Creating Tolerance and World Peace

Posts Tagged ‘Peace’

Perhaps world peace could be more easily achieved if people understood each other’s perceptions better and handled various situations in a more effective manner. This is one of the many reasons that tolerance is important virtue to have. While we can’t avoid every atrocity we may encounter, patience should be in valuable commodity for life.

World peace is something many have longed for since the days prior to the fall of the Roman Empire. Tolerance should not be reserved for potentially difficult situations, including war. It should begin at home, school and within the workplace. Some of us will agree it’s not a good idea to characterize or stereotype an entire group of people for one tumultuous experience. We all can make mistakes, but it doesn’t make us bad human beings.

People will often agree that the news we read or view on television isn’t good. We can help to change a fraction of that by realizing that our experiences mold us into who we are. Just because we may place value on certain things, it doesn’t mean everyone will agree with us. Merely by trying to understand another person’s viewpoint it might help with the reduction of quarrelsome behavior and fighting on the battlefield.  Additionally, it’s important to remember that not all truths should be spoken if they are cruel or of little value.

Although there are some that feel first impressions and appearances are significant, others think common sense and tolerance both have merit. We might feel it best to surround ourselves with people who are similar to us. There may be times when we don’t have control of who we’re around and we may not have as much in common with other people. The depths of our souls aren’t limited and it isn’t injurious for us to embrace learning new things, but only those who are aware that they don’t know everything will truly ripen with wisdom.

Peace poles are one of the many symbols that are used to express a sense of worldwide unity and universal desire for peace on earth. Peace poles are often used to give children and youth a tactile, physical representation of the common goals that peoples from every nation have – world peace. Making a peace pole is also a fun activity because it gets people involved in creating something that they can have pride in, which helps to reinforce the ideas that the peace pole represents. This pride translates to a desire to participate in gatherings, moments of silence, prayers or other ceremonies (such as those that occur during the International Day of Peace or the World Peace Flag Ceremony) that are usually centered around peace poles.

The most typical material for the pole is a cedar pole measuring between 3.5 feet and 4 feet tall, but any similar wooden pole will do. Cedar has excellent resistant to rot and is easy to find at lumberyards. Cut the top of the pole with a compound miter saw at 45 degree angles to make a pointed top. Sand the entire pole to make sure it’s smooth to the touch – you will probably need both 80 grit and 220 grit sanding paper. Using a tack cloth afterwards will help to remove any remaining dust. Applying two or three coats of urethane to the entirety of the pole will help protect it from natural elements. Lightly sand between coats to keep the pole looking as nice as possible.

Language plates and other decorates are available through a couple different online shops but feel free to add whatever adornment you feel best projects the ideals of world peace and universal unity. To maintain your peace pole, sand the entire piece of wood with 220 grit sandpaper and apply a coat of urethane every couple years. This type of care extends the pole’s lifetime significantly.

Image via Wikipedia

There’s a lot of talk today about tolerance. Many people believe that the answer to all the world’s problems is if people would just be more tolerant of each other. We all remember the famous quote from Rodney King, the African American who was shown on video tape being beaten by several Los Angeles police officers “can’t we all just get along?” That’s a good question. Is it really possible for us to be tolerant of everybody’s beliefs?

Well, there are definitely some problems with this idea. First of all, what about people who have religious beliefs that are by definition opposed to one another? For example, many Christians believe that Jesus is the only way to God. By definition, that means that people of all other religions are on the road to hell. Is that tolerant? How about Muslims? Many of them also say there is no god but Allah. Some of the radicals are willing to go so far as to blow themselves up and others with them to defend this belief.

If you want to be a peace-loving person that gets along with everyone, how in the world can you “tolerate” a person who wants to see you dead? Likewise, in any civilized society, we have laws and restrictions to keep order. We have laws against killing, stealing, lying under oath, etc. We don’t tolerate any of these activities. Neither should we tolerate someone who is harassing us or physically harming us. This is why we have restraining orders, to protect people from other people who wish to do them harm.

So I guess the real question is-how far is the tolerance supposed to go, and who decides its limitations? If we can agree that tolerance does have limitations (and maybe not everyone would agree on that point), then who do we appoint to decide how tolerant is too tolerant? Maybe we can create a new post over at the UN called “tolerance czar”. Then, this person can set up guidelines so we all know what we are supposed to tolerate.

In the past two years, the American political landscape has been transformed by a new group of people calling themselves the Tea Party. The Tea Party rose onto the scene in mid-2009 and had become a major political force by the November 2010 elections. The influence of this movement is known inside U.S. political circles. What’s not as well known is who these people are and what they are really all about.

The Tea Party began as a reaction to the world economic collapse of September 2008. That collapse brought high unemployment to America for the first time in almost 3 decades. In late 2008 and early 2009, businesses were shedding jobs at a rapid pace. The result was U.S. unemployment nearly doubling from around 5% in 2008 to around 10% in 2010. During this period, many people felt that the new administration was not dealing effectively with the problem.

Instead of a focus on job creation, they felt that the politicians were wasting money on failed stimulus plans and a health care bill that not many people were convinced would save the country money or provide better health care. The Tea Party movement formed with the purpose of protesting the perceived fiscal irresponsibility of the government. They held large national rallies on tax day April 15 and Independence Day July 4.

In 2010, the Tea Party channeled their energy toward affecting the November elections. They fielded candidates in congressional and senate elections from coast to coast. Their candidates all ran on the platform of cutting spending and getting the country’s economic house in order. The result was a takeover of the US Congress by Tea Party friendly candidates and an increased influence in the U.S. Senate.

With their newly gained power, Tea Party supported politicians are planning to deeply cut government spending and reduce the size of government back to sustainable levels. Now that they are in a position of partially governing, it remains to be seen if the Tea Party can accomplish their goals in the face of stiff opposition from the establishment of both major political parties.

Many well intentioned people over the centuries and millennia have been dreaming of the day when we can finally say we have achieved world peace. Coming off of two world wars and a nearly 50 year cold war, the yearning for world peace is now stronger than ever. The dream is a noble one-a world where we all live together in harmony and tolerance is the order of the day. But beyond the emotion of it, is it realistic to think that our world will ever achieve a lasting peace?
If we examine human history, the prognosis is certainly not very encouraging. We can go back thousands of years to civilizations that were very well organized and certainly must have had similar desires as we have today. So why were they unable to create this elusive lasting peace? Was lack of education the problem? Well, the Egyptians who built the pyramids more than 5,000 years ago were certainly very well educated. The Greek philosophers were also an educated bunch. They were certainly capable of coming up with solutions to the world’s problems. Why didn’t they?
What about us? How do we compare to our ancestors? What makes us so much more enlightened that we think we can do what they were unable to do? Is it our modern technology? How about our level of “tolerance” toward those with different viewpoints. Can any of these make the difference? I have to admit I’m skeptical.
As long as we have a world with imperfect human beings that have woven inside their DNA greed and selfishness and a natural yearning to have more than their neighbors, I don’t see how our situation will ever change. Humans have always been selfish and have always wanted to have more. Even in today’s enlightened society, we still seem to have more takers than givers. The challenge as I see it is to make sure that 100% of the world’s population develops an attitude and mindset of serving others above themselves. To me, that seems unrealistic, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.

World peace is one of those lofty goals that people have already dismissed as a fantasy. It would be nice to have but it isn’t realistic with opposing religions, world views and the antagonistic nature of humans occupying our planet.

World peace may not be achievable in our lifetimes, particularly with the volatile political and cultural situation in the Middle East, but many people are actively working to help bring about a social change that will lead the world into a state of universal peace. Some of the most obvious indicators of this is the steps world leaders have taken to establish worldwide political partnerships that help to dissolve the differences between individual nations and tie the futures of the people amongst many countries together. These agreements, including the League of Nations and the United Nations Organization, make it more difficult for individual nations to precipitate war or aggression upon other states because the most political, economical and social success is found when sharing goals and objectives.

Cooperation amongst the world superpowers in fields ranging from science, law, education, economics and health all help to build a foundation that will eventually lead to world peace. The need to show dominance or superiority should be quelled by the idea that the entire world should be considered an ally and a source of continued support.

And yet even the significant steps taken toward establishing a working world order since World War II have not been enough to convince most people that world peace is achievable. There are currently several wars that are engaged in throughout the world and aggressions between countries continue to swell. Some people believe that world peace may come only after some sort of unimaginable horror wipes out a portion of the earth’s people – another holocaust or a nuclear war. But as problems become more widely recognized as global, the need for peace will become more urgent.

Although there are some people who believe that war, conflict, anarchy and terrorism will always exist as long as people are on Earth, there are a number of practical measures that will help to create a world community that relies upon one another and makes it difficult to use aggressive tactics on any other nation.

Despite the practical nature of it, banning nuclear weapons, germ or bio-warfare and the use of poisonous gasses are steps that world peace organizations have been promoting in various ways but will not lead to an eventual end of warfare even if every suggestion was undertaken. People are ingenious war-faring people and have been inventing new wars to hurt one another since man first picked up a rock. Solving individual conflicts (specifically over land, resources and other sources of world-wide arguments) will also not lead us to world peace. There will always be another reason to feel disgruntled if the underlying attitude amongst people of this Earth do not change.

Groups of nations must work harder and more diligently to produce meaningful and formal relationships with one another than establish cooperation as a key to each nation’s economic, cultural and political success. World leaders have recognized that world-wide cooperation is needed if world peace will ever be an achievable goal but issues such as ignorance, hatred and jealousy can be difficult problems to tackle.

When world governmental organizations tackle identify and tackle world-wide problems, the need for accelerated mutual reliance becomes apparent. For instance, the issue of global climate change, the world economic situation and other global problems have been identified and tackled over the last few years by multi-governmental associations. Although these problems obviously haven’t been solved, the cooperation on a scientific and technological front help to cement the idea that a global community is stronger than a single country can be on its own.

There are many advocates of intolerance and violence who believe that being violent and assertive physically are the ultimate sign of strength and dominance. Though this could be argued and debated, the fact of the matter is that violent at best can give short benefits and that too to one tiny section of the people. A large majority of the people all over the world believe in non-violence and peaceful existence. These two all encompassing qualities are the pillars on which tolerance is built.

To be tolerant a person has to be at peace with his inner soul. Unless this happens, he will continue to be a restless and emotionally troubled person When his emotions are not in control and not in check, a person looks at avenues where he can vent his emotions. This often results in the person taking up violence and supporting activities which his soul and inner heart tells is wrong.

Let us remember at the end of each night when we stand in front of the mirror and spend a few minutes looking at the day gone by, we have lot of questions to answer. Whether we have been true to ourselves in our actions and deeds, whether we hurt someone mentally, emotionally or physically by our deeds which could be described as tolerant.

We might cheat the entire world including our parents and our kith and kin, but cheating ourselves would be impossible. If we are a lover of peace, harmony and brotherhood in this world, we are true to ourselves and respect us as individuals. When this happens, we become more peaceful and tolerant and avoid actions which are contrary to our basic human nature. Tolerance teaches us to be modest, teaches us to give be a responsible person in society and makes us to become ambassadors of world peace.

Combining business with helping others is a growing trend for American corporations. They are beginning to understand that they have an obligation to more than just their shareholders and are looking for ways to become a better corporate citizen by giving back to the community. Social entrepreneurship is one of the new buzz words in the industry, and Blake Mycoskie is the poster child.

You may remember Blake Mycoskie for competing on television in “The Amazing Race.” He was able to parlay the fame he achieved on TV into travelling the world. It was during a stop in a small village in Argentina that he discovered a type of shoe unique to that region. These shoes are known as the espadrilles. He decided to bring them back to the States. During his travels, he also came in contact with children around the world who had no shoes for their feet and decided to take up their cause. Mycoskie’s business idea was to donate a pair of shoes to someone in need every time he made a sale.

The company is called Toms Shoes, but there is no Tom. The movement initially was called the Shoes for Tomorrow Project and eventually the name was shortened to Toms. The idea being that when you buy shoes today, Toms will give another pair to someone in need tomorrow. Since Toms shoes started operating on that principle, 400,000 pairs of shoes have been donated.

The 400,000 freeshoes that have been distributed so far have gone to deserving people in 24 different countries including the United States. Needy people in Argentina and China, where Toms Shoes are made, benefit from the program as well. Toms employees and volunteers are invited to go along on shoe drops around the globe to experience the feeling of putting shoes onto the feet of a grateful child who would otherwise have to do without.

World peace has been a dream of people as far back as we know. Unfortunately, no one has come to a conclusion yet on how to attain world peace. Many people have their opinions on how to accomplish this, but until there is more tolerance of differences world-wide, there simply cannot be world peace.

It sounds nice to think that by simply “learning to get along” or by everyone becoming tolerant of each other’s differences, that it would be enough. But, the reality is that the world is run by governments, each one wanting to be the controlling factor. There needs to be a form of government instituted that will actually become a “world” government. Because of the differences in cultures and people, there continues to be miscommunications, intolerance of other’s beliefs, cultures, and practices, etc. This continues to spark conflicts and incite wars against nations.

People all over the world have their opinions on how to achieve world peace, but the governing factors of the world, who are really the only ones who can achieve world peace, are not taking the necessary steps towards that goal. So long as each government continues to try to be a controlling factor, rather than working together to make the world as a whole a better place, the goal at a world-wide truce and in turn world peace, continues to be an unobtainable dream.

By becoming more tolerant and peaceful people ourselves, we can work together towards world peace. If enough private citizens of the world work together, eventually the governments of the world will have to start bending to the will of the people and may actually come around and start coming up with some solutions that will bring us closer to a world-wide peaceful solution to live together in harmony. Well, if nothing else, we can continue to dream that someday this could really happen and we will live to see peace throughout the world!