Since the beginning of times there have been countless reasons for war, as if peace was never an option – regardless of its importance and its benefits. This can be observed not only from one, but more angles, with multiple factors, and each one of these factors or all combined can lead to a sustainable peace in the world.
The first factor would be history. It is so important to be aware of our history, not only our country’s history but also the world history in general. No one can read a historical novel about war without being touched by its brutal and horrifying events, which are a reminder of how awful the war can be. This is perhaps the reason why all governments start teaching history since primary school, so that each generation will grow up knowing why they shouldn’t have a war and be thankful for the peaceful times that they live in.
The second factor is diplomacy. There would not be peace between governments and nations without using diplomacy, which has not been used as much in the past where the power of an empire was measured by its size, so the more lands it conquers the more powerful it becomes.
Without using diplomatic solutions, for example splitting the benefits of a collaborative effort from more than one government, diplomacy should go beyond governments exchanging Christmas cards between presidents, and beyond sending presidency letters of condolences and congrats.
Another key factor is economy. Economy is very important since it includes money and resources, which have been some of the main reasons to start a war in the past. That is why it’s highly needed to have open economic relations with as many countries globally. According to IEP (The Institute for Economics & Peace), research has shown that improvements in peace can lead to considerable economic improvement in GDP growth, inflation and employment.
Another highly important factor is education: particularly in the sense of educating ourselves about the history and learning from human mistakes of the past. It is also important to be educated about respecting other cultures and how to behave appropriately in foreign countries, where each act is a representation of the people, community, and a reflection of where one comes from. An example of how things can escalate fast in this context would be a conflict or a misunderstanding caused by a foreigner who did something disrespectful, which could result in a fight. That can end up badly, someone could even end up being killed, which is a reason to start a war in the first place, especially if the one who was murdered is a political figure or military member. This could effectively mean that the fight and the death incident can be considered as an act of war. That is why education and learning about other cultures is important to maintain peace.
The last factor is thesociety. Society is where the role of the population is highly important, especially charities, organizations, and cultural or scientific institutions, sports clubs. These will turn into a sanctuary not just by helping the poor class of the community, but also by giving the opportunity to each member of the community to express themselves. Furthermore, all the scientific, educative, cultural, and sports activities create a safe space, especially for the youth so they can let themselves be creative in order to lose all their negative energies, turning it to something great and useful. Accumulated passive or negative energy in any community with nowhere to go will develop and lead into a rebellion that will kill all the chances of having a sustainable peace.
In conclusion, there should be one thing to be agreed on, that is if people want changes to take place, everyone needs to start with themselves first. This means improving ourselves to become better human beings in order to have a better world. Opening our arms to diversity and accepting the fact that differences do exist and are not threatening to our well-being, is a great start in establishing a sustainable peace in the world.