My Answer to Create World Peace

“If you think you are too small to make a difference – Try sleeping with a Mosquito” – Dalai Lama

Okay now I have contemplated long and hard about this question, “How to achieve world peace”.

I have come up with two solutions; the first is to totally exterminate the human race.  This actually may solve at least two issues, the first being world peace the second being our increasing burden on the Earth’s environment.  Remember the Earth doesn’t just belong to the human race; it belongs to every other creature that inhabits the Earth, so this maybe the best solution for the planet as a whole.  As yet, I haven’t come up with the ideal way of going about this extermination process, as it has to be a method that doesn’t impact on the rest of the environment.  Given that there doesn’t appear to be a lot of approval for this solution I guess I need to move onto solution number two.

My next solution involves every current or potential parental figure in every society.  It also involves some committed people throughout the world to get the message to travel throughout the world, but with the assistance of the internet the job will be a lot easier. 

My plan can work. 

Have you ever heard of pyramid selling; well this is pyramid selling on a global proportion spanning generations.  The only flaw I see in my solution is that the human race may destroy the Earth before the solution can have its full impact.

This is my solution.  Every parent or parental figure instils in their children proper morals.  They instil in their children the basic principles that the “prophets” such as Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, the commandments of Judaism and the teachings of any other prophet that lead his/her life as an example of peace and humility.  I am not saying that every parent becomes religious and attends church; we all know that the greatest hypocrites can sometimes be found inside the walls of a church or temple.  But I am saying that we look at their principles and teach our children these principles and lead by example.

So what are the principles I am suggesting:

To be compassionate.  To be aware of the suffering that we may cause others by our actions.  Then to refrain from the action that is causing the suffering towards others.

To be loving and kind.  To be aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression.  Display generosity by sharing your time, energy and material resources with those who are in real need.  Respect the property and beliefs of others.  Also prevent others from profiting from human suffering in any way.

To think before speaking or forming opinions. Speak truthfully with words that inspire self-confidence, joy and hope and by doing so encourage instead of discourage.  Refrain from spreading malicious gossip.  Not to form opinions or criticise unless all of the relevant information has been sort and objectively analysed.  Remember to walk a mile in someone’s shoes before you judge them.  Refrain from causing division between people with false accusations or untruths.  Make all efforts to reconcile all conflicts no matter how small.

Be mindful consumers.  Think about the impact that the consumption of various “self prescribed drugs”, including alcohol, nicotine and the over consumption of unhealthy foods maybe having on both yours and your children’s lives. Think about the impact on the environment that excess materialism maybe having. Consider reducing materialism in your life and donating your excess wealth into helping others less fortunate than yourself throughout your local community and throughout the world as a whole.  Remember there would be less need for war if the wealth of the world was shared more evenly.

These are just a few of my suggestions I am sure that there are many others that we could come up with.

But I can hear you saying that I could instil all of these “morals” in my child but if my next door neighbour doesn’t do the same how will it work.  The point is that if enough parents do it then there will be an escalating effect.  I am not saying it will happen in the very near future, it could take generations but it could happen.

Here is an analogy.  Through a rigorous immunisation campaign throughout the world the disease smallpox has been eliminated from the world (except in vials in some science labs).  But the elimination of smallpox didn’t happen over night, but with a continued and collaborative effort it did happen.  The WHO estimated that smallpox killed 300 to 500 million people in the 20^th century before it announced the eradication of smallpox in the wild in 1979.

Not everyone in the world would need to be converted for the effect to occur.  We would only need enough people converted for the wave of peace to occur. 

Once again I will compare it to immunisation.  In the area of immunisation against a disease there is a concept called the “herd immunity”.  "Herd immunity" is an important part of protecting the community against disease. Because vaccinated people have antibodies that neutralise a germ, they are much less likely to transmit that germ to other people. Thus, even people who have not been vaccinated (and those whose vaccinations have become weakened or whose vaccines aren't fully effective) often can be shielded by the herd immunity because vaccinated people around them are not getting sick. Herd immunity is more effective as the percentage of people vaccinated increases. It is thought that approximately 95% of the people in the community must be protected by a vaccine to achieve herd immunity. People who are not immunised increase the chance that they and others will get the disease.  I do not know what the percentage of “Herd Immunity” would need to be for world peace, but I believe it would be less than 95%.

So all I am saying is that if you think that you are too small to make a difference, then this may well be a solution that you can work with.  All you have to do is do the necessary work in your own small family cell and as your family cell expands over time with each generation so will the spread of peace.

You can call me crazy but let’s face it; nothing else has worked over the past thousands of years so why not give this a try.  With our access to the internet, this idea could easily be spread throughout the world.  Plus, we don’t have to wait a generation for it to start to work, once we as parents start practicing these simple principles the journey towards world peace will have already begun.

If you think that this idea may have some merit, why not start the ball rolling and send this message to as many of your contacts as you can and before we know it the message will have spread around the world.