet turn a blind eye when destructive development seeks to disturb the peace of our people.
All this happens as we rein in our internal resolve for peace by succumbing to materialistic pressures. To be better at connecting to true peace, we must first overcome the circle of self-centredness and look beyond to the larger perspective of peace for all. Very simply, we must overcome hate, greed and injustice of all sorts. The path to peace is filled with toil, self-doubt, seclusion and even defeat. But we shall overcome, someday!
To BE BETTER at ‘overcoming’ the war someday…
Let’s commit to the true resolve of peace today!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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