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Peaceful Propaganda
By Oliver Oyanadel, Winchester
Our children gather in groups, as a circle of friends in which they can have a sense of belonging. Street hoods gather in tough gangs for protection and a sense of invincibility. They are the world, just as much as you and I. We all share a desire to unite for a common cause, but we need not be a pack of wolves united in the hunt all the time.
I have to admit, seeing those airplanes crashing into the World Trade towers on the live newscast that morning forever filled me with contempt for our enemies and made me yearn for justice. But those enemies of ours acted on their own bitter and misguided sense of justice. Man's sense of justice, however right or wrong, has always been the stuff wars are made of. Our spiritual sense of togetherness has always been the stuff peace is made of.
Now, more than ever, the world must come together in a common ideology. Together, we must all do our part to find a shared vision of what our world should become, and then make it happen. I wish I could see a constitution that every nation of the world can join in supporting someday. If the world can be in complete agreement, everyone would become invincible—because there would be no more enemies left to kill, and there would be no more enemies left to kill us.
I realize this idea is nothing new. I just think it's about time that we reevaluate the gallery of this world's many different religions and focus on the elements uniting them all. I feel the most important ideals linking most major religions are the renunciation of hatred and violence, combined with the emphasis on compassion, which is usually achieved by conquering one's pride through an educated perspective or an enlightened state of mind. Think how great it would be if this were evident in our society. Religion is not about glory and praise to the highest; it's about making this world a better place. And I'm asking everyone to try and do whatever it takes to make our world better and better.
Sacrifices must always be made to end violence of any kind. Laws will have to make certain allowances. And tyranny of any kind must not be allowed to rear its head. A little ugliness will have to be tolerated, but the very act of tolerating it will be a beautiful thing, I promise. Governments should always do what they must to protect one another. And no one should ever hold anyone else in personal contempt. Each and every group of people must agree to all of these things, for the sake of our own survival—because it's a fragile world, and united we stand, divided we fall.
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