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Edwin Kluss Professor Raegan Hritz English 102 11 March 2013

Peace, Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Conflict is as old as mankind, but peace is a rare and refreshing surprise. Selfishness is a huge problem and we are born with it. Babies are self-centered and very loud, but it is for a healthy purpose; it is hard to neglect a crying screaming baby. Historically, conflict and peace are as least as old as the Bible. In James chapter 4, verses 1-3 of the Bible it clarifies the problem: 1. Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isnt it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body? 2. You want something you dont have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you wont get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it. 3. Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons. (Newman) People have a hard time growing past self-centeredness; but it wouldnt be totally healthy to be share totally. History shows us that sharing is a problem even in a commune. Selfishness keeps us apart, if we want to take something away or keep something away from someone we are competitors and not partners. So many arguments are caused and prolonged by expecting others to think we are right and they are wrong. Sometimes we have a case of simple right and wrong,

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most of the time each side has a degree of correctness. It is really strange that sometimes both sides are right and that they just express themselves differently. It is very hard to accept that another person is right or even to allow them to be wrong without correcting them. In his book The Different Drum Dr. M. Scott Peck equates this acceptance to surrender. It is understandable that we are reluctant to accept other people. Unforgiveness is a huge problem, when we are hurt by someone we should be more careful about trusting them. If we forgive someone we are risking being hurt again. If we dont forgive them then we keep the wound fresh (and that is like a corrosive poison). Unforgiveness eats away at us and at our relationship with the person that harmed us. When we dont forgive ourselves we are on the road to self-destruction. If we dont learn from being hurt we will continue being hurt. Unforgiveness limits our peace and our relationships. When our unforgiveness takes away our emotional peace of mind we have trouble making peace with others. Nations have this problem, how can the Arabs and Israelis forgive each other for millennia of offenses. Couples keep score of the offenses in a relationship; unforgiveness may be the greatest killer of relationships. If there is a time for war and a time for peace, when is the time for war? Patrick Henrys speech Give me liberty or give me death lists reasons for war. He started off in the first paragraph saying that he would like to share truth about the causes for war and the end of peacemaking. Henry insists that his American brothers needed to lay aside their differences with him and deal with the truth. He points out that if we avoided the truth that we would be stuck with our delusions, no matter how well-meaning we are. The modern phrase a clear in present danger is used to justify military action by our government and I think that it summarizes the patriots speech. He warned that the government of England was preparing to cast the whole of the American Colonies into a type of slavery. Patrick Henry asks if there was any way to justify

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the military buildup in America, he suggests that Great Britain was trying to create an environment of permanent oppression. He warns that if we delay resisting oppression we risked the danger of falling prey to a tyranny that could not be resisted. The tide of war should be turned while the American Colonies were strong enough to resist or else they would fight a war that wouldnt be won. (Henry) When we fight defensively we can secure our freedom and push our opponent beyond our boundaries. If we are the oppressor we can fight and win the spoils. Americans were repeatedly the oppressors against Native Americans and they have crushed our opponents, but it comes at a cost. Oppressors damage the resources and the cost seldom outweighs the rewards. Oppression hurts the oppressed and limits the possibilities for their lives. Everyone knows that what goes around comes around; when we are doing evil we draw evil to ourselves. Oppressors limit their potential because their choices are limited if they are to maintain oppression. The greatest loss of oppressors could be that oppression and teamwork are mutually exclusive. One person can do a lot; we know that from the great men and women of history. Two average people can balance each others weakness and have great achievements. Beyond that, a small group that cooperates can be a greater success than a large group of individuals that have a lesser purpose and less cooperation. From birth we learn to cooperate to varied degrees. If we have a strong family we can see the advantages of each person doing their part and submitting to the good of the whole. Submission sounds like a synonym for surrender so this could be dangerous. If we voluntarily submit to each other we can have greater power than a group that is competing too much with each other. A group that works together has far greater potential than a group that is based on oppression. When we compete with one another we have the greatest distance from each other. If we oppress others we are too close for comfort. Cooperation has

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many risks, we have less to fear from someone who it out of reach. We can defend against an unknown oppressor, but how do we defend against a friend? A friend can hurt us grievously because they are close and trusted. If we sincerely find a mutually beneficial goal we can be motivated enough to work together. The greatest threat to our success could be our selfishness, maybe we become wise and selfish enough to agree seek a higher cause together. There is a price for peace; it may be as small or great as forgiveness or trust. In Gandhi's Human Touch Simon Peres, the Israeli Labour Leader is quoted: ensuring peace is not like securing a commodity in a market. when you go to the market with a credit card to purchase a commodity, you secure the commodity first, and then you pay the price afterwards. But as far as struggle for peace and freedom is concerned, you pay the price first, and then you get peace afterwards. (Peres) It is painful to forgive and it is part of the price we have to pay. Another major obstacle is short term thinking versus long term planning. Farmers understand the value of planning; they throw the seeds of food into the dirt hoping that they will receive a rich harvest. A harvest is a source of great hope and fear. When we make long term plans we hope that we will succeed and fear that something will go wrong before we succeed. Planning brings out the best in us, we prepare for problems, and we learn and grow. Now here is the real twist, when we think short term we compete against each other and all our other problems. When we plan long term we are allies together competing against our problems and our problems are smaller. There is a proper time for conflict when we are defending ourselves against oppression. The rest of the time our difficulties can smaller and we can collaborate, because we gain strength in unity and we have less opposition. We can illustrate this by looking at a tug of war. If two

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sides are too close to equal then their strength is exhausted with limited results. If a player joins the opposition they gain by double his strength. Do you want to double your strength, join the opposition!

References
Henry, Patrick. "Give me liberty or give me death!" Second Virginia Convention. The Second Virginia Convention. St. John's Church, Virginia. 20th Mar 1775. Speech. Newman, Ed. Barclay. The Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version. New York, New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. Peck, M. Scott. The Different Drum, Community Making and Peace. 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Touchstone, 1998. Print. Peres , Simon . Socialist International's 20th Congress. New York, New York. . Speech.