Peace

The word peace is not easy to define.   People have different definitions and opinions of what is peace.    Even the definition is different between countries and cultures.    Usually, peace is defined as “a society or a relationship that is operating harmoniously and without violent conflict”.    Most people believe that they are living or have peace when their nation is not in war or hostility with another nation.   Also some people understand that they have peace when an agreement or treaty is signed by two or more countries.   Others believe that you have peace when the government offers security and order.

This topic is a very debatable one and most people believe that they know what peace is.   In my opinion we have peace when there is no conflict between nations, when the government offers us security and order but also when each individual can live harmoniously with the other individuals in their community.   Peace must start in your own home, at school, at your work, in general in the community.    No one can say that live in peace when is having differences with other members of the community.   To reach total peace people have to create peace in their own environment and live in peace with themselves.  

I am from Puerto Rico.    Last year over 900 people were murdered in my country.   About 90 percent of these murders were related to drugs traffic, about five percent to domestic violence and about one percent were parents that killed their siblings.   With this problem, there is no way we can claim that we have peace because we are not in war with another country.   We don’t have peace, our people is in war.  

In my opinion, no one will have peace as long as a husband kills his wife because he is jealous or she want to divorce, or a parent kills his sibling because he did something wrong or people are killing others for the control of drug traffic or people discriminate against others members of their community.   I think that this war or lack of peace is the worst because it never ends.

There were important people that really wanted peace and worked for it in different ways.   Some like Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. Nelson Mandela (independence of India without violence), Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Prince Diana (fight poverty), and Pope John Paul II that intervened when countries were at the verge of a war.                           

In my opinion, peace includes the harmonious relationship in a community, the security offered by the state and no wars between nations.   However, to be in peace with other nations it is necessary to have peace in our community first.