How Can I Make Peace Come Alive in My World?

By Mika Angela C. Sareno
Second Year – St Bartholomew, Lourdes College, Basic Education Department, Cagayan de Oro City

I have a dream . . . a dream so majestic, so wonderful, yet, as a child, so hard to reach. A dream that utterly speaks of what I really want here on earth. A dream, when embossed in reality, could change millions of lives forever . . .

I dream of children playing happily under the sun, with big smiles painted on their faces, I dream of families boisterously laughing in joy and in love. I dream of my neighbors sharing and enjoying each other’s company. I dream of honest, kind and understanding people who are appreciating life, loving one another, loving God and loving nature. I dream of peace – peace within our hearts, peace within our minds, within our souls, and peace within our world.

See? My dream is amazing isn’t it?

However, when I open my eyes to reality and set my consciousness to the world I’m living in, my heart shatters into pieces and I sink into sadness, realizing that the world in reality is completely different from the world in my dream. So different and so cruel, that it hurts to know that dreams are better than reality.

Whereas in my dream, I see children happily playing, in reality, I see them being dragged away from their joys in life. Whereas in my dream, my heart lit up seeing families laughing in joy and in love, in reality, my heart bleeds seeing them broken and hopeless. Whereas in my dream, my ears savor the sounds of laughter, music, glee and harmony, in reality, my ears burn hearing the cries of the helpless, the weeping of the needy and the screams of the victims of cruelty. Whereas in my dream, I live in a world of justice, unity, calmness, serenity and peace, in reality, I live in a world of selfishness, corruption, terrorism, evil and anger.

The reality is like a battlefield, a red land of blood and tears and it is as if right now, I’m standing in the middle of a great war. Bombs of suffering and pain terrify me, bullets of hatred and violence hurt my being, and I can’t help but cover my ears, look away from the macabre scenes, pray, and silently ask myself, ‘How could they?’

There is no love. There is no unity. There is no peace.

That’s why as a child who has a heart and a motivation for change, I’m taking a stand in making my dream come true. As a radical stimulus, I will make the peace in my dream come alive in my world.

Beginning with little deeds at my home, in school and in my community, I will bring peace and show its true meaning. I would respect everyone – young and old, friend and stranger. I would respect their rights and decision, for I truly believe that when you respect someone, you will be given respect in return.

I would build a strong chain of friendship across the world through interacting with different people around the globe in social community sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. Not only will I be able to make new friends, but I will also be able to contribute to the construction of world peace.

Moreover, I would sow seeds of understanding and kindness. I would not be aggressive, and would be friendly to my family, classmates, schoolmates, and even to the people in my community instead. I would bring sunshine on their rainy days and would make them smile always.

I would also practice honesty and courtesy at all times. I would be responsible, disciplined and would follow school and community rules and regulations. Especially, I would try my best to be a very good role model to everyone.

These deeds may be little as you can see, but if we will combine these together, they will make a big impact on change and on world peace.

With these little deeds, I know that I can inspire many. I can inspire and motivate the people around me to do these deeds as well, and if that happens, my dream will come true and eventually, we will grasp peace.

However, there is one more important deed that I would do to attain my dream and to make peace come alive. That important deed would be strengthening my faith in God. Everyday, I would pray to the Lord God to guide me in achieving my goal. I would pray that He will unite all of us and will transform us into better persons whose hearts are open for peace and for change.

Thus, I ask all of you, as my brothers and sisters here on Earth, to share with me my dream. I know that you too want a world so peaceful and calm. So please, help me in eradicating the anger in our world. All of us want to end this treacherous war, don’t we?

Together as one, let’s make my dream come true. Let’s make peace come alive so that all of our sufferings will end. It may be heard to reach but nothing’s impossible.

Unless we’ll help hand in hand in making peace come alive, my dream of world peace will remain a vision, a dream, never milled into reality.

Soon, peace will not only exist in my dream, but will also exist in my world here in reality. Soon, peace will come alive.