World Peace Day – Sept. 21

P. A. Chacko

The World stands in need of peace. Peace that lasts long. Not  a temporary truce between warring parties. Not a short halt between exploitation and justice! Not soft-peddling between raging terror and temporary calm.

Today the world is divided between groups and groups, ideologies and ideologies. Selfish and megalomaniac leaders and politicians want to inflate their image by piling up weapons of war and destruction. They create fear and panic in the hearts of people. Those who became leaders on the plank of democracy turn dictators. They protect their groups against other groups and minorities. Groups are thrown out as refugees, as people of nowhere or are eliminated. Is that peace?

Children are denied the joys of childhood due to poverty or war or child labour. Where is peace? Religious fundamentalism plays its dastardly game by creating terror in other religious groups. God of the universe is confined and converted to become the private property of the fanatics, the rich and the powerful. Instead of peaceful coexistence they sow seeds of hatred, enmity and communal poison. Peace is dispatched underground.

Encounter deaths, midnight knocks, sham accidents to take revenge on dissenting voices or gunning down openly writers or media personnel because they tell the truth – these are the order of the day in the world. Be it a democracy, autocracy or mobocracy,  what difference?

Peace, peace, where are you? You are banished from the face of this globe by the mighty and the powerful. By the carriers of death. By the minions of Lucifer. Your absence makes a difference. It is hell over here.

When will sanity prevail among humans? When will honesty and truth be recognised as eternal principles? When will fellowship be allowed a seat among human beings heralding peace? When will integrity be given a place in the comity of nations so that the citizens and the netizens alike can breathe peace, live in peace, enjoys the fruits of peace?