Goals

My short-term goal: I used to never be a  giving person and if given the chance to help the community, I would have scoffed and said no and gone back to doing arbitrary and trivial things with my time, not making any difference in society. However, with the start of this new school year, I was required to do community service for one of my classes. I was not pleased. But the first day I tried this new experience, I was overwhelmed by how I good I felt. I could not believe how good it felt to actually help someone and not myself, making a difference in these people's lives. That day on, I was a changed person. I continually help out the community, picking up trash, mentoring students, helping marathon runners, giving to the poor, etc. So my "short-term" goal, although hopefully not short at all, is to give back to society some more by continually helping out the community and hopefully pursuing even more beneficial projects.

My long-term goal: The career I hope to pursue is to be a dentist. People think that I'm weird because of this, but I don't know, I've always enjoyed teeth and hope to help others with their teeth some day. Now, this is my long-term goal to help others peacefully because of how I can help people with this aspired career. There are diseases and cancers within the mouth that can lead to death, and with dentistry, all that can be fixed. I want to know that I can actually save people's lives for treating them for such minor things such as a toothache. I also hope to one day go to less fortunate countries so I can help the underprivileged with these diseases, especially since they cannot afford this kind of health care anywhere else, and where these diseases are more prevalent. Since this is my long-term goal, I plan to do this until the day I die, knowing I can save many people in the process, and also making families happy.

Inner Peace

Peace should not be all about struggles between two people or even two different countries or anything like that. True, it is very important to have good relations with others, but in order to do that, people need to have "inner peace." What this means is that in order to have peace with others, someone should have peace within themselves. This peace will show them as a calm and tranquil person, and, thus, no conflict with others since they do not feel the need to be violent or hurtful to other people. After all, conflict always starts with intolerance and anger at another party.

Now, how can someone achieve this inner peace? Well, it is simple. Just stay positive about yourself and others. Keep reassuring yourself if something bad has happened or if you've done a good job, congratulate yourself. This positiveness is contagious as well and may even rub off on other people. Little by little, you will be a very good person to be around and you will be happy with yourself, with no need for others to have conflict with you.

Op-Ed

Peace. Something everyone can agree on wanting. Ask anyone and they would agree that they would like for everyone to get along. However, this is one of, if not the, hardest things that our society will be able to achieve. And people may ask why something that sounds so simple is so hard to come by. The reason is the selfishness that all humans have to put themselves ahead of everyone else. What is being said should not be misunderstood, because it is not like everyone will outright kill each other to get what they want, but it also should not be taken lightly.

            Humans are naturally selfish and greedy, and with that comes the desire for power. Society imprints into everybody’s minds that they are supposed to come out on top, not letting anyone get in the way. Sometimes, it is good to have competition, though, like winning a race or getting that promotion that they deserve. However, there are some people who take it to the next level and totally sever themselves from their family and friends and become completely dehumanized to the point where nobody recognizes them. They will do things such as slander the opposing person or even physically hurt someone just to get what they want. This selfishness gets the better of them and can be detrimental to themselves and others in the long run, causing much unneeded conflict and hate between people.

            To a much greater extent, there are people such as Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi who will stop at absolutely nothing to get what they want. Back in the 1960’s Qaddafi was seen as a war hero to all the people of Libya for liberating their country from the monarchy that everyone wanted gone. Qaddafi became the leader from then on, with people gladly embracing this new change. However, forty years time in office can change someone and it definitely did for Qaddafi. It is apparent that the power has gotten to Qaddafi’s head and the people of Libya cannot stand his presence in office anymore, as can be clearly seen by this huge uprising of the people. There has been massive bloodshed by both parties all because they feel that this greedy, selfish person should not be in office anymore, and Qaddafi will do anything in his power to keep it that way.
            It is apparent that to keep everyone from tearing at each other’s throats, there needs to be a reasonable resolution that everyone can agree on. A good start would be for everyone to start helping out friends and family with small things then work their way to strangers that may also need help. This can even branch out to a larger scale with community service or even opening up shelters for unfortunate families. An even greater scale would be to become a prominent figure in society that can help everyone with greater means that can make a huge difference in everyone’s lives. The main thing that people need to keep in mind is to be less selfish and more giving, so everyone can get along and live in harmony together.

Video Response

This video was an interesting portrayal of showing nonviolence to convey a certain point, in this case homophobia. It was also very interesting to see that they are adolescent-aged, the age group where everyone is trying to identify themselves. This video portrayed two teenagers, both male, and showed them having a secret relationship, but some kids from their school discover this and make fun of what they are doing. The next day at school, the kid at the head of the group that were bullying the two kids singled out one of them and exclaimed, “Who’s gonna hold your hand now?” but one of the guys from the group holds out his hand to the kid, in a friendly gesture. This soon causes the whole auditorium to stand up and hold hands of the people of the same sex.

This is an ideal portrayal of what everyone should do to be informed about people that want to be recognized as equal and should be treated justly. It shows that people should stand up for what they believe in, even if others don’t, and shouldn’t worry what others think. This is a good example for everyone to follow, especially since no violence was involved with making their stand.

Libya

My country is Libya and there has been a lot of conflict over there recently in the past few weeks, especially escalating in the past few days. The main conflict is that there has been a recent split in people who favor Muammar Qaddafi and oppose him as well. These differing viewpoints have gotten especially violent, with the opposite spectrum even bombing Qaddafi’s home. There has been a sort of civil war between these two groups, with many attacks and counterattacks being strewn at each other.

It is especially ironic in that most of Libya was in favor of Qaddafi because of his help and leadership in helping to revolutionize Libya back in the 60’s and 70’s. He had claimed that he would die for his country, no matter the cost. Most of the people who supported him back then are supporting him now, saying that he was their savior and hero, while others could care less and have rebelled against him. This is where most of the conflict has arisen and can be accounted for most of the destruction that has been going on in Libya. This split in the people has also been split in the country, literally. Most of the cities in the Western half of Libya is controlled by pro-Qaddafi forces, while the eastern half is the anti-Qaddafi forces.

Other countries have been taking measures to help Libya and still help their own countries. The United States and many other countries have issued “no-fly zones” to Libya. This means that they are ordered to shoot down any airplanes that fly belong to Libya.

With all this conflict and bloodshed, it is uncertain what the future holds for Libya, but hopefully it ends peacefully and quietly, and with Qaddafi stepping down so Libya can be at its full potential.

Peace Memo

Date: February 13, 2011

To: 1311 students

From: Derek James

Subject: University for Peace

Many people strive for peace in today’s society. They go about it in many ways: helping a certain community, offering help for a stranger, or even just helping a neighbor bring in their groceries. These all lead to the same thing: peace. Everyone wants this same goal of achieving peace with everyone else. However, there are many different ways people go about this. The most unfortunate way is to gain peace through war. It is the exact opposite of how peace should be achieved, but sometimes it is inevitable and unavoidable to have all this violence and destruction. However, the University for Peace has a different mission. The founders have constructed this university to gain peace through one way: education. They feel that this is the only real effective way that societies can bond with each other.

The University for Peace is located in Costa Rica, with many other offices located around the world. It was founded in December 1980 and is mandated by the United Nations. Their mission is to teach all the different forms of peace in the world, so that everyone can live in harmony with one another without any conflict. They have many areas of expertise for their students to learn in including “teaching, research, post-graduate training, and dissemination of human knowledge.” UPEACE also feels that peace should not be viewed negatively and through conflict, but with education, which has not been used as much due to ignorance of different societies. They feel that no society can completely end conflict unless they are taught about peace. Another belief of the university is that if education has gotten everyone this far, then peace can be taken to the next level through education.

UPEACE has a variety of different programs that students can take part in. These include a master’s program, opportunities to go abroad for a semester, training and workshops, and sharing the knowledge of theirs with other societies. The master’s programs include environmental, gender, and conflict studies as well as actually being able to teach peace yourself. In addition to these programs, there are special master’s programs that students can option to take which include an Asia Leaders program, studies in natural resources and peace, and a dual program jointed with the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies located in Korea. The semester abroad program allows graduate students from other universities to take a course or two at UPEACE for full credit. There is also a Diplomat in Residence program that allows students to take extra classes on their own that they find interesting and relevant to what they are learning about at the moment.

These academic programs help to ensure the teaching of peace and allow students to be able to spread peace around the world with their peace studies degrees. The world would definitely change if more people decide to invest their time in getting a degree in one of these areas and would also find it rewarding to know that they are making a difference in the world.

Central Asia Institute

This video had a huge impact on me. It's hard to put yourself in another person's shoes, especially if they don't have the same luxuries as we do. When people are born without any education in their society, it can be hard to make a living. It is a very nice change of pace to see what Greg Mortenson did for all of these people, especially the women. If we didn't have people like this in the world, then it would be a very sad world to live in. It must be one of the best feelings in the world to have a whole village look up to you and see you as their savior. And, not only that, but, like Mortenson said, with each cup of tea, they all feel as if he is their family, and he feels the same way. Helping these villagers has also helped maintain the population, along with just keeping all these people alive and healthy. There are only a few people in the world who would spend so much time and dedication to a less-than-fortunate population such as these villagers, and for that, this makes Mortenson a hero. What makes even more of an impact is that he did this from his heart, as cheesy as that sounds, and not for money or popularity. If more people, including myself, can do good things, even if they seem small and meaningless, such as Mortenson has done, then there is no doubt in my mind that the world can be a better place.

Peace

Peace is the way people act when they want to have harmony. Harmony is what makes people feel good and allow greater bonds with each other. The irony in the way people go about this is that it's usually through war. Peace shouldn't be about fighting, but rather about loving, which brings to mind that famous motto that most hippies from the 60s and 70s have used: "I'm a lover, not a fighter." These hippies also have the peace sign worn around their necks often, or seen on their clothing. ☮ Another famous sign of peace takes its background from Biblical teachings: the dove with the olive branch in its mouth. What comes to mind is when the Great Flood had finally stopped wreaking havoc and Noah had finally landed his ark, where a dove came in through the window, symbolizing that the chaos was over and peace had begun again. Peace also has to do with helping anyone you can, even through little tasks, such as helping your mom with the cooking, or helping a friend get over their relationship, or even giving a stranger directions. It all leads to the same thing: satisfaction of others and yourself. There is also such a thing as "peace of mind." This has to do with someone's own inner peace, which they can acquire by just being a better person, as stated above, or even helping yourself out once in a while. A good way to put it is that this person can be stress-free with no cares in the world, making their own peace. Finally, if someone dies, they are said to be "at peace." These people who have passed on are resting eternally with no cares and no worries, just a very serene afterlife (depending on what you believe in). The human population should take into consideration of helping each other out once in a while and become more peaceful, so the world can be a better place to live in.