World with a universal peace with no conflict and violence is my dream that one day we human beings will learn how to create peaceful communities and nations in our countries and regions. This looks like perhaps something unbelievable, but we could take inspiration from these words of Nelson Mandela, “It’s always seems impossible until it’s done”. We never know if not in our generation, this will happen in the generations yet to come. I had a chance to spend a day of my life with those folks who really believe in peaceful societies, communities, countries and regions at United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on PeaceCon 2018 day in Washington, D.C. My participation in this event has really made me believe Yes! a peaceful world is very possible; however, it requires untiring and relentless efforts from our generation.
If we look at the UN global development agenda which they established in form of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the SDG 16; “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” is a real hope for us. The development actors, mostly are nurtured as economist who dive deep to remove inefficiencies, wastes from programs and consider cost effectiveness in development. But to achieve this state, we may need a shift or transition from perspectives of economist to peace-builders, more mechanics to human based, how we can achieve success in all human interactions which eventually results in peace and reduce or eliminate the tensions. Whatever we do should be directed towards this higher purpose which is stated in SDG 16.
Another perspective is we as researchers always tried to unearth the reasons or causes of conflicts, how the conflict affected many communities and nations. We may need a change or evolution from this to assess those factors that really keeps societies peaceful. One of the sessions in this gathering which really caught attention of many was “What does it take to live in Peace?”, an ongoing effort from renowned anthropologists to study and identify the factors that why certain societies are in peace from at least 100 years or more. They tracked behaviors of these societies and identified factors who kept them in peace, they are; leadership, quality of human interactions, norms, values, culture, religion, and strong institutions which enforces positive interactions. Subsequently, the peace is inbuilt in their systems which works in a certain manner in all three states; past, present and future.
The peace systems between societies and nations should be strengthened, and we must try to create tolerate and peaceful societies through positive interactions. The quality of human interactions should be improved, and positive interactions be encouraged at all levels to transform our societies into more peaceful and happier ones. This it the right time to invest in making of tolerable societies and avoidance of conflicts. We as human beings should commit to the cause that we will give our future generations a world with less conflicts, wars, and negative impressions where peace cannot be a dream rather a reality. Let’s live in Peace!
