Is World Peace Possible?

 

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan began a military offensive that drove 120,000 Armenians out of Artsakh (Nogorno Karabagh) to the Republic of Armenia.   The Armenians have been trying to negotiate a peace with Azerbaijan from a very weak position since then and it appears they will cede even more lands.

A few weeks later on October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel killed people about 1200 people and taking 251 hostages.  Israel responded with a brutal war on Gaza killing at least 55,000 to date, destroying or damaging 90% of the housing units, and putting millions in a desperate situation with food and medical supplies being very scarce.

And just this past few weeks, Israel began bombing targets in Iran and, just this weekend, the US attacked the nuclear refining facilities in Iran.  Iran attacked back,  The buzz in the news and social media is that we are on the brink of World War III.  Are we?

All along, the war in Russia-Ukraine rolls on as does the civil war in the Sudan.  There are probably other wars I am unaware of simply because the numbers involved, like the plight of the Artsakh Armenians, are just too small to be covered in the world news.

It is 2025 and we seem further away from World Peace as we have ever been.  The march of science and technology has allowed us to kill, injure, and displace people with greater and greater efficiency.  All the conflicts mentioned were initiated by dictators or wannabe dictators, duly elected or otherwise.  These men, the leaders of countries or extensive organizations, are incapable of negotiating with other to get to a peaceful settlement.

This quest for and addiction to power over others is a very human trait.  It is apparent in any number of small groups from school classrooms, think bullies, to overbearing family members, those that make a social or philanthropic clubs their own, and dictatorial bosses in organizations of any size.  All religions call for some variation of the Golden Rule but the dictators and despots referred to here use the differences in these religions to stir the emotions of the people they rule and, aided by social media, they have gotten very good at this.

While contemplating all of this I came across a quotation from Marin Luther King that applies as well today as when he uttered it over fifty years ago.  It was posted in social media and is from Strength to Love (1963) ch. 7 per Oxford Reference:

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. 

All of this makes me think of my high school days when so many believed that we were entering the Age of Aquarius popularized by the musical Hair back in the 1960s.  Per Google AI:

The Age of Aquarius is a concept from astrology that signifies a shift in the Earth's alignment with the constellations, marking a period of significant change and transformation. It's associated with themes of innovation, humanitarianism, equality, technology, and collective consciousness.

As Martin Luther King noted, we have the innovation and technology going for us but are lacking in the humanitarianism, equality, and collective consciousness parts.  Will we ever overcome this barrier?

These thoughts why are so poor at creating a peaceful world had me thinking of the classic Bob Dylan anthem of the 1960s.  The answers all around us, Blowin’ in the Wind, and simultaneously always just out of our grasp.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?

 

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

 

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?

 

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

 

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?

 

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

The Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, wrote this poem which truly captures what is happening to too many people in this world in these days.

The war will end

The leaders will shake hands.

The old woman will

keep waiting for her martyred son.

 

The girl will wait for

her beloved husband.

And those children will wait

for their heroic father.

 

I don’t know
who sold our homeland.

But I saw who paid the price.

The people who pay the price are the vast majority of us who just want to live our lives in peace and safety.  The people who want nothing more than to nurture and feed their families with work that gives them pride and self-worth. 

These sages, King, Dylan, and Darwish, have basically outlined the reality that keeps us from world peace.  Is it a normative, elusive, notion to believe it could happen?  Others have envisioned a Shagri La or Utopia   It would be easy, today, to take the negative, defeatist, view of all this.  I will admit that I may be naïve, but I still have faith that we can.