world peace for LITSCAPE 2017

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‘WORLD PEACE AT CROSSROADS’
By Asavari Saxena
BBA-T-5
The world is atop a powder keg. There is a perennial threat of
violence of humongous proportion unleashed by man against
man, which looms larger than life itself. This threat may appear to
be, perhaps, since time immemorial, but, that, the way it gets
escalated with the passage of time, it looks as if it will prevail till
kingdom come!
Science and technology have conferred untold advantages on
mankind. One the one hand, giant strides are being made, with
success, of course, to mitigate mortality and disease, but, on the
other hand, giant strides are being made to find out ways-and-
means to decimate mankind through weapons of mass destruction.
This assertion gets substantiated like this : Nuclear medicine is
getting researched and developed with speed and precision, and
Nuclear weapons are being produced with the same gusto. This is
just ironic… today, a nation exhibits its weaponry as testimony to
the stature of its strength.

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With such a state-of-affairs, any talk on ‘World Peace’ sounds
hollow and idyllic, as there is hardly a place on this planet Earth
where tranquillity prevails.
It appears that, the word : ’civilisation’ is a misnomer, as there is
lack of ‘civility’. Initiatives to promote ‘civic sense’ are made, but
there is hardly any effort worth its salt which is directed to
preserve peace.
Summit-talks between and amongst leaders, Conferences,
Declarations, and the like, are made day-in and day-out claiming
ostensibly to defusing tensions, but there is, by-and-large, precious
little which is done to make this happen. Politicians and Statesmen
assert their commitment as if they are evangelists, but if a reality
check is made, then, they are the angels-of-death.
Terrorism is becoming the order-of-the-day. Terrorist groups resort
to killing innocents and using ultra-dangerous incendiary material
to blow-up installations with reckless abandon. They are funded,
trained, and equipped to execute their wanton onslaughts by
nations against their foes, and more-often-than-not in the name of
religion, which is a subterfuge.
The reasons underlying this malaise are, broadly speaking :
expansionism, fanaticism, hegemony, and trust deficit,
exacerbating into conflicts. As a result, it looks like blood-letting is
more than rivers flowing. Troops are amassed by nations, on
borders, in dizzy heights, in confrontationist mode. Incidents of
terrorism havoc, the world over, are legion. Clarion calls for world
peace get diluted and drowned by the shrill of bullets and bombs.
That, there ought to be World Peace is the need-of-the-hour, but,
unfortunately it is undermined and needs to get underscored. It is
true, that, it may be difficult to see eye-to-eye in every issue, but it
is, also true, that, there is zero necessity to see eyeball-to-eyeball.
Consensus to this effect must be matched on the ground. After all,

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there is hardly a problem which defies a solution. The resolve to
help this get realized must be genuine and taken to its logical
conclusion in order to create and to preserve world peace.
The biggest threat to mankind is man, and the gravest threat to
peace is only man.
The Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO declares, that, "since
wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the
defences of peace must be constructed". Almost all nations are
signatories to this, but, the gulf between commitment and
adherence is huge.
The eminent poet : Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote : “More things are
wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”
So, on the red-letter day : 21st September, which is commemorated
as ‘World Peace International Day’, each year, and in keeping with
Tennyson’s belief, I would like the following lines to become the
dictum of all mankind so that, world peace ushers in :-