"Blessed are the peace-makers" is a theme we have heard through the ages. Is peace possible? Discuss
“Blessed are the peace-makers” is a theme we have heard through the ages. Is peace possible? Discuss.
Since the biblical era, there have been wars and rivalries between men for the most trivial of reasons to the most valid of excuses. It is an evident fact that different organizations in the world strive for peace, but the leaders of various countries and their citizens’ do not rise up and march towards a peaceful society. Even in there home land, violence is the norm, and even in some instances glorified. Until peace is whole hearted sought after and yearned for by all, peace is entirely impossible.
The plain honest truth is that there is too much ignorance for us to live in a peaceful world. There is insufficient knowledge of people and there beliefs, and lack of the desire to know. Had people been driven to educate themselves about the cultural differences between different groups, I feel there would be a reduction in the amount of hate crimes towards. There is a clash of civilizations between the Christian west, Orthodox east, Latin America, Africa, Islam, Hindu and China/Japan. The situation between the Islam culture and America is a great representation of this. There is a great degree of hate and ignorance fueling the fighting that is happening in that region. With all this hate and animosity one would assume that they would know more about each others cultures and therefore hate each other as a result, but the fact is that 75 % of Americans admit to knowing nothing about the Muslim culture nor have any desire to, and the same can be said for 80% of Iranians. Akbar S. Ahmed, author of Islam Under Siege believes that “The West needs to respond to the Muslim world firstly by listening to what Muslims are saying and secondly understand Islam… If the west is able to focus on democracy and education there will be clarity both of vision and of objectives.” Both sides need to realize there should be a direct attempt to dialogue and understand each others perspectives, but even thought both are bombarded with this message, the hate towards one another is so intense that they do not care to heed this advise.