World Peace...Is It Achievable?

As our class comes to and end, so does out book. Finishing part 6 led me to think about history altogether and how far we have come since the gatherer-hunter societies. How did we figure things out? When did things really start to make sense? Or, has anything made sense yet? Who is the judge? So many things to think about in the existence of the human being. When we study history there are events and people that mark it significant. Those people - most of them men - are remembered, good and bad, in most households. They are the names children can recite whether or not they actually know of their achievements. Children may not be able to see a picture and recognize the person, but when they hear the name it rings a bell in their minds. How did these people leave a legacy? There were leaders of one group or another. They stood up for what they thought was right and took the reigns of the group or organization and led people that may not have been bold or educated enough to be heard by the government or the people, and told them it was safe. We have had great leaders and leaders who led the people down a destructive path. In recent history we read about Stalin and Mao Zedung, whose idea of communism in theory was admirable but their actions to instill it among the nation and the globe were not. Like Hitler or Mussolini who believed they had great ideas and for a long time they were successful, but to what extent were their means necessary? How many lives have to be lost to be remembered? Not many if we study Nelson Mandela or Ghandi. Of course, lives were lost but that was not their aim. So here we have great leaders who were peaceful and right minded and those who were all about power, essentially.

What about all those people that were strong and carried their pride, but who will never be remembered? What happens to all those who gave their lives or suffered so much? There are so many people that do not make it into history books and are forgotten. Are there only a handful of great people to enter this world in order to make a difference and the rest of us and the work horses of their good ideas? What marks a significantly important and impactful life? Maybe all we need to to impact or influence one life to be successful in this life?

When Strayer ends a chapter he has his reflection and he often leaves me not only questioning what I had read but also wondering what the heck is going on that I don't understand or don't know about. He asks questions to provoke an open ended discussion. He is not always right, but then again I don't think his aim it to have the right answers. Throughout this semester we all gave Strayer a hard time, but truly he gave a good description of a brief representation of our world history and he asked us what we thought through his own thinking. Which brings up the idea of when do we truly start living in peace? Haven't we fought enough? Taken away other's land, property, rights to figure out unity? Haven't we had enough protests to realize we all want something for ourselves? But, in a peaceful society the wants become less because we are happy and when one is happy not much remains a bother.

So, how can we learn from the past, from those great leaders, and the destructive and violent ones as well, to find world peace? How can we build a world where we can all get along and respect one another for our differences? How can we build a world where we can all leave our mark in history