• Outstanding Personalities in Perspective
• Concordia International University
•  Practical Solution to the Middle East Conflict
• American Government in Serious Trouble
• Peace as a Break between Wars and Preparation for New Wars
• The Continuity of Wars in World History
• Culture of War and Militaristic Culture of Peace
• Philosophy of violence in operation
• Perspective of the Most Violent Nation in the Civilized World
• How to Bring Government under Full Control
• Role of Governments in Promoting Peace
• Fusion of Ignorance and Malice in Perspective
• Language of Politics in True Perspective
• Real Source of Major World Problems
• Peace Education: Source of National Unity and Global Harmony
• Beyond Global Crisis: Reflections by Terrence Edward Paupp
• Ethics in Business Education
• The Golden Rule: Basic Link of all Religions
• Role of Harmony in World Religions
•  Free education for all citizens : best investment for world peace
• Discovering a Nation’s True Friends and Enemies,

Peace Education: Source of National Unity and Global Harmony

The Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes peace as a “state of tranquility; freedom from war; cessation of hostilities; and harmony.” In a peaceful community, we notice a great serenity radiating in the hearts of its members. Genuine peace emanates from the inside. It is implanted in the mind and heart of every human being from the moment of birth. Our job is to pull this element out from the inside as to share it with others.

Educational Process in Perspective

Considering that the world is confronted with a multitude of problems, the development and preservation of peace requires an educational process that is meant to enrich our lives. This would enable us to use our human potential more effectively as to become a part of a harmonious global community. The source of happiness in life is harmony. The car we drive moves smoothly if the four tires have an equal amount of air. If not, we may not have a pleasant trip.

Peace education consists in enabling people to lead a happy life through the development of their human resources for constructive purposes. The traditional saying has been: “Make someone happy and you will be happy too.” The development and achievement of peace and harmony creates for us a win-win situation. That means everyone is a winner and no one a loser. A careful study of history demonstrates that in struggles and wars everyone is a loser and no one a winner. These negative elements always lead to lose-lose situation.

We all recall the outcome of World War II. The Germans lost the war and their economy collapsed and people were poor everywhere. Most of their houses were destroyed as well as most of their medical and school facilities. On the other hand, the British won the war and their economy equally collapsed and people were poor everywhere. Not only so, but in spite of winning the war, the British Empire disintegrated and collapsed!

When the various members of our body are in good shape, they all work together in harmony and we do feel comfortable and healthy as a result. When one or more of such members ceases to be in good shape, then we develop what may be termed to be a health problem of some kind. This may lead to a lot of inconvenience, especially if we start feeling pain of one kind or another. When the people of a nation work together toward the achievement of a common goal, we notice dedication and cooperation, which soon bring about harmony.

On Creating our Own Destiny

We are all familiar with the traditional saying: What goes around comes around. When we provide others with benefits of any kind, soon we will find ourselves surrounded with plenty of blessings, even much more than expected. If we were to analyze carefully all human conflicts that developed over the past 6,000 years of recorded history, we would soon discover that, quite often, the source of such problems could always be traced to some governmental sources. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many took a sigh of relief. They believed world peace was just around the corner.

In fact, many talked of the so called “peace dividend,” little they knew that the weapons industry and the military industrial complex were determined not go out of business. Hence, mafia type of groups spread all over the world to create conflicts without limit, most of which resulted in civil wars. This, they firmly believed, would justify the continued manufacture and sales of endless weapons. Some members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have attested to this in books they wrote after they decided to leave it.

The US military would intervene in any country where the natives elected democratically a government that was not pleasing to the USA. To quote one instance, when the people of Chile elected Salvatore Allende, who promised the people free health care and free education to all citizens along with adequate residential facilities for the homeless, the USA labeled him as a socialist and vouched that he should go. And we know the rest of the story. The CIA intervened afterwards and had him killed!

We have witnessed here that for the USA, peace consists of its imposition on other countries in a way that US big business is enabled to confiscate good resources, even to the detriment of the native population. This explains why the saintly Pope John Paul II said in Mexico during the decade of the eighties: “World peace is possible and it will eventually come but only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone – communism and capitalism, because they both achieve their objectives through the exploitation of people.”

Peace Education provides us with the solution of all problems that stem mostly from political corruption. This explains the well know saying: “Money talks,” which explains the story of briberies that take place behind closed doors. We can never have national unity if our politicians continue to promote the welfare of some to the exclusion of that of others. This explains why in the sphere of character and personality we are literally creating monsters that prove to be so brutal and vicious. Our secret of success lies in our faith in righteousness and in our hope that the good we genuinely seek will eventually triumph.

Importance of Global Harmony

All people of all nations are like the various part of our body. When every single part of our body works in cooperation with the other members of the body, everything moves smoothly. We enjoy life and all those around us are bound to benefit. However, when segments of our body become sick, cease to work constructively together, then we experience the creation of surmountable problems. This explains why obstacles created in our global community may go out of control in a way that may lead to surmountable suffering unnecessarily.

Speaking on the art of happiness, some ascetical writers tell us that it does not take us much to achieve joy in our heart. If we treat others well, we will be treated likewise to our eventual joy. This is what global harmony is all about. We need to help others to the best of our ability in order to lead a life of perfect fulfillment. The focus of peace education should always be on making all people, from every walk of life and profession working together harmoniously.

One Canadian Jesuit priest once exhorted his students saying: “When you pray keep in mind that everything depends on God; without Him you are incapable of doing anything. However, when then you leave the scene of prayer and go to work, keep in mind that everything depends on you; without you the Almighty God feels powerless and cannot achieve anything unless you make constructive contributions to the best you can in your life’s mission.” In recent decades the tendency among some of the leading governments has been to prepare for war as a means to achieve peace!

This philosophy constitutes a contradiction since war always consists of violence. We do know that violence breeds violence and more violence breeds more violence. Wars do not have anything constructive to offer. They are always meant to really destroy the infrastructure of cities and kill millions of people mercilessly most of whom are women, children the elderly and the sick. The major focus of peace education should always be love and service to all people without exception. This will bring us to national unity and global harmony.

Concordia International University

Seoul, South Korea

During this 21st century, Concordia International University in South Korea published 30 books each one is entitled "WHO." These books are printed nicely in cartoons. They are easy to understand even by school children. We present these 30 personalities in three parts, consisting of 10 each. This first part deals with: Barack Obama, Charles Darwin, Bill Gates, Hilary Clinton, Stephen Hawking, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Barack Obama happens to be the first US African American president. He was born in Hawaii 1961 to a Kenyan father and a Caucasian American mother. Shortly after she re-married later, his mother moved to Indonesia with his stepfather when he was 6 years. There he experienced a lonely childhood. At age ten, his mother sent him to Hawaii to be with her parents. He spent his teens with discrimination and he felt very confused. He felt he belonged neither to his father's nor to his mother's homeland.

After he started college he wanted to start a new life and visited his father's homeland Kenya. After his return, Obama began to study law at Harvard University. Upon graduating he worked as a civil rights lawyer to bring happiness to many. At age 35 he entered politics where he believed he could be of greater benefit. His charisma and ability to speak enabled him to become the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. In 2008 he was elected US President and soon became the symbol of hope for many.

Charles Darwin was born in England. Later, he entered Cambridge University and majored in theology. But his love for plants and animals forced him to collect insects and explore nature. Soon Botanist Professor Henslow urged him to travel on a British survey ship, the Beagle. This took him to South America and the Galapagos islands where he learned more about nature. He enjoyed exploring many species of animals. In 1839 he published all of his findings entitled: The Voyage of the Beagle.

Since he was always interested in evolution, in 1859 he published: The Origin of Species, which was widely circulated around the world. He spent most of his time doing studies and research in the theory of evolution. For many evolution became synonymous to Darwin's name. Many who were critical of his theory of evolution, ended up accepting it. His theory of evolution was revolutionary. As proven later by theologians, his theory did not contradict creationism. It helped confirming it.

Bill Gates, born in 1955 in the USA, is viewed as the richest man in the world. His main interest was in mathematics, science and computer programming. While in high school he started a business with his friend Paul Allen. He entered Harvard's Law School but he realized this was not his mission. At this time, personal computers hit the market, which helped him find what he wanted. With his friend Paul Allen he co-founded the computer software company, Microsoft. This brought him great success.

He soon entered into partnership with IBM and created an operating system for their computers. The success of MS-DOS followed the release of Microsoft Window 3.0. In 1994, Bill Gates married Melinda French who influenced him to dedicate himself to charity work. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was established to help eliminate famine and disease around the world. He pledged to donate 95% of his wealth to charities. Since 2006, he and his wife worked for their Foundation.

Hilary Clinton was born in 1947 in Chicago. Her father, Hugh Rodham, run well a small textile business. Her mother Dorothy gave her a lot of courage. She also had two teachers who exerted great influence on her, her history teacher Paul Carlson and her pastor Don Jones. Soon she developed her political identity. She studied at Wellesley where she did well and was politically active. She later went to Yale Law School where she met her husband Bill Clinton who became the Governor of Arkansas.

At the same time, Hilary worked for Rose Law Firm and worked fully for the poor and underprivileged. She also became involved in children and their education and was instrumental in improving the educational system among the poor. After eight years in the Whitehouse, she became the US Senator of New York. Afterwards, she became the first female to run for US President. She lost to Barack Obama who became the 1st African-American president. He soon appointed her Secretary of State.

Stephen Hawking was born in England in 1942. He inherited most of his parents' ambitions and became an avid reader. He was so inquisitive that he would put gadgets apart and then reassembled them. His father made him try to explore the stars. He visited many museums where he experienced the wonders of nature. In college he chose physics as his major. Then entered Cambridge University. At this time, diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, he was told he had only one to two years to live.

In spite of his poor health, Hawking continued with his research and in 1967, with Roger Penrose, he published "Singularity Theorems." In 1974 he published "Back Hole Evaporation Theory," which was an asset on black holes. As his health deteriorated he lost his voice and could speak only through an electronic device. His will to discover the secrets of the universe made him even more active. With his hard work and will to succeed he proved the saying that "when there is a will there is a way."

Oprah Winfrey was born in the USA in 1954. By the process of time she became the highest rated talk show host. She was also a great actress. However, her childhood was quite unpleasant. It was full of uncertainties. At birth she was abandoned by her father and soon afterwards she was separated from her mother. She was then raised by her grandmother. She liked reading very much. At age seven she went to live with her mother who was so busy that later she had to pass Oprah to her father's care.

Her reading enabled her to get all the inspiration she needed to continue to move forward in life. After she won a beauty pageant, she stepped into broadcasting through radio. Later she began to host a talk show where she became famous. But her primary concern was on the poor. Their deprivation of life reminded her of her childhood. She soon devoted herself to charities to benefit South African teenagers and children at any stage of life. Her warm heart wanted to bring awareness of the suffering.

Steven Spielberg was born in the USA in 1946. He developed a great love for movies. At a very young age he began to make movies starring his sisters and friends. At age 13 he made his first official movie entitled Escape to Nowhere. His film, Amblin, gave him the opportunity to be hired by Universal Studios. At age 21 he became the youngest director to work for Universal Studios. In 1974 he was recognized for his direction of The Sugarland Express. Later he was made the director of Jaws.

In 1981 he directed Raiders of the Lost Ark, produced by his friend George Lucas. A year later E.T was released and he became to most admired director. In 1993 Spielberg won seven Oscars for Schindler's List. In addition, Jurassic Park broke box office records and instilled in many great interest in dinosaurs. He proceeded to do many things that enabled more talented people to become involved in quality film production. Even today he still works hard to continue to bring people together in harmony.

Thomas Edison was born in the USA in 1847. When Time Magazine selected the most influential people of the time, Edison topped the list. His great ambition was to improve the lives of people. He was curious and would ask many questions. This habit was not viewed favorably and his school dismissed him after only three months. His mother, who was a teacher, took care of all his education and helped him take interest in inventions. At age 22 he started an electric vote-recording machine.

Later he created a research laboratory at his home and hired various engineers to make people's lives better. Here he invented the phonograph which impressed the entire world. He also invented the light bulb to replace candles and oil lamps. Later, he succeeded in making incandescent light bulbs. He patented over 1,000 inventions and he played a very important role in the area of electricity. His will to make substantial contributions to society enabled us to benefit immensely as a result.

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 and later he became the 16th President of the United States. He was determined to bring freedom and peace to all people. During his adolescence Lincoln witnessed a slave market where slaves were sold like property. He was shocked and he sharply criticized slavery. Through such speeches he became well known and later he won the US presidency. As a result of his stand against slavery, the slavery states formed the Confederate States of America.

In view of this, Lincoln became more determined and on January 1, 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that made all slaves in all states, black and otherwise, become fully free. As a result, Lincoln was re-elected in the 1864 Presidential Election. In 1865 the Civil War came to an end. Unfortunately, a few days later Lincoln was shot and killed. But Lincoln's courage proclaimed: "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from Earth."

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in the USA in 1929. He worked hard for the promotion of human rights in the entire nation. As a result, in 1986 the US government made a national holiday in his honor. It was a recognition of his work to improve civil rights in the nation. He read the works of famous scholars and tried to figure out a way to bring about racial discrimination to an end. After he listened to a speech of Mahatma Gandhi he learned about the importance of non-violent resistance. Gandhi made it clear that violence can never be used by all means.

He advocated peaceful resistance based on love by using effective methods to bring about peace and harmony among all people. An African American woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white person on a bus. Then Martin Luther King, Jr. led a bus boycott. Afterwards, the blacks could ride busses sitting where they liked. He then was recognized as leader of the civil rights movement, in spite of being arrested several times. He later was granted the Noble Peace Prize.

In Conclusion

These were the first ten of thirty in the list that refers to Outstanding Personalities in Perspective. One of the things they all shared in common lies in the fact that in their early life they all seem to have encountered great difficulties from their family members and those around them in a number of ways. Also, in spite of such obstacles they were all determined to keep on moving forward to achieve the goals of their dreams. It looks like the saying: "when there is a will there is a way," was applicable to all of them. They all have something unique and encouraging to offer.

This presentation dealt with the first ten of these 30 personalities who had a book written in cartoons on each one of them entitled "WHO." My next presentation will deal with the next ten outstanding personalities consisting of: Louis Braille, Albert Einstein, Jane Goodall, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Warren Baffett, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, and Jean-Henri Fabre.

We hope that these wonderful books, which describe the achievements of these personalities will inspire many to work hard with determination by all means. Once we have a clear mind relative to the goals we want to achieve in life, we should move forward, while trying to overcome every obstacle we encounter.

Part II

This presentation consists of the second group of ten outstanding personalities on whom a book entitled "WHO" was written on each. These ten great ones here are: Louis Braille, Albert Einstein, Jane Goodall, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Warren Buffett, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, and Jean-Henri Fabre. They all made good contributions and we need to be grateful to them. Everyone is encouraged to read about them, not only children but also the adult members of the community.

Louis Braille is viewed as the man who gave hope to the blind. He was born in France in 1809. He liked to play in his father's workshop. By the time he was four years old he became blind in both eyes. He quickly adjusted himself to his new life. One village priest was impressed with him and began to teach him. Soon he began to attend the local school but he could not read anything. The priest who helped him, Father Palluy, found a way to put him in the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris.

In 1819, at the age of ten he left his family for Paris in the hope he would be able to read. He soon learned to read embossed printing but he felt disappointed with encountered problems. He became determined to create a writing system for people like himself. In 1824 he developed a raised dot alphabet using six dots which could express the 26 letters of the alphabet. He was so absorbed in this new development that he neglected his health and in 1852 at age 43 he died of tuberculosis.

Albert Einstein was devoted to space, time and gravity. He was born in Germany in 1879. His father and uncle ran an electrical plant from where he derived interest in electrical machines and light. While studying he discovered that science was needed to understanding the mysteries of the universe. He completed his math and physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and he published a paper entitled: On a heuristic point of view concerning the production and transformation of light.

As time rolled on, he published a paper on the theory of special relativity and later on the theory of general relativity. This proved that light can bend depending on the force of gravity. In due time Einstein received the highest honor for his scientific work. He also received the Nobel Peace Prize and continued to give many lectures. When World War II broke out he decided to spend his life time to promote peace, while he took a serious stand against use of the atomic bomb.

Jane Goodall was born in England in 1934. She became known as the first zoologist to befriend chimpanzees. It all started with her father giving her a chimpanzee doll named Jubilee which she loved dearly. From early childhood she felt that animals have the ability to feel and to make judgments as humans do. After she read Tarzan and Dr. Doolittle she sought to visit Africa. She created a nature observation club and tried to help by all means horses in danger of being slaughtered.

When she was in Africa she conducted research on chimpanzees and soon discovered that chimpanzees were much more similar to humans than ever imagined. Her study on chimpanzees and their relation to humans made her become an outstanding zoologist. She spends her time travelling extensively around the world for nature conservation and environmental protection. She likes to work with children and young people in the animal protection program called Roots and Shoots.

Walt Disney is an American entrepreneur who was born in 1901. He became synonymous with animation and a very successful entertainment businessman. His childhood was full of poverty and his only outlet was in drawing pictures. All of his teachers and friends admired his talent. He also began to make money from his pictures and he felt encouraged to keep on moving forward with this venture. After he made his first animation feature film he became convinced that this was his real talent.

Soon after, he planned to give a realistic life to his fantasy and animation world. Disneyland has turned to become one of the most amusing parks which both adults and children like to visit very much. He never feared failure. He always looked forward with enthusiasm and determination to bring everything into proper perspective in the best interest of all. He firmly believed that nothing was impossible and that all of our dreams could virtually be achieved by all means.

Winston Churchill, a former British Prime Minister, was born in 1874. He did not have a happy childhood. Both of his parents were busy with the kind of work they chose to do. As a growing child he was a trouble maker, which worried his parents. His grandfather was the seventh Duke of Marlborough. His grades in school were low and he had a speech impediment, which caused his classmates to make fun of him. But he decided to get rid of this impediment and he finally succeeded.

As a result, he became an outstanding speaker. He wanted to join the military but he failed the entrance exam twice. He then became war correspondent and became a prisoner in the Boer War. But he escaped and injected hope in the British people. In World War I he served as the Minister of Munitions and in World War II he was appointed Prime Minister. His speeches filled the British with hope and he convinced them they would win. He later received his Noble Prize in Literature.

Warren Buffett, American entrepreneur was born in 1930. From early childhood he was interested in making money. At age six he would buy gum and soda and sell it for profit. As he was interested in numbers his father helped him start investing in stocks. At age eleven he invested in stocks for the first time and made a weekly profit of three dollars. As a teenager he liked delivering newspapers, which enabled him to make good money. In Columbia Business School he studies under Benjamin Graham.

Following his graduation, Buffett formed an investment partnership which became very profitable. At age thirty-two, he joined the ranks of the millionaires. By the process of time, he was selected by Forbes Magazine in 2008 as the richest man in the world. Having enjoyed much wealth he realized that there are more important things than money. So, he began to give more than half of his money to society. To this day, he continues to share his wealth with all those in dire need.

Nelson Mandela, who was born in 1918, became the first South African black president after his long struggle to bring an end to apartheid. At birth he was named Rolihlahla, which means "troublemaker." From his early childhood he experienced racial discrimination, which he found very unpleasant. He moved to study law to find a way to end all kind of discriminations in his nation. Due to his active involvements he was expelled from school. In 1952 he became the first black lawyer in South Africa and opened his own law office in Johannesburg.

He brought together as many blacks and Asians as possible and declared a Freedom charter to oppose discrimination. Mandela led many demonstrations against apartheid until finally he was arrested by the white police and sentenced to a life in prison. Although he lost his freedom he kept on working hard while in prison dreaming of the day he would come out to bring about an end to the apartheid system.

Steve Jobs is an American entrepreneur who was born in 1955. When he was still a few weeks old he was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. As he grew up he met with Steve Wozniak and together they assembled electronic devises that led them to the making of a computer. The two together established a computer company, Apple, and worked very hard to make this computer in operation. They created Apple I and Apple 2 which boosted the computer industry. At age 25 he became a billionaire.

Jobs continued with this venture where all the money was meant to be found. He later took over an animation company by the name Pixair. This continued to bring more money. When he left the company it suffered great financial difficulties but after he returned back he developed a new product known as imac G3, which sold 800,000 that proved to be a big hit. He continued to develop such items as the portable mp3player ipon, the smart phone, and the computer tablet ipad.

Joanne Rowling is a British author who was born in 1965. As a young girl she dreamed of writing a book that would captivate the world. In fact, her book sold over 400 million copies. Its circulation was second only to the Bible. She became a multi-millionaire in merely five years. When her mother passed away of a rare disease, she decided to move to Portugal where she taught English as a foreign language. There she married and had a child but later her marriage collapsed. It was very unfortunate as she has been so much dedicated to just causes.

She lived a rather very simple life and she continued to work hard in Portugal by writing more books and by trying to make children feel better by helping fulfill their emotional needs. One of her leading books here was about the adventures of magician, which children liked and received afterwards international popularity. When Harry Potter was made into film it was loved by all kinds of audiences. J.K. Rowling has become the most loved author by children around the world.

Jean-Henri Fabre was born in France in 1923. He is a scientist who wrote one of the best textbooks ever written on insects that is called Souvenirs Entomologiques. He came from a poor family. By taking care of his parents' ducks he soon became familiar with all kind of animals and insects. He enjoyed observing nature and he pursued his studies to eventually become a teacher. Teaching poor children like himself was one of his joys. When he taught school in the Island of Corsica, he began to do research on the island's plants, snails and shells.

Later he wrote a paper relative to the observations he made in his research studies. As a result, his work became recognized all over France and he was awarded with the Legion d'Honneur Award, viewed as the highest honor given in France. Of course, his greatest accomplishment remains the book he wrote entitled Souvenirs Entomologiques. He spent 28 years in writing this book which covers all the findings he made in all of his research study during this period. It became quite popular as it was viewed as fully inspirational.

In Conclusion

These were the second ten of thirty great and impressive individuals in the list that refers to Outstanding Personalities in Perspective. In the list we covered in Part One we went through the first ten of these great and wonderful individuals. They encountered great difficulties as they were growing older. We also notice their common determination to overcome such difficulties and to continue to work hard by all means to achieve their eventual goals and objectives.

My next presentation deals with the next and last ten outstanding personalities consisting of: Vincent van Gogh, Maurie Curie, Henry David Thoreau, Andrew Carnegie, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplain, Ho chi Minh, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mao Zedong, and Kim Dae-jung. We hope that these wonderful books would enable us to see with clarity the great contributions such great individuals made in a way that we may follow their footsteps to the best of our ability.

They all have proved, as the traditional saying goes, that when there is a will, there is always a way. Once we take the initial steps toward the achievement of our noble goals and objectives, nothing should stop us.

13/01/2015

Part III

This is Part III of Outstanding Personalities in Perspective. It covers the last 10 great individuals with a book written on each one of them, expressed in cartoons and entitled "WHO." They may be enlisted as follows: Vincent van Gogh, Marie Curie, Henry David Thoreau, Andrew Carnegie, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplain, Ho Chi Minh, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mao Zedong, and Kim Dae Jung. We will now go through them one by one.

Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch painter, was born in 1853. He was the oldest of six children. Due to the financial limitations of his family he had to work at an early age in the art gallery of The Hague. While there he decided to become an artist himself. After a while he saw art was not his mission and he tried to become a minister. Even here, he was not satisfied but continued to work for the church until he was dismissed. Here he decided to go back to art once more.

At age 27 he moved to Paris to work on his art work. He created his own style while he liked Japanese Ukiyo-e. He enjoyed his bright colors and liked painting the bright sun. He later moved south to produce his well-known Sunflower Series and Starry Night. When Gauguin left him, he felt unstable. He printed over 800 paintings and 1,000 sketches in ten years. One of his works was worth millions of dollars. But his mental problem led him to suicide.

Marie Curie was born in Poland in 1867. She opened the doors to nuclear physics. She studied Russian and Russian history and she was very bright but could not study in college because of her financial problems. She worked as a governess for eight years to support her sister's medical studies. Later she entered Sorbonne University to study science and graduated top of her class. In her research she discovered two elements known as polonium and as radium. She also became professor and received the Noble Peace Prize as scientist.

The problems she encountered in her younger life did not stop her from entering the university to pursue her studies. She proved to be successful in everything she tried to do. In Poland she was not free to do things in her native language since Russia had a great say in what needed to be done. She set up a good example for all women who shared her ambitions and she was held in very high esteem. As a result, many tried to follow her footsteps.

Henry David Thoreau was an American poet philosopher who was born in 1817. He grew up in the beautiful Concord River environment. After his graduation he became a teacher who opposed the strict education requirements and the use of physical punishment. When things went wrong he preferred to be on the side of the students. Because of this he ended up being fired. With his brother John, he established their own school where students learned through direct experience with nature. The students liked this approach very much.

When his brother died he became discouraged, lost all motivation and closed the school. He built a house at Walden and led a very simple life while he wrote on everything he saw in nature, which made him publish a book. Later he was arrested for evading taxes in Walden. He said that every citizen has the right not to pay taxes if the government is using that money for negative purposes. In his forties his health became weak, but he still published another book.

Andrew Carnegie was an American entrepreneur who was born in Scotland in 1835. He became involved in his father's cotton spinning industry. Due to the Industrial Revolution his parents immigrated to the United States. At the age 13 he worked in a textile factory and later as a telegraph messenger. His boss promoted him to become telegraph operator. Afterwards, he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and witnessed the importance of the steel industry. At age 28 he created a steel company called Keystone Bridge.

When he noticed that most workers were not happy with the way they were treated, he decided to take some positive and constructive steps in this regard. He proceeded to establish a charity foundation named after himself in countries around the world. Besides he created a laborers' fund to provide workers with money on retirement. As a good businessman and philanthropist, he continued to serve as a role model to many people everywhere.

Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer who was born in 1883 in a charity hospital. She grew poor and was abandoned by her father. Her mother passed away when she was 12 years old. She was brought up in an orphanage. At age 18 she ran away with her young aunt Adrienne. Both of them worked in a boutique while Coco also sang in clubs. She made alterations and later designed clothes. In World War I Chanel's boutique got popular having 300 workers.

Later she gained international fame with perfume made under her name. In World War II her friendship with German soldier caused her to leave France for Switzerland. After 15 years she returned to France to present a new fashion collection. She became once more popular with the two-toned jacket and she is viewed as a revolutionary designer for women. Although she passed away at the age of 88, she is still viewed as an inspiration to women's fashion.

Charlie Chaplain, a British actor, was born in 1889. He was much loved and admired. His dream was to become an actor and was pushed by his mother to this end. He started to show his acting abilities at age eight and in spite of problems he moved forward. While on an American tour, he met with Mack Sennett of Keystone Productions. This got him into the movie industry. He became known for his baggy pants, big shoes, a small hat and a cane.

He was successful in the film industry and people would not miss any of his shows. There would be plenty of laughter and a few cries as well. All his messages were conveyed with humor. When McCarthyism swept Hollywood, he and his family were forced to leave the country for Switzerland. But after 20 years he returned to the USA to receive an Honorary Academy Award. He spent his lifetime creating films after, which people enjoyed immensely.

Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese who was born in 1890. At that time Vietnam was under the French. As a student he saw his people persecuted and joined in demonstrations. He travelled in many countries to learn how he could best help his people. He worked for a French Chef on a French ship. He wanted to let people know what was going on in his country. As he wanted to free Vietnam from the French and he was not allowed to go to Vietnam for 30 years.

Minh has returned to Vietnam at age 51 with a communist ideology and worked for the independence of Vietnam from France. At the end of World War II Vietnam gained independence and Ho Chi Minh was installed as the premier of the provisional government. But later Vietnam was divided into North and South. The USA became involved in supporting the South. But the health of Ho Chi Minh deteriorated and died before the unification of his country.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German musician who was born in 1770. Because of his father's insistence he spent most of his early life practicing for recitals. He learned a lot from his teachers and soon he began to show his musical ability. He soon went to Vienna, the city of music, where he met with Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Hayden. As a result, he learned a variety of music. But something happened to his ears which developed a serious infection.

Unfortunately, his ears grew worse and lost hearing completely. In spite of this he was determined to become an excellent musician. Beethoven wrote 32 piano sonatas and composed many symphonies. Among his famous work we find, Eroica Symphony, Fate Symphony, and Choral Symphony all of which have been greatly admired. This great musician wrote music for all ages. People from every walk of life continue to admire his music immensely.

Mao Tze Dong was a Chinese politician who was born in 1893. His father was a landowner who made him work on farm. As a result Mao quit school after less than five years. As a young man Mao participated in the Chinese revolution to bring down the Qing dynasty and to help establish a modern republic. Later Mao decided to bring about another revolution to bring communism to China. He took the lead in a 10,000 kilometer journey known as the "Long March."

The various divided powers united to establish a powerful base in the creation of a new nation. Mao defeated all of his opposing powers and in 1949 he declared the establishment of a new government known as the People's Republic of China. He viewed peasants at the center in his new movement known as the "Great Leap Forward." His goal was to improve the national economy with a strong central power system. He is known as the leader of modern China.

Kim Dae Jung is a Korean politician who was born in 1924. He tried to improve relations between North and South Korea that gave hope to many Koreans. He spent his childhood under Japanese occupation of Korea. The Korean peninsula ended up divided and it is still divided to this day. After the division of the country, Kim Dae Jung ran for office four times until finally he was elected as the fifteenth President of South Korea.

Shortly after he became president, the country faced a currency crisis which was later resolved and he tried to put his efforts in bringing reconciliation between the North and the South. To this end, he introduced the Sunshine Policy. As a result, talks between the North and the South were initiated for the first time. One major arrangement was for the Korean people families, which were divided in the North and South, could have a chance to meet and see each other once more. As a result of his peaceful work with North Koreans in trying to establish good and lasting relationship, he received the Noble Peace Prize.

In Conclusion

These were the third ten of a list of thirty in the Outstanding Personalities in Perspective. Like the previous 20 outstanding personalities, all of these enlisted here above had experienced great difficulties from early childhood. But they were not discouraged. They moved forward with determination without ever giving up their hopes. We hope that these 30 books written on these 30 outstanding individuals will be read by many, not only children but also adults. They are very attractive, all presented in full colors and in cartoons.

Thanks for Concordia International University in Seoul, South Korea, these books were made available so that all of its students could learn how to achieve their high goals and objectives without ever giving up. All of these 30 great personalities did not have an easy life. They all struggled hard to achieve what they wished. Like already stated, we need to keep in mind that when there is a will there is a way. Our achievements would eventually benefit many others directly or indirectly. Those interested in securing copies of "WHO of any of these personalities may write to: info@iconcordia.org

14/01/2015

In the early part of the 21st century, education at all levels took a gigantic step forward in the right direction. After a few decades of preparation, leading educators in South Korea put successfully into operation Concordia International University with branches in quite a few countries. Special attention is made on the young since they will inevitably become the eventual leaders of future governments.

Volunteered Services

Professional instructors began to volunteer their services at a faster rate than anticipated. In the meantime, students at all ages, who felt a sacrosanct obligation to create a better and more peaceful world began to join this international institution. Needless to say, the positive and constructive changes they wanted to make on a global scale are now bound to take place in quite a few years.

The problem with our traditional colleges and universities lies here. The education they provide is meant primarily to procure students with jobs after they graduate. Very little is being done to replace struggles and wars with harmony and peace. They seem to forget, as Pope Pius XII said in 1939 on the eve of World War II that "in a war everyone is a looser, no one a winner."

Ironically, in periodical statistical studies made in the vast majority of countries, all people want to live permanently in peace. They do not want to experience war in their lives by all means. Those that tend to seek for the waging of wars are generally those in the government, along with mentally blind groups who believe they can control their nation and the world at large through violence.

We need here to bring to our attention the preamble of UNESCO, which stands for United Nations, Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It states clearly: "Since wars begin in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." The only way to achieve this properly and effectively is through a good and sound education.

Harmonious and Peaceful Philosophy

Fortunately, there have already been several groups in many institutions of learning that tried seriously to implement UNESCO's harmonious and peaceful philosophy. The time has arrived when we need to make sure that colleges and universities reevaluate their purpose in relation to the universal welfare of the entire human race.

This explains why Concordia International University came into operation. Since both its faculty members and students want to bring a permanent peace, they associated themselves with a good peace agency to implement its objectives: International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP).

Its goals are: (1) Promotion of international understanding and world peace through education, (2) Protection of the environment from air and water pollution, (3) Safeguard of human rights, and (4) Disarmament while using human resources for positive purposes. If these four objectives are properly implemented in countries around the world, within a matter of two to three generations, world peace will become a tangible reality for many nations to cherish.

As far as all subject areas are involved, Concordia International University will concentrate on making sure that each of the involved subject areas will serve as an effective instrument to bring about a permanent world peace. The human life is definitely the most important element of every human being. All people would rather live in good health and with enough money to get by than to live with one foot in the grave while they have all the riches in the world.

The job of every teacher lies in the ability to show children how they can become instruments of peace through the knowledge of each subject area, which has the potential to bring about world peace. Let us give an illustration. The teacher of history may demonstrate how people suffered, losing their property and their lives through needless and useless wars. This would be a reflection by way of meditation in addition to the teaching of historical events.

Common Strengths and Weaknesses

The teacher of geography may show that all boundaries that separate nations are purely artificial. For example, the western part of Poland was a part of Germany before World War II. Then it became part of Poland. The people there were still Germans but then they were viewed as Poles and had to travel with a Polish passport. The teacher of Biology may show that all people are an integral part of humanity. Any malady in a nation may be found into another, which explains our same strengths and weaknesses in a number of ways.

The teacher of mathematics may use the variety of people's experiences to show that all share the same human nature. Of course, this will be in addition to imparting the concept of numbers and so on. Also, the teacher of foreign languages may demonstrate the great similarities we have between languages which especially have a common root, like the Romance languages, which may be enlisted as Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and Romanian. They are all derived from Latin, which was in operation for several centuries.

In brief, the primary objective of Concordia International University is to implement in students the concept that all people are members of the same human family whose obligation is to respect each other. A study of history shows that people always fought because of diversities between them. Diversities may be proven to be a source of enrichment in a variety of ways. Hence, this would be a good way to justify our obligation to create harmonious relations. Very often we learn well from each other because of such diversities.

In view of this, our institutions of learning need to teach not to just impart knowledge, pass the test, graduate and get a job, but for purpose of creating good relations among all people. During the decade of the eighties when Pope John Paul II was in Mexico he was asked: "Do you think that the world peace is possible?" He replied: "Yes, but only after two of the great evils of the 20th century are gone." He referred to communism and capitalism because, he said, "they both advance their causes through the exploitation of people."

Missing Chance for Permanent Peace

Shortly after communism collapsed and everyone then looked forward for the collapse of capitalism. The Soviet Union disintegrated and its satellites became independent nations. Here the USA, the seat of capitalism, could have developed global programs of disarmament and arms control, a drastic step for a lasting world peace. Instead, it embarked on a program of large military build-up. Instead of equipping nations with educational and medical needs, the USA equipped many countries with weapons and military armaments.

Besides, the USA proceeded to build many military bases around the world, which were viewed as a threat to the nearby countries. What all people want is to have adequate food and houses, schools and hospitals, along with an ability to live at peace with their neighbors. It is obvious, as Pope John Paul II saw clearly, that the primary purpose of these weapons and military equipment was not the "defense of the nation," but the build-up of a financial empire by the rich at the expense of the people.

Since the human life-span amounts to only a few decades and not to centuries, we need to look forward with hope and enthusiasm to see the present governments replaced by our present students who are being well prepared by Concordia International University and several of its institutional partners. One of the greatest problems we face nowadays in the solid build-up of a world stability characterized by harmony and peace lies here.

Philosophically speaking, most of those that are eventually in governmental power today were brought up in an environment that views the strength of a nation in military terms. This approach taught us systematically that violence breads violence and more violence breads and more violence. Pope Benedict XVI made it clear, shortly before he resigned, that "war is absolutely never justified under any circumstance." We are all familiar with the traditional saying that "we catch more flies with honey."

Perfect Instrument for Permanent Peace

With the arrival of Concordia International University, we have now at our disposal the perfect instrument in providing the world with permanent harmony and peace in due time. Those who may be interested in establishing contact with this institution may get in touch at one's convenience with the Office of Public Relations. Its e-mail is info@iconcordia.org and its phone number is: 1-213-342-8558. Every university could learn from this stated institution how to promote harmony and world peace through academic means.

In view of what has been stated, let us always keep in mind that our first mission in life is to create a more constructive world than the one we found. Of course, since we cannot achieve this monumental task overnight merely by ourselves, we need to prepare a new generation of students for the next two to three decades as to eventually make this great goal and high objective possible. If we do love genuinely and sincerely our children and grandchildren that would be the best gift we could possibly give them.

This wonderful gift could be best described by peace and harmony on the local, national and global scale that would last for ages. Some ascetical writers tell us that "the art of living is the art of giving - the more we give the more we get." This way we become true instruments of inner joy and peace, which will be characterized by mutual love and tangible prosperity as a result. All we need right now is the will-power to move steadfastly forward.

11/01/2015

The best way to solve problems properly and effectively is to go straight to their source. This way adequate solutions could be provided in the best interest of all those involved. All people in the Middle East area share one great desire, namely, to live at peace with each other while enjoying their children grow healthy as much as possible. In spite of this, there has been continuous wars with thousands of innocent people left dead or maimed for life. These consist mostly of women, children, the elderly and the sick.

Creation of Israel and Palestine

In 1967, the Middle East was split into two segments, which came to be known as Israel and Palestine. Of course, many people on both sides were not completely satisfied. Several in Israel viewed virtually the entire Middle East as their de facto territory, while many in the Palestine looked at the newly formed Israel as still an integral part of Palestine. Needless to say, such feelings led to conflicts and wars. This episode proved to be very unfortunate and really sad. The two segments could have developed well their respective economies.

They could have developed a mutually agreeable collaboration where all people on both sides could have lived peacefully and productively. What sounds curious lies in the fact that while Israel was recognized by the United Nations as a full-fledged nation from the outset, Palestine never received this same recognition to this day. There had been something wrong in this regard since when Israel was officially formed a clear-cut boundary was defined with Palestine and accepted by the world body of nations.

Almost from the very beginning, Israel confiscated a large Palestinian territory and annexed it to Israel. Slowly but surely it began to build plenty of settlements for the Jewish people on Palestinian territory. It also tried to control all of the Palestinian land the best it could. In fact, a blockade was built to the extent that the Palestinians were not free to develop their own economy in conjunction with other well-developed nations.

This Middle East conflict has now been going for about 50 years. This tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians could be traced to lack of mutual trust. This lack of mutual trust did not stem from the ordinary people but mainly from groups of local fanatics who seemed bent to control the other side for apparently different reasons. For a long time, the Israelis believed that God had viewed Israel many centuries ago as the homeland of all Jewish people who always tried to guide themselves by the Holy Bible.

Source of Initial Conflict

On the other hand, since the first century A.D. the Jewish people did not have any say on this Middle East territory, commonly known then as Palestine. For almost 2,000 years the Palestinians always viewed Palestine as their own territory. When the United Nations transformed the eastern part of Palestine into Israel, the Palestinians felt very much offended. As many remarked, the Palestinians should have been consulted, at least for the sake of courtesy. Some of the active groups thought of taking drastic steps to remedy the situation.

When the war eventually broke out, Israel which was armed to the teeth, finished the conflict in just one week, taking virtually all of Palestine under its control. During the decades that followed, the Palestinian people were completely subdued like prisoners. In the meantime, many countries, including the United States, kept on talking on the need of having two separate and independent nations, while doing virtually nothing to make sure this noble and important goal is eventually achieved.

The Palestinian Authority revealed readiness to make compromises with the Israeli government as to make the concept of the two states living side by side in peace a reality. At the same time, the Israeli government was constantly reluctant to do anything constructive. When members of the Palestinian government in Gaza took drastic steps to liberate the Palestinians from the Israeli-imposed siege, they were referred to as Hamas. This meant that they were viewed as dangerous since their goal seemed to be the destruction of Israel.

The questions that need to be raised here are these? What constitutes Hamas? What is their philosophy? Are they politicians? Are they members of the military? Do they have a unanimous goal and objective? Israel views Hamas as a terrorist organization whose one sole purpose and goal is the destruction of Israel. Let us assume Israel is right in its judgment. In this case, how should Israel deal with Hamas? This question can never be answered intelligently if Israel labels as Hamas anyone that tries to do anything harmful to the Israelis. This episode has been explored by UN NGOs in recent years.

For those who may not know, UN stands for United Nations and NGOs stands for Non-Governmental Organizations. During the Iraqi war some of the NGOs went to both Iraq and Gaza to talk with young children ranging from the ages of 9 to 12. Their objective was to explore ways on how they can help such children concentrate on spending their lifetime working whole-heartedly for the promotion of world peace. Members of this humanitarian group asked these children the question: “What would you plan to do when you grow up?”

Feelings of Palestinian Children

To their surprise, the answer of such children in both Iraq and Gaza was virtually unanimous. They said determinedly: “Killing Americans… killing Americans.” These same members of the said humanitarian group asked calmly: “Why do you want to do this?” The quick answers given were along the same lines: “Because the Americans killed my father and now I have no father, they killed my mother and now I have no mother, they killed or maimed my brothers and sisters; also, they destroyed our homes and now we are homeless as well as our schools and groceries, which left us without food.

The Jewish government in Israel views the entire Old Testament as the word of God which they should follow literally, even though when the promised Messiah came, He told the Jews emphatically: “The God you know is not the God I know. The God you know talks of the “eye for an eye and the tooth for a tooth; but the God I know is a God of love and mercy; He is not a God of hatred and revenge. When you are stricken on the face, you do not retaliate but rather turn the other cheek. Do to others what you would like others to do to you.”

Judged by their actions the members of the Israeli government, who claim openly belief in Yaweh, that is, in God the creator of heaven and earth, follow God’s apparent instructions only if they agree with Him. If they happen to disagree, then they go to extremes. As the world has observed recently and in several instances before as well, the Old Testament “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,” was changed by Israel into “100 eyes for one eye and 100 teeth for one tooth!” This has been revealed clearly in the present Middle East conflict.

Whereas the Palestinians in Gaza killed some dozen Israeli civilians, the Israelis killed at least 1,500 Palestinian civilians and wounded about 5,000 mostly children, women, the elderly and the sick. Besides, the infrastructure of various areas of Gaza was obliterated. The real problem for a permanent peace in the Middle East stems from the fact that the Israeli government does not seem to realize that these innocent Palestinian children are faced with no choice when they grow up except for devising ways to avenge the cruelty they had received.

The United Nations must assume the responsibility of solving the Middle East conflict permanently. The most logical solution lies in the establishment of two states, with Palestine becoming a full-fledged member of the United Nations. We need to establish an approach that should completely eliminate every sort of paranoia from the Israeli government that may stem from the possibility that the Palestinians may attack Israel at some time in the future. In this case, the Palestinian nation should be fully demilitarized. The money that would have been spent on the military could be spent on health care and education.

Development of Palestinian Economy

Moreover, Palestine could concentrate on the development of its economy starting by inviting some leading economic industries to have a base in Palestine. Such industries may be from a variety of nations that may include, Russia, China, India, Germany, United States, France, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, and Japan, in addition to others. Any nation that would like to contribute to the development of Palestine may contribute with the building of some of the best hospitals and schools in the world, with no military equipment of any kind.

A brief study of history reveals that any country that stopped relying on military power but instead tried to develop reliance on health care, education and strong economy, ended up eliminating poverty completely from its surface. In addition, its people were provided with the opportunity to develop the maximum of their full potential and to experience the joy and satisfaction of living in peace and prosperity within a relatively very short period. Needless to say, a developed Palestinian state would eventually benefit Israel immensely.

Over the past few decades, when nations spoke of the establishment of two Middle East States living in peace and harmony side by side, they all referred to the 1967 original boundaries. Although this may sound to be theoretically sound, in practice it may not turn out to be politically logical. We have to admit that some of the actions taken by Israel over the past few decades need to be fully well addressed. Among such actions we find the building of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, the annexation of East Jerusalem to Israel, and the complete isolation of Palestine from virtually the rest of the world.

The tremendous psychological harm that has been inflicted on the people in the Middle East cannot be taken lightly. Forgiving and forgetting would be a very sound philosophy. Considering that the 1967 war was practically initiated by Palestinians and considering also that the Israelis drastic reaction went too far as far as the safeguard of thousands of innocent lives were concerned, some kind of fair compromise should be expected if needed.

First of all, the creation of a two-state solution must proceed under the auspices of the United Nations by all means. Here is what the Israeli government and the Palestinian government should be fully prepared to do in the best interest of a permanent peace by eliminating all kind of litigation if possible. The ultimate goal of the two-state solution is that both Israel and Palestine feel 100% safe by viewing each other as beneficial neighbors. Here is what the United Nations would be expected to do with full cooperation of both parties.

Eventual Roles of Israel and Palestine

The Palestinian government should be fully in control of all Palestinian territory as was designated by the 1967 boarder with some modification. All the Israeli settlements built by Israel on Palestinian territory should become under the full control of the Palestinian government. The Israeli people within such confines ought to be fully respected. They should be given by Palestine permanent residency and even Palestinian citizenship, thus enjoying having two citizenships. All of the Israeli military forces should leave Palestinian territory.

This means no more blockades for Palestine, which should be free to establish diplomatic relations with all the nations of the world. In due time, a corridor should be established between Gaza and the West Bank so that Palestinians could move freely within their own territory by all means. Most importantly, Palestine, from the outset, should be a fully demilitarized nation. This should make Israel feel perfectly safe with no excuses of creating sieges around Palestinian boundaries.

Besides, it would help strengthen the political relations of both nations if Palestine were to let Israel keep East Jerusalem as to have eventually a fully united traditionally sacred city. If Palestine were to concentrate fully on the development of the national economy, the provision of a good health care as well as a good educational system, the Palestinian people are bound to experience positive and constructive results before they even know it. The creation of a functional two-state system should not be viewed as a form of apartheid.

The Israelis need to be free to live where they wish, in Israel or Palestine. At the same time, the Palestinians also should be free to live where they wish in Palestine or Israel. In other words, the people of these two nations should begin to view each other merely as human beings who share the same needs and aspirations for themselves, their children and posterity. Above all, Palestine may play a leading role for a permanent peace in the Middles East by showing to the surrounding Arab nations that being demilitarized is bound to bring plenty of blessings to their respective populations.

Charles Mercieca
10//08/2014

American Government in Serious Trouble

The United States Government is in serious trouble needlessly. Such a trouble originates from a sizeable number of government officials who are all located in Washington, D.C. They are basically all Republicans. Judged by their actions, it is quite obvious that their primary concern is not the welfare of the American people, far less than the good of the rest of the world. They seem to be adamantly determined to oppose anything that the Democratic Party tends to present through its Democratic President Barack Obama.

Affordable Care Act

A recent classic example is the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obama Care. While the democrats did their best to have this implemented as the law of the nation, which later it was, the republicans became determined to defund it and to have it abrogated completely. When analyzed carefully, Obama Care does have its ups and downs, its advantages and disadvantages. Humans are not perfect. That is why we may find weak areas in anything they do.

If Republicans were good politicians, fully dedicated to the welfare of the American people and the rest of the world, rather than trying to defund and dismantle the Obama Care Law, they would have pointed out all the beneficial elements in it and tried to safeguard them. At the same time, they would have brought into the open all the defective elements of this enacted law of the land and provided alternatives by way of improvement. This would have made republicans the way they should be, namely, good politicians.

Since quite a few millions have indicated that they are benefitting from the said enacted law, the defunding and abrogation of such a law, would alienate such people unnecessarily. At this point, the republicans could have focused fully on improving the Affordable Care Act as to enable those millions in the nation that feel somewhat pinched by this new law, to feel much better. After all, the job of those in the government is primarily to help all people in their vital needs, even going out of their way when necessary.

Over the decades both Democrats and Republicans revealed to have both good and bad points in their vision of good and effective government. Needless to say, they both have strengths and weaknesses. Their secret of real good government should lie in their ability to retain anything that is good and to eliminate anything that is bad when it comes to the people’s welfare. Both of these political parties have many good points which should be retained regardless of from where they may originate. The problem lies in the fact that some of the ideas presented seem detrimental and need to be improved.

Policies of Republicans and Democrats

Let us analyze carefully some of the strengths and weaknesses of both political parties. The Republicans proclaim to be pro-life. This means they view life to start from the first moment of conception. Hence, abortion is obviously viewed as the murder of innocent humans who are on the way to be eventually born. On the other hand, the Democrats believe that the real human life starts with the eventual birth. But even here, these two approaches abound in contradictions as we may soon see and realize.

Republicans tend to solve international problems through violence and wars. This approach always leads to the loss of lives not only of Americans who are sent to fight but also to tens of thousands of innocent civilians in countries where the wars take place. This is due to the ruthless destruction of cities that leave large populations homeless and miserable. In spite of proclaiming to be pro-life before birth, republicans tend to support the vicious killing of harmless people after birth with no remorse whatsoever.

On the other hand, Democrats try more to solve global problems through diplomacy and dialogues. In their negative policies, both parties are equally famous to play with words. While Republicans refer to the termination of life during conception as abortion, Democrats refer to this as women’s reproductive rights! Also, while Democrats recognize the bombardment of other nations leads to the death of thousands of innocent people, Republicans refer to such atrocious massacres merely as collateral damage, like people were a piece of furniture!

When it comes expenditure, Democrats tend to concentrate more on health care and education in addition to adequate home facilities for everyone. However, Republicans tend to concentrate more on building more weapons and military equipment. As a result, they try to build as many foreign military bases as possible where countless billions of dollars are spent almost without limit. This has caused the present debt crisis of the USA. To turn an insult into injury, Republicans refer to such wasted money as national defense and security!

Here we need to raise the question: What does national defense and security mean? It certainly refers to the welfare of the American people to save their lives as much as possible. Ironically, many of the American people happen to be homeless and the US military does not use its human resources to have adequate houses built for them. Many Americans go through many health problems that may lead them to their death and the US military is not doing anything to save them in some way or another. All money that would have gone for the vital needs of the people, goes straight to the military.

Straightening National Priorities

If 50% of the present 900 US foreign military bases are closed down, there would be enough money left over that all Americans may be provided with free health care and free education for the rest of the century. This means the people would be healthier and their innate talents would be given the opportunity to develop to the maximum for the exclusive benefit of the entire nation and even the world at large. In the eyes of the world, the USA may then emerge as a real providential nation to alleviate the world from all or most of its suffering.

Both Republicans and Democrats need to learn how to safeguard all of their strengths while, at the same time, try to eliminate their vital weaknesses. The great problem we face in this regard lies in the fact that both of them are so deeply trenched in their mind-set that it would be short of a miracle for the two of them to make drastic improvements for the eventual benefit of the entire country and even the world at large. Democrats need to stop referring to the termination of life of the unborn as women’s reproductive rights.

It’s not up to women to decide as to whether a child should be or not be born. That is only God’s prerogative. On the other hand, Republicans should keep in mind that violence always breeds violence. Wars by their very nature breed atrocious violence revealed in the destruction of the infrastructure of cities that makes thousands homeless. It is also seen in the massacre of thousands of innocent and law-abiding people who are mostly women, children the elderly and the sick, not to mention other thousands that are maimed for life.

At this stage of history, the USA needs to have a strong government that is capable of bringing the weapons industry and the military industrial complex fully under control. Such industries could replace their destructive products by constructive ones that may be beneficial to all people from every walk of life and profession both in this nation and overseas. As we learn from history, those nations that relied on anything that was positive and constructive, rather than on the military and wars, have succeeded to grow and flourish visibly well.

14/12/2013

Peace as a Break between Wars and Preparation for New Wars

Over the past recorded history of 6,000 years we notice that many nations tended to solve their differences through the waging of one war after another. Needless to say, in-between wars we also observe a period of peace. As far as the people were concerned they enjoyed such periods and often hoped they would continue forever. However, as far as government officials were concerned that always proved to be a different story. As the Italians say, tra il dire e il fare c’e’ in mezzo il mare – between saying and doing there is an ocean, that is, an abyss.

Eventual Purpose of Wars

Of course, there should be a reason why wars continue to take place, especially when the population as a whole never wants to experience the tragedies of such events by all means. Scholastic philosophers tell us, quidquid contingens est causam habet -- whatever exists there must be a cause, that is, a source. And another famous dictum runs as follows, ex nihilo nihilo fit, -- nothing happens out of nothing.

Hence, wars do not pop up from the midst of nowhere. There must be a plan of some sort that would make it easier to instigate and promote wars. What is curious in our study of the nature of wars lies here. Such devices were never used to promote peace and harmony, love and compassion. On the contrary, wars often tended to stem out of jealousy and hatred and they always inflicted pain revealed mostly in the destruction of the infrastructure of cities.

Moreover, such pain is also seen in the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of innocent people, in particular women, children, the elderly and the sick. In every era of history, every government, regardless of its nature, always claimed the responsibility to look after the welfare of the people, which is revealed in providing them with a good health care system, adequate housing facilities and good education. But as long as government officials in general continue to be addicted with wars, such goals cannot be easily reached.

If we were to study the military powers that emerged in this world over the last two to three hundred years alone, we will soon find out something which is fully in common. The governments that attached priority in piling up weapons and in promoting more and more wars, ended up neglecting their people who suffered immensely as a result. Just a study of the Portuguese, Spanish, British and American empires makes us realize that the more they concentrated on the invasion of other countries and the promotion of wars, the more their respective native population suffered all kinds of deprivation.

Sources of Destruction

Nowadays, we all know that the manufacture of weapons and the military industrial complex have emerged into becoming a very lucrative business. To turn an insult into injury, the United States’ big corporations take the initiative to finance the elections of various politicians. They want to make sure that after election such politicians would do anything to boost their products, regardless of how lethal and detrimental they may prove to be to society. In the USA all the major news media are now being controlled by big corporations.

The corruption that emerged in the US government as a result has become virtually out of control. It explains why millions of people do not have enough food to eat, are deprived of adequate home facilities, and do not have easy access to vital medical needs. From a careful study of history we learn that a nation could be termed to be strong when its people are healthy and highly educated, in addition to having adequate home facilities. When this takes place then such a nation is fully self-sufficient since all the vital needs are fully there.

However, since the US government as a whole views the strength of the nation merely in military capabilities, it explains why such a nation puts top priority on the continued manufacture of weapons and military equipment. It explains why the United States, in spite of the fact that it was advised otherwise, chose to become involved in more than 30 wars following World War II. The most recent ones, all of which proved to be a disaster may be enlisted as Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

In each of such wars, thousands of young Americans lost their lives or became maimed for life, not to mention those that committed suicide. All these tragedies occurred literally needlessly. Besides, the United States was responsible for the destruction of the infrastructure of many cities which included not only the destruction of people’s homes but also the annihilation of many schools, churches and other vital sources. Besides, we may add the millions that became refugees and who led very miserable lives afterwards.

Every nation that views its strength in military terms and not in people’s health and education always ends up punishing itself severely. The US economy today is in a state of collapse because of its continued wars. The Iraqi war alone cost the USA $2 trillion dollars in debt, money that could have been used to give Americans adequate home facilities, good health care, and excellent education. A substantial number of government officials, mostly republicans, had the guts to propose the solution of the debt problem by cutting money from the vital needs of the American people, like health care, education and social security.

Deception at Work

Ironically, a number of these same government officials when they talk on radio or television, they sound like they are concerned with the welfare of the American people in general. But, as the Italians say, parole si, fatti no – words year, facts no. This means their apparent concern for the welfare of the American people as a whole is merely bla, bla, bla. The US government officials must follow the example of President Truman when he set the US President’s office for two terms of four years each.

The US Senators’ term must also be set for two terms of five years each, while the US Congressmen’s terms should also be limited for five terms of two years each. We have many young brilliant people in the USA but their chances of serving the nation in a governmental office is not that easy as long as the big corporations continued to finance their governmental buddies to remain in office for ever. Moreover, all news media must give a substantial percentage of time to cover all those running for office free-of-charge.

As the preamble of UNESCO states: Since wars begin in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. As we may all know, this acronym stands for United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The eventual implementation of this preamble is of paramount importance. It enables us to understand the wisdom of having periodical changes of individuals in the government. This way we may take care of the traditional saying: You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

When individuals serve a long time in a governmental position, their mind-set about anything becomes so deeply trenched that it may need a miracle like that of raising Lazarus from the dead to make them see things better and into a truer perspective. In view of what has been stated, we still have hope of not having to spend another 6,000 years of recorded history going through one war after another. The human nature is subject to corruption at one time or another. Our job is to take the first steps toward providing a better future for posterity.

07/12/2013

The Continuity of Wars in World History

Over the past 6,000 years of recorded history we often read about wars and their devastating consequences. In the Bible, which is viewed by the world at large as a holy and sacred book, we read about many wars that took place from time to time almost without ending. We need to raise quite a few questions since, as the scholastic philosophers tell us: Nihil ex nihilo fit - Nothing comes out of nothing. Another well-known statement runs as follows: Quidquid contigens est causam habet - Whatever exists must have a cause.

Belligerent Governmental Policies

When we analyze carefully the sources of each war we generally discover that it was waged by those in the government. The vast majority of people across every continent always yearned to live at peace on a permanent basis. When Jesus came to this world some 2,000 years ago he made it a point to improve as many negative biblical expression as possible. He was driven by the fact that he was a deeply peaceful person. Besides, he knew countless thousands of innocent people on a global scale that have and still suffer brutally unnecessarily.

Jesus did not hesitate to describe to us the true nature of God, which is purely based on love and mercy. In fact, he reminded the people of his time saying: The God I know is not the God you know. Your God functions on the eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth. The God I know functions on love and mercy. When someone strikes you on the cheek you do not strike back but rather you should turn the other cheek. This means it is far better for us to practice humility and respect than resorting to retaliation and revenge.

We also remember what Jesus said to Peter when he drew out the sword to defend his Master. He told him clearly: Put the sword away for he who kills by the sword will die by the sword. Periodically, Jesus exhorted his disciples saying: Do to others what you would like others to do to you. This means if we do not want to be hurt and killed let us not take the initiative to hurt others, far less to terminate their lives. If we continue to ignore these peaceful instructions of Jesus, we are likely to continue waging wars till the end of time.

We are all familiar with the expression history repeats itself. Since over the centuries we have experienced both good and evil that means we may look forward to experience the repetition of these two elements for sure. Our job in life should be to create situations, nationally and globally, that are good and beneficial. This way we may create people that are trained to do constructive things as to be prepared to pass such vital elements to others. If people were to be trained from early childhood to provide to others love and compassion, then the probability of future wars may start becoming highly remote.

War as an Enemy of True Peace

The Romans had a saying which went as follows: Si vis pacem, para pacem and si vis bellum para bellum -- If you want peace prepare for peace and if you want war prepare for war. US President Richard Nixon did not seem to believe in this important dictum. So he turned it around and said: Si vis pacem para bellum - If you want peace prepare for war. This was essentially the revealed US foreign policy since World War II was over in 1945. It explains why the USA since then was very heavily involved in more than 30 wars.

Three of these latest wars were Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. These last two wars alone brought the American nation some $2 trillion dollars debt, which has become a phenomenal financial burden to the American people. As a result, the people's sources of indispensable revenue just to survive became seriously threatened. It is very sad to consider that while the bulk of the three hundred million Americans were against the involvement of such wars, the few hundreds in the government proceeded to wage such immoral and illegal wars.

Going back to the earliest days of recorded history, we always witnessed that a leading power was viewed to be a nation with a devastating military. In practice, a leading power happens to be a nation that has been blessed with healthy people who have the opportunity to develop their God-given talents to the maximum. In view of this, we need to start doing something that is highly essential. We must make it a point that the only nations that we may respect and trust are among those who do not rely on any military power.

As a matter of fact, every nation in the world should not allow to have in its territory the presence of any foreign military bases by all means. Such bases always existed not to create peace but, on the contrary, to plan and promote as many devastating wars as possible. That would result in the destruction of many buildings as to make tens of thousands of people homeless. Besides, that would bring about the eventual killing and maiming of tens of thousands of innocent people, including women, children, the elderly and the sick.

The question that needs to be seriously raised here is this: Why is it that while the seven billion people in the world at large want to live at peace, a mere handful of people in their government continue to set up scenarios as to justify the promotion of never-ending wars? There may be many reasons that could be outlined. However, the dominant one lies in the fact that the weapons industry and the military industrial complex in the world have emerged to become a lucrative business. Their only one goal is to make money without limit, even at the cost of the lives of countless millions of innocent people.

Planning for a Peaceful Future

We are all familiar with the proverb: When there is a will there is a way. Responsible individuals should get periodically together to figure out steps that would bring the weapons industry and the military industrial complex under control. The Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C., which was formed by retired US military officials, made a lot of videos that bring the causes of war, as presented here, into full perspective. One of these videos was meant to provide us with steps that may bring the major causes of war under control.

Among other things stated, it was advocated that all those working for both the weapons industry and the military industrial complex should quit their job without further delay. Instead, they should seek for jobs that are fully beneficial for all human beings. The weapons industry and the military industrial complex should not panic when faced with this constructive philosophy that they may end up going out of business. They can keep fully well their business but simply change their product.

Instead of making weapons of destructions, they could make computers and many educational items that are viewed to be fully useful. Instead of making tanks for soldiers they could make tractors for farmers and the list goes on and on. Moreover, in nations where people have the opportunity to elect their own government officials, they should make sure in the next elections they put out of office determinedly all those who supported the elements of war without any hesitation. Good results may not be achieved overnight.

Even if the prospect and real achievement of a permanent peace may take several decades or even a couple of centuries, our task is to take the first steps that may serve as our foundation or legacy for a future permanent peace. By way of encouragement, let us keep in mind that we cannot teach old dogs new tricks. The best way to deal with old war-minded government officials is to find a good and practical way to have them removed from office. We need to change the sources that always led to wars with sources that will always lead to peace.

01/12/2013

Culture of War and Militaristic Culture of Peace

A careful study of history reveals that while people in general always opted for peace through dialogues on a mutually beneficial basis, their public officials often tended to resort to struggles and wars to get what they want. As a result people suffered immensely. Their houses were destroyed and several of their family members and friends lost their lives or got maimed for life. Every era of history revealed conflicts between the culture of war and that of peace. Each time the culture of war proved disastrous while that of peace was beneficial.

Culture of War

Unfortunately, the culture of war has proved always to be dominant in the world at large. This is revealed in the fact that there are very few nations which had the courage to abolish the military. Such nations have managed to live in peace for very long periods in spite of the turmoil that might have surrounded their boarders. One clear example is Costa Rica, which had a long history of civil wars where some 80% of the population were homeless and lived in poverty. Many years ago the leader of this nation abolished the military for good.

The United States did not like this move and soon tried to persuade the government of Costa Rica of the imminent danger it faced since the surrounding countries were all equipped with strong military forces. Costa Rica's military general who abolished the military forces from his nation said calmly and firmly to the USA: "We firmly believe that if we prove to be not a threat to any of the surrounding nations, not one of them will dream to attack us." And he proved to be right. For the several decades that followed Costa Rica remains peaceful.

When Costa Rica was preoccupied with having a strong military, the vast majority of the people were illiterate. This country for many years had the largest infant mortality rate among all the nations of both North and South America. In addition, the vast majority of the people were illiterate. They could not read and write. Within a matter of a few years, all the homeless were fully provided with adequate home facilities. Besides, Costa Rica became the nation in this part of the world with lowest infant mortality, less than that of the USA.

When the government of Costa Rica was asked: Where did you get the money to provide so many people with adequate home facilities and to give them all free education not only at the elementary and secondary school level but also at the college and university level as well? The answer was quick and simple: You see, when we had the military we spent millions of dollars on weapons and the promotion of struggles and wars; now that the military is gone all of that money is being used constructively for the welfare of the people. That would include free education and free health care for everyone.

Militaristic Culture of Peace

This furnishes us with clear evidence that the real source of all our earthly tragedies lies with the promotion of wars. The question to be raised is this: How come that all governments which resort to wars for the solution of problems cannot learn from a recorded history of 6,000 years of civilization that violence breeds violence and more violence breeds more violence? The situation is very serious and government officials that proceed to wage wars need to be properly examined due to the fact that there must be something very wrong with them.

The reason often quoted by government officials for their justification of war is expressed by the words: national defense and security, which is absolutely not true. A nation is viewed to be strong and healthy when its people are fully educated to the maximum of their abilities, in addition to being in good health. Since wars have become to be highly expensive, all money put in them is taken away from the vital needs of the population. An example of this is the USA which engaged itself in more than 30 wars since World War II was over in 1945.

Billions of dollars were spent uselessly on the Vietnam War, the war in Iraq and the Afghanistan War. While the American people suffered immensely because their government took a vast amount of money from the health care and education of its people, the civilians of the nations that the USA invaded had their homes destroyed, along with their schools, hospitals and places of worship. This has proved, as Pope Pius XII expressed on the eve of World War II that in a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner.

The waging of wars is a very complex problem because behind the scenes we always seem to have a mafia-type of organization whose job is to exploit several government officials by putting them in a state of paranoia. This way they could appeal to their "responsibility" to exercise machismo as to show that when it comes to struggles and wars they are fully fearless. To make things worse, this mafia-type of organization portrays the instigation and promotion of war as a sign of strength, courage and fearlessness.

No matter how much time it may take us, we must proceed to bring a new set of people in the government who are determined to work for the welfare of all people without exception. This way, by the process of time, we may start replacing war-minded political figures with peace-oriented politicians. The whole world should be viewed as one global community that may work harmoniously for peace on a permanent basis. In this case everyone will be a winner and no one a loser. Since children of all nations are the adults of our future communities, they should be familiarized with each other by all means.

Genuine Approach to True Peace

This way when they become adults they will start viewing the grown up children of other nations as their friends and partners, like they were all real members of the same global family. For quite a long time now, malicious politicians have been creating a new vocabulary that they use with people as to confuse them to a virtual point of no return. In Italian there is a proverb: Chiama pane pane e vino vino - Call bread bread and wine wine. In just plain English we simply say: Call it as it is.

If we examine all the wars the USA waged on some 30 nations since World War II ended in 1945, we often hear the reason given to justify such illegal actions with the name "national defense and security" by way of justification. While the USA refers to Americans killed by foreigners as "victims of terrorism," they refer to innocent people they kill in conflicts as "collateral damage!" And the list goes on. Of course, other nations have created their own vocabulary as well to soften the injustices they commit against many innocent people.

It looks like that the culture of war has gone so deeply into the minds of many government officials that when the military speaks of the culture of peace, it sounds more to be some sort of a joke within the context. By its very nature, the military in general has always existed to instigate and promote wars almost without ending. As observed in the early part of this presentation, the constant state of war in Costa Rica ended only after the military was abolished. If the set-up of a military unit is needed, it should be merely for national emergences.

A military unit that exists to disseminate wars should be abolished because its presence makes it very difficult for the world to have eventually a genuine peace among people on both the national and global scale. The Master Teacher of Nazareth was very clear on this topic. He exhorted us all to do to others what we would like others do to us. We do not want others to hurt us and kill us. Likewise we should never take the initiative to solve conflicts of any kind through struggles and wars but only through diplomacy and healthy dialogues.

26/11/2013

Perspective of the Most Violent Nation in the Civilized World

Over the past few decades, the United States has emerged to become the most violent nation in the civilized world. This did not happen overnight. In fact, we can trace this nation’s source of violence to the draft of its Constitution, which has now emerged to become the nation’s dangerous enemy. Jesus of Nazareth described the human being as homo hominis lupus, which may be translated as man is his own worst enemy.

Enactment of US Constitution

Although the US Constitution was written in good faith, a couple of centuries later a small segment of it has become malignant and it needs now to be removed. We know that when one develops a cancer, such a malady becomes a threat to one’s life and needs to be taken away. The more we delay removing it the more it may spread beyond hope before we know it. The malignant tumor in the US Constitution is found in the phrase: the right to bear arms.

The Founders of the US Constitution decided to insert such a phrase because of their times. At that time there were no airplanes, no trains, no busses, no radars, no telephones, and no facilities for communication. Confronted by such facts, these Founders saw it wise to insert that everyone in the nation has a right to bear arms and that such a right cannot be infringed. Once the people left their town they would be the only source of their defense and safety.

Over the past 300 years, the circumstances fully changed. Today, this nation has many airports, plenty of trains and busses, in addition to telephones, mobiles and radars that control every inch of the entire nation. This means that the constitutional phrase referring to the right of everyone to bear arms everywhere is no longer applicable. Instead of abrogating this malignant phrase or replacing the word “right” by the world “privilege,” some leading sources in the nation continue to fight for such a “right.”

As a result, there are millions of guns and military equipment in the hands of tens of thousands who have often used such weapons to kill many people from every walk of life and profession, including little children, like we have seen in December 2012 in Newton, Connecticut. We have witnessed there six teachers being killed along with 20 children ages 6 and 7 in just one morning. Such episodes in the United States take place periodically. Ironically, some states even allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus on a daily basis!

Money behind Bizarre Actions

In order to understand the tremendous opposition we face from a number of sources when it comes to updating the US Constitution as to make it more relevant and safe, we have to comprehend other sources as well. As a Capitalist nation, the philosophy of this country is based on making money without limit from any source possible. The manufacture and sales of guns and other weapons have emerged into a lucrative business. We have eventually developed a mafia type of society that would justify anything if it generates money.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has quite a few millions of members all of them owning guns and other types of weapons. This organization makes tens of millions of dollars yearly and uses most of this money to finance those running for political offices and who promote strongly the right to bear arms. Each time we have massacres by private individuals, the gun makers and dealers, instead of proposing strict gun control laws, they advocate that every single American should be equipped with guns for self-defense!

All that you need in the USA to purchase and own guns along with all kind of weapons is merely money. Some time ago a few teen agers in California were asked as to whether it was difficult for them to purchase guns. The answer was quick: We do not need any permission or license to get all the guns we want; we need only to have money since we can purchase guns like a piece of candy! Since everyone in the USA can carry legally concealed weapons, when it comes to the safeguard of the American people both the military and the police force are rendered helpless and hopeless. They are totally incapacitated.

We may here understand why during the decade of the eighties, Blessed Pope John Paul II said in Mexico that world peace would come but only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone. He stated that these two great evils are communism and capitalism because both advance their causes through the exploitation of people. Shortly after communism collapsed and the world took a sigh of relief. Then capitalism moved forward to dominate the world through the exploitation of people and the human resources.

Following the massacre of six teachers and 20 little children in Newton, Connecticut in December 2012, President Barack Obama vouched to do his utmost to have the US government ban assault weapons. This is expected to take place hopefully in the early part of the year 2013. Still, the US President is experiencing opposition from a number of Senators and Congressmen to have such a ban become a law. Although this would be a step in the right direction, the safety of all Americans would require by all means some kind of control over the excessive manufacture and sales of guns as well.

Culture of War Nation

We may begin to realize how the USA is fully built on the culture of war whose real goal is to generate endless money. The more violence is created within the USA and around the world, the more the capitalists in this nation, through the weapons industry and the military industrial complex, become capable of generating unlimited money. Scholastic philosophers, headed by St. Thomas Aquinas, tell us: nemo dat quod not habet – no one can give something that one does not have. As a rule, we give others only from what we have.

All of this explains why the United States seems to have made it a point to try to equip as many nations as possible with all kind of weapons and military equipment. This is not motivated from a genuine concern for such nations’ safeguard and security. It is all instigated from the offered opportunity to bring as many countries under full control through the creation of fear and the consequent need for what is termed to be “self-defense.” This is fully verified by the fact that the USA today has military bases in more than 146 nations.

Ironically, while such countries as China and Japan would offer other nations assistance in the areas of medicine and education, the United States would offer to these same nations assistance in the provision of weapons and military equipment, along with the building and training of a national military unit. A quick glance at the entire recorded history of civilization over the past 6,000 years show us continuously and systematically that violence breeds violence and more violence breeds more violence.

Some of the leading and most influential individuals that had great impact on the evolution of history provided solutions to many crucial problems through peaceful dialogues. They were all adamant in their condemnation of violence of any kind for they were fully convinced that violence makes everyone a loser and no one a winner. Mahatma Gandhi advocated that we can overcome all kinds of problems through peaceful means, as he demonstrated in his opposition to the mighty British military force in his nation of India.

We should always keep in mind the admonition Jesus of Nazareth gave to his disciple Peter when he took out his sword to defend his Master Teacher. Jesus warned Peter saying: Put the sword away for he who kills by the sword will die by the sword. If Jesus were to address the United States at this stage of history, we should not be surprised if he states loud and clear: Put your guns away for those who kill by the guns will die by the guns. The fact that in the USA people can buy guns like pieces of candy with no required license is rendering gun ownership to become highly abusive and notably dangerous.

National Priorities at Work

Where does the USA put its top priorities when it comes to national expenditures? If actions speak louder than words, this nation has regularly put the bulk of its money not on the health care, education and housing facilities of its people, but on the manufacture and sales of weapons and the systematic promotion of wars. The USA has some 900 foreign military bases that consume billions of dollars monthly. This is totally wasted money, which is being taken from the vital needs of the American people to their very own detriment.

The numerous military bases the USA has in countries across every continent, demonstrates its thirst for the potential creation of upheavals and conflicts. The presence of the military has never served in history to provide food for the hungry, to furnish house facilities for the homeless, to give medical assistance to the sick, and to help schools with needed educational equipment. The military by its very nature exists to promote violence, which is supported by the government regardless of the consequences.

The United States has emerged to become the only nation in history that developed the habit to use its military around the entire world to control as many nations as possible from every aspect conceivable. This nation has put itself constantly above the law. While it does what it likes and no one is expected to stop her, it continues to dictate to other nations what they should and should not do. For example, it’s all right for this nation to have thousands of nuclear weapons and to use them as it pleases even without warning.

At the same time, while it allows countries like Israel to have an unlimited amount of nuclear weapons, the USA prohibits a number of nations, including Iran, from having even one single nuclear weapon. This nation needs to keep in mind that if one nation claims the right to have nuclear weapons, every other nation on earth has the same identical right. If the USA was not deeply trenched in the culture of war, it would have taken drastic steps long time ago to develop an international program of disarmament and arms control.

Theoretically, the United States could still devise a good way in taking such a step toward disarmament and arms control. But in practice things are entirely different. As stated earlier, the USA is a capitalistic nation that puts top priority on making money without limit. To this end, every step taken would become justifiable, even if it involves the destruction of the infrastructure of cities and the massacre of numerous innocent people. When the USA was asked about the number of civilians that were killed in Iraq, the answer was simple: We do not keep a count on such an item since we view that as collateral damage!

Curbing Military Expenditure

If 50% of the military budget were to be cut off, the USA would still remain militarily the most powerful nation on earth, as pointed out by former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. This nation could then use most of this “wasted military money” to eliminate from the surface of our planet plenty of suffering and misery. However, when violence becomes a standard policy of a nation, especially in its foreign affairs, it would be somewhat difficult for the world at large to develop trust and confidence in such a nation.

In his farewell address to the US Congress, President Dwight Eisenhower said clearly: Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their government wants war. Unfortunately, this well-inspired US president was never taken seriously to this day. Still, we may continue to move forward with determination until we set up a solid ground for the creation of a genuine and lasting world-wide peace. Unless the United States makes peace rather than war as top priority, it may soon cease to be a world power, before we even know it.

Needless to say, there are many sources that continue to encourage the American addiction to violence and wars. All those responsible individuals and organizations that remain silent when confronted with US foreign war policies, share in the guilt of all those that promote violence and wars. Clergymen need to advocate our sacrosanct moral obligation to promote love and peace among each other instead of hatred and wars. Lawyers ought to demonstrate that the promotion of violence and wars constitutes a violation of human rights.

Teachers at all levels of education should make it clear that all human beings, regardless of where they come from, are morally obligated to promote policies of harmony and peace. And all law-abiding citizens are to communicate periodically to their government officials to remind them that they expect to see from them policies that would lead to the solution of all the problems we face through healthy dialogues and never through wars of any kind. This would enable the USA to become the most peaceful nation on earth in due time.

21/12/2012

How to Bring Government under Full Control

Throughout history the government always tended to be viewed as the most powerful element in a nation. This may be due to the fact that the elements of destruction are always in its hands. Such elements are the military and the police force, both of which carry weapons of devastation that are often used abusively. In general, they are hardly ever held accountable for the destruction of the infrastructure of cities and the incarceration of even law-abiding citizens.

The said two elements are generally used to bring entire populations under full control. Under such circumstances the concepts of justice and democracy tend to become meaningless for all practical purposes. As a result, people often experience a kind of tyranny that forces them to rebel fearlessly, as we have observed in many nations since World War II was over in 1945. Recent examples were those in Libya, Egypt, and Syria in addition to others. People may tolerate abuse even for a long time until they draw the line by all means.

When people lose the concept of fear they become defiant. Nothing would then stop them…. no military, no government, and no police force as seen in Vietnam and Tunisia. In 1966, General Westmoreland, Commander of the US military forces in Vietnam, gave an address at the University of Kansas, where he pointed out: Our US military forces cannot conquer Vietnam easily unless we have the native population behind us. He then said: “But this cannot be easily achieved since the people there view the US military forces as their enemy.”

This explains why throughout history, every world power has been mostly afraid of its own people. In fact, just a brief glance at history will enable us to see clearly many people in a variety of nations overthrew their government when they felt the time had arrived. This shows that the government could be fully brought under control either through violence or through constructive dialogues. Such dialogues could take place when they are based not on “who” is right but on “what” is right, that is, on what is mutually beneficial.

In view of what has been stated, it is quite obvious that every responsible citizen, who is highly concerned with the promotion of justice, has the ability to provide needed leadership to bring a government under full control. There are many instances in history, which prove that whole nations were changed and transformed through the efforts of initially just one person. Among others we may enlist merely at random such individuals as Gautama Siddhartha, Lao Tse, Confucius, Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Francis of Assisi, Nelson Mandela, Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Oscar Arias, and the list goes on and on.

The only one vital qualification needed in an individual to assume national and/or world-wide leadership is phenomenal courage revealed especially in the complete absence of fear. I am here referring to the fear of not assuming responsibility to promote and implement the concept of justice everywhere. At this stage, we need to distinguish between those who reveal to be fearless out of arrogance and those who reveal to be fearless out of a sacrosanct felt duty to defend and promote the human rights of all people.

The best way to solve a problem we encounter is simply to go to its source. Once such a source is discovered then appropriate remedies are provided and the problem is solved sooner than later. The corporations that manufacture and produce beneficial items in the best interest of all people without exception should receive our wholehearted support. However, those corporations which are in the business of manufacturing weapons and of promoting wars should be viewed as dangerous and we should take constructive steps against them.

When we are faced with a danger we have the option to ignore it and then suffer the consequences, or to bring it into the open while exploring effective approaches to bring it under full control. This is of paramount importance because, as Socrates said some 2,500 years ago, we can solve every problem we encounter if we were to take the first step. What would be this first step? This Greek philosopher indicated that this first step would be to bring the said problem into the open for everyone to see.

He then explained saying: Unless we are fully aware of the existence of a problem we can never take drastic steps to eliminate it. Hence, the importance of people of all nations not to remain silent when encountered with problems that are being created by government officials. Let us keep in mind the traditional saying: To err is human, to forgive is divine. This means that since all members of the government are humans they are all liable to make mistakes. Of course, we all know that prevention is better than cure.

Hence, it is our sacrosanct duty to support the government when carrying actions that are beneficial to all people and to oppose the same government when performing actions that are detrimental even to quite a few. In our effort to create a better world, characterized by peace and justice, we should develop the habit to do what Jesus of Nazareth had advocated: Do to others as you would like others do to you. If this wise statement were to be observed by all government officials, permanent peace will soon be around the corner. Maybe we should listen to what US President Eisenhower told the US Congress in his Farewell address.

He stated clearly to the members of the US government: Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their government wants wars. This is verified by the fact that every nation would rather deprive its people from the necessities of life while pouring more and more money on the manufacture of weapons and the promotion of wars, than the other way round. Also, throughout history the real strength of a nation on a permanent basis was not measured by the amount of military weapons such a nation may possess.

On the contrary, the real strength of a nation has been measured by the kind of people it has in terms of good health, quality education and adequate housing facilities for every family. Throughout history, every world power tended to measure the strength of a nation by its so called military strength. This explains why the bulk of the money was hardly ever allotted to the health, education and housing facilities of the native population. It explains why every big power disintegrated and collapsed at a time least expected.

Confronted with this reality, why is it that the military-oriented nations cannot seem to learn from the mistakes of the past? The big corporations, headed by the weapons industry and the military industrial complex, view their financial success in proportion to the sales of their respective products. This explains why such corporations may have type of secret agents whose job is to stir in a variety of nations as much trouble as possible. This would enable them to convince their government to keep on pouring money for wars without limit.

Although there seems to be no two governments that function identically the same way, we may, for all practical purposes, classify the governments of all nations as follows: (1) those that are democratically oriented and (2) those that tend to be dictatorial in their structure. Either way, when people decide that they cannot take it any longer, they will eventually take drastic steps to bring the government to an end. Those that are democratically oriented may have political figures replaced, while those that are dictatorial may simply be overthrown.

What Pope Pius XII said to both the United Kingdom and Germany on the eve of World War II, still applies today and will continue to do so till the end of times. He told these two nations: Remember that in a war everyone is a loser and no one a winner. In fact, Germany lost the war. People were poor everywhere and the German economy collapsed. On the other hand, the United Kingdom won the war. But even here, people were poor everywhere and the British economy collapsed along with the disintegration of the British Empire. Besides, millions of innocent people on both sides were brutally massacred.

In view of what has been stated, we may begin to see clearly that the real source of the bulk of human problems could be traced to government officials who put all their energy and money not on the dire needs of the people but on weapons and the promotion of wars. They develop a kind of machismo that resorts to a sort of an unwritten slogan: Do what I say or you will be wiped out. We forget completely that one can catch more flies with honey. This has been witnessed by several nations in times of war.

I recall when during the forties the Germans blocked the Island of Malta for three years and could not capture it, they came with an ultimatum: Surrender within one week and we will re-build the island and give the natives shelter and food…. or continue to resist and we will obliterate the entire nation. Until then the Maltese were always full of fear not knowing as to whether or not they would survive another day. But when confronted with such a threat, the answer came fearlessly from all the natives within 24 hours: Death but not surrender.

From that moment all fear disappeared. During the air raids instead of going in shelters people remained outside in the streets to defy the enemy while watching air fights between the Germans and the British. Children played the ladder-game. It consisted of climbing on the shoulders of each other and while they hold to the wall with their left hand and with the other they would write on the wall: Death but not surrender. The strong will of the people could not be conquered and the Germans could never capture the Maltese Island.

Numerous episodes of history along these same lines reveal that when people stick together against the tyranny of the government without giving in, they will eventually bring the government fully under control. This has been witnessed in history periodically and systematically. We need to cooperate with the government in all of its actions that are conducive to the welfare of all people. At the same time, we must resist the government by all means when its actions may not be conducive to the welfare of the entire native population.

Let us keep in mind that every government is composed of people like all of us. Some tend to be good, strong, determined and mean well while others tend to be malicious in a number of ways, morally weak and seek always to have the last say, regardless of being beneficial or disastrous. If we were to examine all people from every walk of life, we would soon find out that those that may be viewed as a real source of inspiration are those who had been blessed with a strong character and pleasant personality. These individuals are usually blessed with the ability to instill inspiration, justice and a keen sense of responsibility.

Which would be the best way for people in every nation to find out what type of government they have… as to whether it is in the long range really beneficial or detrimental? The answer is simple. Just find out where the bulk of the nation’s money is being put. If it is put on the good health care of the people, the education of all natives from the cradle to the grave, and the procurement of adequate home facilities for all families, then we can be reasonably sure that such a nation has been blessed with a genuinely good government.

However, if the bulk of the nation’s money is being put on the manufacture and sales of weapons, along with the promotion of wars, then we may be certain that such a government is dangerous and should not be trusted. Once this is evidenced, all those who feel concerned with the welfare of the nation and the world at large, should draw the line and take all needed peaceful steps to reverse the trend. Several steps then could be taken including that of making people aware of their government’s misguided policies.

This may not be easy as it sounds in nations that are fully controlled by big corporations that would include the tight control of all news media…. radio, press, and television. But even here, nowadays we have access to the internet, which may be used to reach hundreds, thousands and even millions of people. Once more, we may here go back to Socrates: The first and most important step to solve a problem is to bring it out into the open for everyone to see. This is not a prerogative of those in power but it is a privilege we have at our disposal.

He explained that once people become aware of the problem then they begin to see how such a problem would affect them. Once this is seen, then action is taken and the problem is solved. In plain language, the government is then brought under full control. If people everywhere become more and better organized many crucial problems will be eventually solved at both the national and global level before we even know it and faster than possibly anticipated. All we needed is just to realize that each one of us can make a real difference.

12/12/12

Role of Governments in Promoting Peace , by Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.

Governments of all kinds seem to have at least one thing in common. They want to convince everyone that all their actions are performed in the best interest of their respective population. Of course, experience demonstrates that this is not necessarily true in any way whatsoever. All we need to do is simply to analyze their behavior in terms of results, since actions are stronger and more credible than words. Unfortunately, there seems to be not one government in the whole world that could be termed as perfect.

Need for Good Government Officials

At least, we need to do our best to create the best government possible. We need government officials who genuinely and sincerely try to do their very best to alleviate problems and diminish needless suffering as much as possible. Every government has the potential to contribute by all means toward the promotion of peace or war both within the nation and the world at large. In other words, government officials must make it a point to do everything in their power to perform actions that are merely positive and constructive.

Besides, they must keep in mind that the whole world is one single unit where all people from every walk of life and profession live. If the water and air of one nation is polluted, other nations are going to be affected as well. This means that all people of all nations tend to be physically strong or weak on a mutually beneficial or destructive basis. Hence, no government in the world has the right to perform actions that are harmful to people's health in any way whatsoever. This would be abusive and criminal.

In view of this, we may realize and understand that those who seek governmental positions out of lust for power should not be there in the first place. The only government officials that seem to be fit for the position they hold are those who genuinely and sincerely view the government's job as a means of good and effective service. Those who occupy governmental position are merely the servants of the people. They must listen to what the people have to say.

Afterwards, they must try to fulfill the people's needs by all means. Like good parents, government officials are obligated to look after the vital needs of all the people without exception. Among such vital needs, which may be viewed as sacrosanct human rights, are health care, education, and adequate home facilities. A nation may be viewed as strong or weak by the health of the people. When people are healthy and strong, then we do have a healthy and strong nation. When every citizen is given the opportunity to develop one's talents to the maximum possible, then we will have an affluent nation.

Fulfillment of People's Dire Needs

When all people have adequate home facilities, then most of the anxieties are soon gone before we even know it. This way, people are enabled to spend their full time performing positive and constructive work. As a matter of fact, they are given the opportunity to become more creative in the best interest of the entire nation and even, very often, the whole world. Yet, we do have a number of governments, whose philosophy does not seem to be healthy at all that, very sadly, view weapons and wars as their source of hope and security!

They seem to forget for all practical purposes, as revealed in a recorded history of 6,000 years, that weapons and wars have always served to create nightmares and to make people suffer mercilessly. We learn from history that weapons and wars have always instigated more weapons and more wars. Besides, like Pope Pius XII said on the eve of World War II to both the Germans and the British: In a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner. Germany lost the war and its economy collapsed and people were poor everywhere.

On the other hand, the United Kingdom won the war and its economy equally collapsed. People were, likewise, poor everywhere. Not only so, but the victorious United Kingdom lost its British Empire as a result. This means that the choice is crystal clear. Governments, as a whole, are faced with a dilemma. They must view their role as one that promotes war or as one that promotes peace. As the Romans used to say: Si vis pacem para pacem and si vis bellum para bellum --- If you want peace prepare for peace and if you want war prepare for war.

One US President, whose name was Richard Nixon, tried to reverse this 2,000 years traditional dictum by saying: Si vis pacem, para bellum - if you want peace prepare for war. This explains why the USA, at this stage of history, gives top priority in its expenditure on the manufacture and sales of weapons and the never-ending development of the military industrial complex. And we know the rest of the story. The USA is today the greatest debtor on earth with trillions of dollars in debt and the American people are suffering immensely as a result.

The world at large is convinced that the two wars the USA waged on Afghanistan and Iraq could have been avoided. Instead of accumulating trillions of dollars in debts, the USA might have accumulated all of that money in surplus. But the American addiction to war is so deep and so strong that this nation continues to build up more military bases around the world, in addition to the 746 foreign military bases it already accumulated. Jesus of Nazareth was right when he said: Homo hominis lupus -- man is his own worst enemy. The USA emerged to become its worst enemy with its belligerent policies.

Achievement of Permanent Peace

Ironically, in statistical studies made among people in countries around the world, it was found out that almost all of them prefer peace than war. They all feel safer when they live in peace than in war. If such is the case, then why is it that a substantial number of governments continue to accumulate more weapons and never cease to resort to war each time they find an opportunity? Many answers were given to this question. The most popular seem to be the fact that those in government that promote war tend to make a lot of money.

They view war as a business venture and for money they seem to be ready to do anything conceivable, including the needless suffering and massacre of their own people! If governments want really to create in the world an atmosphere of perpetual peace, they must take the initiative, the sooner the better, to take drastic steps to have the very concept of war erased from the surface of our planet. Let us keep in mind that in our earthly community only governments create and promote war, which they could always avoid.

Similarly, in this world governments have the power to create and promote peace on a perpetual basis. In his farewell speech to the US Congress, former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower reminded the entire members of the US governments saying emphatically: Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their government wants war. Unfortunately, the words of this famous US President seemed to have been taken lightly by both the news media and the members of the US Congress as a whole.

Let us keep our hopes up and never be discouraged. All of us have the opportunity to make substantial contributions, both by both words and actions, to enable our government officials do a more positive and constructive job. We should continue with our effort to help them see that they would reveal greater wisdom in their efforts to promote disarmament and arms control than the other way round. As stated earlier, let us bring once more to our mind the words of Pope Pius XII: In a war everyone is a loser and no one winner.

21/09/2012

Fusion of Ignorance and Malice in Perspective

In scholastic philosophy we often find the phrase: quidquid contingens est causam habet – whatever comes into existence must have a cause. This means that in anything human beings do there must be a source, a motive or motivation behind it. In this regard, we may classify human beings into two distinct groups: those who are not aware of what their actions would be leading to and those who are fully aware of the results of their actions, which they deliberately plan.

Two Categories of Politicians

Let us take into consideration and analyze carefully these two categories beginning with the first one, which may enable us to realize and understand properly such statements as look before you leap and you will catch more flies with honey, in addition to many others. In this presentation, we will focus on the members of the United States government, that is, the senators and congressmen since they are thoroughly responsible for anything that is viewed as fully beneficial or as utterly disastrous.

When such government officials run for office, they all share one thing in common. They all insist that they want to help the American people by making their life better. To this end, they promise to provide a better standard of living, adequate home facilities, improved health care system, and a more competitive educational system as to enable our students to become more productive in their work. Since the United States has emerged to become the greatest debtor on earth, the “balancing of the budget” soon became a political mantra.

It is a historical fact that when President Bill Clinton left office he left $800 million dollars surplus. On the other hand, when President George W. Bush left office he left $2 trillion dollars deficit. Over a period of merely eight years, Bush blew away the $800 million dollars surplus. Besides, he went even much further in expenditure by leaving to his successor President Barack Obama the stated $2 trillion dollars deficit! This was due to having waged two unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which were viewed as immoral and illegal.

The phenomenally bloated military budget in the USA has now gone out of control. This is due to the fact that at this stage of history, this American nation has emerged to become irreversibly the policeman of the world. As a result, this has forced the nation to build over 900 US foreign military bases some of which are costing billions of dollars monthly. To make things worse, US government officials took away countless billions of dollars from the American people’s Social Security Fund to spend it on weapons, military equipment and wars. As a result, the financial security of the Americans has now been fully jeopardized.

Disastrous Political Priorities

It is somewhat curious of how the minds of the US government officials function. The majority do not mind it at all to advocate drastic cuts from the vital needs of the people’s lives to “balance” the national budget. We may refer here to such items as indispensable health care needs, improved good education, and vital home facilities. However, the majority of the US government officials still refuse to make cuts from the bloated military budget. To turn an insult into injury, they even speak of increasing the military expenses indefinitely.

We may refer to those in the government that sincerely have their priorities mixed up as ignorant for all practical purposes. However, we may refer to those in the government that base their decision on what would be of greater financial benefit to big industries and corporations as malicious, as vicious and evil. Hence, with the exception of very few, we may begin to fully realize and understand with crystal clarity the corruption we have in the US government when it comes to the setting up of priorities in money expenditures.

We are all familiar with the traditional saying: history repeats itself! A careful study of the history of the past 6,000 years of recorded civilization enables us to find out that every super power that eventually collapsed and disappeared from the surface of the planet all happened through the collapse of the national economy which always came fast and smooth at a time least expected. The last witnessed example of this was revealed in the collapse of Soviet Union during the decade of the eighties.

The Soviet Union believed that in having a huge and strong military it could eventually, by the process of time, control the entire world. In one of my numerous visits to the Soviet Union I was told nicely by several Russians that they believed “world peace would eventually come when the whole world would become communist!” A few years later the Soviet Union collapsed and the era of communism was over. We were then left over with capitalism, which was determined then to dominate the whole world by all means.

American politicians then embarked upon the largest military build-up in history. Instead of providing the American people with a good health care system, with an excellent educational system, and adequate home facilities, they began to spend billions of dollars in building foreign military bases around the world, in manufacturing all kinds of devastating weapons, and in promoting as many conflicts and wars as possible. Slowly but surely, the nation’s economy began to weaken considerably. The two needless wars waged in Afghanistan and Iraq cost the United States $2 trillion dollars, which was a total waste!

Phenomenal Abuse of Corporations

Since in recent times the US Supreme Court declared that corporations are officially and legally to be viewed as people, the entire nation was plunged into a deep chaos. Corporations began to spend billions of dollars on the election of their own candidates, that is, those that would promote their products. The news media – radio, press, and television – would promote the candidacies of those that were ready to pay billions of dollars in advertisements. Thus, political abuse and corruption soon became rampant and went out of control.

Those in the government that tried to talk loud and clear about the abuse of the American political system were fully ignored by the US press, which was owned on the whole by big corporations. The traditional saying: power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, was fully vindicated to this very day. It did not take a long time for many Americans to begin to realize that their de facto greatest enemy is found in many members of the United States Congress whose primary concern was to remain in office indefinitely.

We need here to keep in mind that members of the US government quite often make the wrong decision for different reasons. One group consists of those who are sincerely trying to do their best, while making the wrong decisions in good faith. The other group consists of those who are making the wrong decision that is pleasing to corporations, even though they are fully aware that it is not in the best interest of the American people. While the first group reveals ignorance, the second group is characterized by malice.

The American people should view all US corporations who are in the business of weapons and war machineries as their number one vicious enemies. Many US government officials have developed the habit to tell Americans that such weapons and war ammunitions are needed for national security and self defense. This is a blatant lie because the security and defense they have in mind refers to the financial profits of US big corporations whose lethal products have destroyed many cities and massacred millions of innocent people.

Over the last few years, tens of thousands of young Americans have died, been injured or became deformed. In addition, hundreds committed suicide! To avoid the risk of Americans rising eventually against their government in protesting the US further involvement in wars, the US government is now spending billions of dollars to create a new army set up of programmed robots. As far as young Americans are concerned, they will surely expect less causality. However, as far as other nations are concerned, their cities will be equally destroyed and their people will continue to be brutally massacred.

Making People’s Welfare Top Priority

As far as the life of your friend is concerned, what difference does it make if such a friend is killed in an accident or happens to be killed by being targeted and shot while walking in the street? Your friend’s life is finished just the same! As far as the US Congress members are concerned, when it comes to vital needs it would not matter if such US senators and congressmen are viewed as ignorant or malicious. When their actions are not conducive to the good of all Americans, especially needy ones, they are bound to have negative and destructive results.

Let us bring to mind as often as needed the words of the saintly Pope John Paul II. He assured us during the decade of the eighties that world peace would eventually come only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century were gone. He singled them out to be communism and capitalism because both of them advance their causes through the exploitation of people. Communism is gone and we hope and pray to this saintly Pope to let us now witness the collapse of capitalism, the sooner the better.

We are all familiar with the saying that charity begins at home. When so many of our fellow citizens are suffering from a variety of social and health needs, our first obligation is to provide them with all needed help. As long as the United States continues to function under the ruthless thumb of capitalism, millions of Americans will continue to suffer from a variety of crucial problems that mostly relate to their health care, education, and social needs. In capitalism, people are not the end but merely a means to a further end.

The billions of dollars the US government spends in numerous countries under the guise of “national defense and security” amounts, in essence, to theft from the hungry, the poor and millions of helpless Americans. This tangible evidence was brought up by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell speech to the US Congress when he stated loud and clear: Remember that every dollar you spend on weapons and wars is a theft from the hungry and the poor. Unfortunately, he was fully ignored!

If we were to analyze carefully what US government officials mean in practice by national defense and security, they do not mean, in any way whatsoever, the national defense and security of the USA. Far from it! They mean by all means the national defense and security of the pockets of big American industries headed by the weapons and the military industrial complex. Their primary job is to sell the product of such industries fast and smooth. And the shortest cut to this end is to stir turmoil as to create conflicts and wars. As long as capitalism rules, conflicts and wars will remain indefinitely.

Bringing Corporations Under Control

The war industry is the only business in the world where money is made fast and smooth. This is often done with no accountability to anyone. There seems to be a mafia type of plot at a high governmental level where what really counts is the making of big money and not the saving of human lives. Former US official, General Colin Powell, who worked under President George W. Bush, was asked by the press: How many Iraqi civilians were killed? He was quick to say: We do not keep a count of that; we view that merely as collateral damage!

In capitalism, everything is run by big corporations for their exclusive financial benefit. Here is an example of a mafia type of plot that was never held accountable for the injustices and atrocities that were committed against innocent civilians, even though the American government is fully responsible. The war industries use the US military to invade a nation to destroy entire cities, massacre numerous innocent people, that would include mostly, women, children the elderly and the sick, and inflict a lot of suffering.

Then the US construction companies enter the same nation to re-build it from scratch. In the case of Iraq, the oil enterprises sneaked in to confiscate Iraqi oil to sell it later and make big money. It is obvious that such policies are criminal and should be condemned. To go back to where we started, all these crimes were committed with the consent of US government officials, who were either naïve and ignorant if they had good intentions, or malicious and vicious if they were aware that the actions taken were unjustified, immoral and illegal.

We may begin to see with crystal clarity that the USA is faced with many serious challenges. The members of the US Congress are torn asunder between helping either the American people who voted for them or the big corporations that financed their campaign. Although some are behind the people, the majority are behind the products of big corporations, which include weapons and all military equipment. The welfare of people is more important than that of corporations. When this is realized, all US problems are bound to disappear.

16/08/2012

Language of Politics in True Perspective

The New Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes language as “expression of thoughts by words or articulate sounds” and “aggregate of the words employed by any community for intercommunication.” St. Thomas Aquinas describes “words” as “signa ad placitum,” that is, signs to which we attribute any meaning we wish or prefer.

Same Sound but Different Meaning

This explains why when visiting countries around the world, we tend to hear people using words that carry the same sound with which we are familiar, but bearing an entirely different meaning. For example, the word “gift” in English means “present,” which has a connotation of appreciation and even respect. However, the same word “gift” in German, written and pronounced the same, means “poison,” which gives negative feelings since it is viewed as deadly.

To quote another example, the word “check” in English means that there is money involved. It is simply viewed as a financial element. However, the same word “check” in Korean, with an identical pronunciation, means “book.” That is why St. Thomas Aquinas stated that “verba sunt signa ad placitum,” that is, “words are sounds to which we attribute any meaning we wish or prefer.” If what has been stated is a tangible fact, then we need to learn something about the language of politics and bring it into true perspective.

The best way for us to understand the meaning and significance of words and expressions in the political sphere is through a simple analysis of the actions performed or involved. This will convince us what the exact meaning of the words and phrases used by politicians from various nations mean.

As we have already seen, politicians from various global areas may use the same identical words and phrases in terms of sound. However, the meaning behind that identical sound may be entirely different. As of now, we have already reached the threshold into the understanding of the language of politics.

Since political leaders have the power to save their own people or even to destroy them, let us get straight into the heart of the matter and explore some vital word or phrase that may tend to mislead millions of people unnecessarily. This is especially so since we know from history that quite often the “way to hell is paved with good intentions.” Since World War II ended in 1945, there has been numerous regional conflicts and wars across every continent. Theoretically, the political reaction to such struggles sounded very similar. Politicians everywhere have rarely hesitated, for example, to speak of “national defense and security.”

Evaluation of Political Expressions

Although the sound of such an expression sounds the same everywhere, but the real meaning behind such words is very different. We are not going here to provide possible reasons for such a diversity since that may end up showing a degree of subjectivity. We are simply going to provide tangible evidences and facts as to discover the real intent behind the language of politics that is of great crucial concern for all of us. At this stage of time, two of the leading recognized nations in the world seem to be the United States and China.

When we hear the respective government officials of these two nations talking, they tend to sound more or less the same. However, the meaning behind that identical sound we hear may be radically different. Let us start with China, which has a continuous history of civilization of some 6,000 years. Not too many may know that until the year 1911, China was always ruled by foreign invaders. Then about 100 years ago China for the first time in its history became fully independent, that is, a self governing nation.

When during World War II the Japanese invaded China, they killed tens of thousands of Chinese, mostly children, women, the elderly and the sick, as has been witnessed in Nanjing. The pictures taken of such phenomenal massacre are found now in a museum located in this same city. The government of China became adamantly determined that such a sad history will never be repeated again. At the same time, they view the Chinese people as the most important element of the nation.

To this end, the Chinese government made sure that the people of China will receive a very good education from the cradle to the grave and to be offered with a good health care system. They quickly began to improve the public transportation system making it more comfortable. In addition, they began to replace all slums with inexpensive adequate home facilities equipped with a good heating system and air conditioning. Also, the Chinese government began to build a strong military for “national defense and security.”

When china speaks of “national defense and security,” it simply means to have a well organized and develop military that is capable of defending all the boarders of China and to prevent any possible future invasion by any foreign nation on earth. At the same time, China believes that the best investment the government could make for the people is to provide them with all adequate facilities conceivable. This explains why China, in dealing with other nations around the world, tries to concentrate only on its economic growth and the economic growth of the countries around the world that it deals with.

Clear Contrast in View

 The product is always the same. Everything is geared toward the people’s health and their education everywhere. When the Chinese visit other nations, they try to help these nations with the vital necessities of life that may include food and medicine. All of this is done because for the Chinese government these are the best elements to make their respective nations strong and secure. There are never talks about weapons and military equipment. This explains why people everywhere tend to feel quite comfortable in dealing the China.

Let us now proceed with the United States whose politicians often talk of the need for a “strong national defense and security.” China views national defense and security as an “effective means to protect the country from future possible invasions.” However, the United States views national defense and security as “constant preparation for the waging of wars in virtually every global area.” To make this objective be achieved faster and at any moment, the United States has built some 900 military bases around the world, all equipped with the most sophisticated weapons imaginable.

 In addition, the United States has literally littered the oceans of the world with warships that carry airplanes ready to attack any nation at will. This policy of “national defense and security” was heavily criticized by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul who accused the United States of appointing itself as the policeman of the world. He also accused the United States that while this nation is constantly trying to wage one war after another around the world, especially in the Middle East area, it is neglecting its own people at home.

In all the wars that the United States was involved in since World War II was over, not one of them was needed at all. Yet, thousands of young Americans died and tens of thousands of innocent civilians were massacred. Among such needless and useless wars we had the one in Vietnam and Panama and most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq, among others of course. All we need to know to avoid frustrations is to have a clear understanding of the language of politics.

In view of what has been stated and based on the tangible evidence that was presented, we can fully understand that when China and the United States speak of “national defense and security” they do attribute to this phraseology an entirely different meaning, even though the sound is identical. For China, “national defense and security” means simply the “protection of the country from any possible invasion.” For the United States, “national defense and security” means merely the “preparation for the waging of never-ending wars around the world by using the most devastating weapons available.

Bringing the Truth into the Open

 That is the only reason why the United States has hundreds of military bases and hundreds of warship across every continent with some 2 million soldiers spread around the globe. This US policy is based on the fact that the United States, as capitalistic nation, wants to make sure its big industries, especially the weapons and the military ones, remain in business indefinitely, perpetually if possible. Unfortunately, many people around the world got the impression that for the United States the making of money is more important than the saving of human lives.

What is really ironic lies in the fact that these US governmental policies are very much opposed by the vast majority of the American people who made it clear, on more than one occasion that they do not want to see the United States getting involved into further wars ever. This has been vividly testified by the numerous protests and demonstrations the American people held periodically for quite a time now.

By way of principle, Americans should avoid working for the weapons and military industries. They should keep in mind that such material is meant to destroy the infrastructure of cities and lead to the massacre of numerous innocent people. Also, people of nations around the world where they have on their soil foreign military bases, should put constant pressure on their respective governments to have such military bases closed down, the sooner the better.

When it comes to choose between doing what is good and performing what is evil we should always choose the good courageously and fearlessly. This way we have everything to gain and nothing to lose. The US military budget has now become the albatross of the American economy, which has forced the nation into a $4 trillion dollars debt, as US Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has stated openly on more than one occasion. When we hear our politicians talk, let us not swallow what they say blindly but let us evaluate their statements within the context of the realities we face.

March 7, 2012

Real Source of Major World Problems

When people face a problem there are generally two ways that may be adopted to hopefully reach a successful outcome. One of these ways will enable us to solve the problem we face on a permanent basis, that is, in a way that such a problem will not likely to ever surface again. The other way, which seems to have been quite dominant in history to this very day, will enable us to bring the problem under control in a number of ways but never on a permanent basis.

Two Distinct Approaches

In order to comprehend the nature of these two approaches to the solution of a problem we come across, it would be better to start with the illustration of an example. Let us imagine there is a nice hall in town, which people tend to use every now and then to hold some special event. Just a few days before the event, some committee members visit this hall to make sure everything is in order and under control. They soon discover that there has been some water on the floor and the furniture was not in place.

Needless to say, they proceed to dry the water away and put the furniture in order after which they return home satisfied looking anxiously forward for the projected event. The day before, they double-check the hall again and they find everything was in perfect order the way they had arranged it. However, they do discover some water scattered here and there on the floor. Of course, without hesitation they dried it up and everything was ready to go. In fact, the following day the event went smoothly and every participant was fully satisfied.

This was one way of solving the problem on the spare of the moment. Unfortunately, this has been the dominant approach adopted throughout the centuries when quite a number of people were faced with a problem. They use methods that would solve the problem fast and smooth visibly on the surface for the specified time that was needed. In fact, other groups in the past that needed to use this same hall did experience the same problem and they all tended to adopt the same approach for a solution.

The stated solution of the problem involved was based on an approach that would enable us to overcome the obstacle of water on the floor simply by wiping it out properly and effectively. If the problem we face anywhere in the world keeps on being repeated that would mean that we have to get to the source that causes such an involved problem to take place over and over again. Our first step is to think and meditate while raising to ourselves seriously the question: Where did such water come from in the first place? Was there any leak somewhere, like from a pipe or even the roof?

Getting to the Source

If, say, we find out the leak was in the roof, then we need to go on the top of the roof and cement the crack or small hole from where the water was coming.

Once we block the very source of the problem, we may feel virtually certain that such a problem of finding water on the floor of the involved hall will not likely ever to be repeated again. This would be the best and most effective way to solve a problem on a permanent basis, no matter how long it may take us. As we may fully realize, our world is literally saturated with serious problems.

There is surely one thing that all people from every walk of life and profession have strongly in common. No one would like to be confronted with problems of any kind whatsoever. Problems tend to create tension which may lead to high blood pressure. They tend to make us lose our inner joy and the full power of concentration when we are in the process of doing something that is especially positive and constructive. Besides, problems in general tend to be a nuisance, something that is generally undesirable.

Some 2,500 years ago, Greek philosopher Socrates underlined the fact that we are capable of solving any problem in life we come across provided, he added, we take seriously the first step. What is the first step? He said this would be to bring the problem into the open for everyone to see because, he continued, unless people are aware of the existence of a problem they will do nothing to bring it under control. History has shown that when people become aware of a serious problem, they would do anything to solve it fearlessly.

However, he stressed, once the people become aware of the existence of a problem, they will immediately begin to figure out how such problem may eventually affect them. And once they see that with clarity action is immediately taken and the problem is solved. Since then, Socrates has been fully vindicated century after century with no exceptions whatsoever. It is good that we talk about problems and try to discuss them the best we can. Yet, if we do not take positive and constructive actions nothing should be expected to happen.

If we were to visit every single major country in the world we would soon discover that people share similar problems, regardless of their background, nationality, cultural heritage, philosophical orientation and religious profession. And if we were to go to the very source of all major problems we would quickly see with crystal clarity that, on the whole, their respective government emerges to become the real source of all their headaches. This reason is very simple and fully clear. While the job of the government is to serve the people, in practice such a government makes it a point to boss the people around.

Violence Replacing Diplomacy

This governmental approach has been the source of enormous suffering that has resulted in so many people being poor and homeless as well as being deprived of adequate health care, if any at all. Besides, people are deprived ruthlessly from most of their sacrosanct human rights, which includes free education from the cradle to the grave. A government that provides such an element to its own people is enabling its nation to be fully developed as to become highly constructive in all national endeavors.

People of all nations do not want their government to resort to wars to solve human differences. Yet, as we have witnessed in history, the people are fully ignored and wars are waged that always end up with tragic consequences. This means people are forced to experience unnecessarily that in a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner. Today we have reached a point in history where conventional wars do not make sense any longer. It has been predicted that World War II might have been the last conventional war in human history.

We all remember the so called 9/11 attack on New York and Washington, DC in 2001. The attackers did not represent any government. They consisted merely of 19 young men, mostly from Saudi Arabia, whose only major war equipment they carried consisted mostly of a few knives. These are described as terrorists who do not carry any badge or identification. On the other hand, the USA, which was trained in conventional wars, invaded Afghanistan and demolished the structure of cities while killing thousands of innocent people.

As though this was not enough, the USA invaded Iraq under false pretences where tens of thousands of innocent people were massacred, in addition to causing some 2 million refugees, while creating thousands of orphans. Nowadays the real enemy consists merely of a handsome of young individuals who want to take matters in hand since they feel their respective government is eventually corrupt and cannot do things right for the people. The best way to deal with future enemies of this type is through education.

Let us here bring to our mind the preamble of UNESCO, which states: Since wars being in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. Of course, we cannot expect to solve the manifold problems we face overnight. We have to educate a new generation that views the entire world as its “native-land,” as Roman philosopher Seneca advocated in the first century. In fact he insisted saying: We will have a permanent world peace when we educate all of our children to look at the world and say: ‘Omnis orbs terrarium patria mea est – the whole world is my native land.’

Importance of Global Community

Since Seneca made such a statement, 2,000 years have passed and there has never been a sizeable period of world peace. All of these 20 centuries that passed since then have been characterized by struggles and wars that inflicted suffering and death on several millions of innocent people. Confronted with this reality we should not be discouraged. We still have a chance, an opportunity to turn things around fast and smooth to the best we can. Recent events across the USA and other countries have been a gigantic step in the right direction.

We are referring here to the “occupy” peaceful protests where highly concerned citizens demonstrate in front of governmental buildings as well as in squares and parks. People want to show that the time for continued suppression of their sacrosanct human rights is over. If we were to make a careful study of the human rights in virtually every major country we would soon discover that there is hardly one nation in the world that literally respects human rights, not just on the surface by words but especially in practice as evidenced in actions.

Ironically, the United States is perhaps the most vocal country in the world that condemns violations of human rights as they occur from time to time. This is good and quite encouraging. The only tragedy we witness here lies in the fact that in its own territory, the USA does not practice what it preaches to others. For example, the USA was quick to condemn the brutal ways that were used recently in such countries as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria against young people who protested peacefully the tyranny they have experienced for years.

When recently American young men and women demonstrated in New York and other cities to protest the way the poor and the middle class were exploited by US corporations, hundreds of police dressed with helmets and full military equipment went to confront these peaceful demonstrators. They went like they were soldiers going after their enemies to destroy them if that were needed. In fact, they hand-cuffed and arrested several of them without mercy. They also sprayed pepper on them that some of them could hardly see.

When students in California gathered peacefully to protest the exorbitant fees increase of their university that would make it literally impossible to finish their studies, hundreds of police went to confront them dressed in helmets like they constituted a part of the military. These police, directed by local government officials, used violence against these innocent and harmless students that injured quite a number of them. These American police were no more or less brutal than the police in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria in addition to a few other countries that we witnessed in recent times.

Safeguard of Human Rights

While the US government condemns the brutalities of police against peaceful demonstrators in other countries, it condones and even instigates such police brutalities against peaceful demonstrators in its own territory. The sole purpose of the United States to have hundreds of military bases around the world is not to bring freedom and democracy to other nations. All these elements serve merely as instruments for the USA to police the whole world and to control it in any way possible.

As stated earlier, the job of the government is to serve the people and not to boss them around. To this end, the government must listen periodically to what the people have to say especially relative to their imminent vital needs. One of the best documents on human rights is the United Nations Charter on Human Rights. In spite of this, there is hardly any country that observes fully well this well-written and inspired charter. Let us quote a few examples for us to realize what has been stated with great clarity.

In accordance with this UN document, all human beings have a sacrosanct right to move around freely anywhere they wish in the world. Yet, a number of governments, the USA included, prevent their people from visiting a number of countries. For example, Americans are not allowed to visit Cuba, their peaceful neighbor and quite a few other countries. By way of contrast, Canadians are not prohibited by their government to visit any nation of their choice. Needless to say, when people travel they need to have some kind of identification.

The most common identification that has been used for centuries is known as the passport. In spite of this, for many countries, a valid passport is not enough. Unless they issue you with the so called “visa” you are not free to visit your chosen nation even if you have many friends there. If this were a matter of routine or a means of making an extra income, since one has to pay a fee to secure the visa, then perhaps we may close our eyes. But in a number of instances, the visa is mysteriously denied.

We are especially referring to the refusal of issuing a visa to teachers whose sole purpose to travel is to participate in an international academic conference or even a global peace convention. These are all governmental blatant violations of human rights. It would be appropriate if we were to make serious studies relative to what motivates governments to violate constantly and systematically the human rights of so many people in general. Among possible reasons we may enlist ignorance, indifference, paranoia, irresponsibility, prejudice, stubbornness, machismo, stupidity and abuse, in addition to others.

Eventual Control of World Problems

The tremendous violations of human rights we witness periodically in the world at large are too many to enumerate. However, it would be appropriate if we were to study the violations of human rights in every single country while trying to pin point with clarity their very source so that we may go after it and block it for good. Since power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, we cannot have the same people in government for the rest of their lives. We have to devise a plan to have people in government for only a fixed time.

This is important because even if those in government happen to be good people initially, they will eventually, sooner or later, begin to demonstrate the symptoms of eventual corruption as time rolls on. Let us also keep in mind what Blessed Pope John Paul II said in Mexico during the decade of the eighties when asked as to whether he thought world peace was possible. He said: Yes but only after two great evils of the 20th century are gone: communism and capitalism, because they both advance their causes through the exploitation of people.

Some leading political scientists tell us that if we were to eliminate all of the evil of communism and capitalism and try to preserve anything good we may possibly find in these two systems, we may hopefully create a viable and desirable government for all people to have and to cherish. This would involve the election of all governmental officials where the news media will bring systematic news about all those running for office free-of-charge. This would also involve that all people will have free health care and free education for life.

After all, the people are the backbone of the nation. If they are healthy and well educated we will surely have a strong nation. If people are unhealthy and barely educated then we will have a weak nation. This type of government may be referred to by a number of names including such names as social democracy or democratic socialism. This will certainly bring to an end the monopoly that that big corporations have on government officials whose job nowadays ceased to serve the people but to boss them around.

08/12/2011

Peace Education: Source of National Unity and Global Harmony

The Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes peace as a “state of tranquility; freedom from war; cessation of hostilities; and harmony.” In a peaceful community, we notice a great serenity radiating in the hearts of its members. Genuine peace emanates from the inside. It is implanted in the mind and heart of every human being from the moment of birth. Our job is to pull this element out from the inside as to share it with others.

Educational Process in Perspective

Considering that the world is confronted with a multitude of problems, the development and preservation of peace requires an educational process that is meant to enrich our lives. This would enable us to use our human potential more effectively as to become a part of a harmonious global community. The source of happiness in life is harmony. The car we drive moves smoothly if the four tires have an equal amount of air. If not, we may not have a pleasant trip.

Peace education consists in enabling people to lead a happy life through the development of their human resources for constructive purposes. The traditional saying has been: “Make someone happy and you will be happy too.” The development and achievement of peace and harmony creates for us a win-win situation. That means everyone is a winner and no one a loser. A careful study of history demonstrates that in struggles and wars everyone is a loser and no one a winner. These negative elements always lead to lose-lose situation.

We all recall the outcome of World War II. The Germans lost the war and their economy collapsed and people were poor everywhere. Most of their houses were destroyed as well as most of their medical and school facilities. On the other hand, the British won the war and their economy equally collapsed and people were poor everywhere. Not only so, but in spite of winning the war, the British Empire disintegrated and collapsed!

When the various members of our body are in good shape, they all work together in harmony and we do feel comfortable and healthy as a result. When one or more of such members ceases to be in good shape, then we develop what may be termed to be a health problem of some kind. This may lead to a lot of inconvenience, especially if we start feeling pain of one kind or another. When the people of a nation work together toward the achievement of a common goal, we notice dedication and cooperation, which soon bring about harmony.

On Creating our Own Destiny

We are all familiar with the traditional saying: What goes around comes around. When we provide others with benefits of any kind, soon we will find ourselves surrounded with plenty of blessings, even much more than expected. If we were to analyze carefully all human conflicts that developed over the past 6,000 years of recorded history, we would soon discover that, quite often, the source of such problems could always be traced to some governmental sources. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many took a sigh of relief. They believed world peace was just around the corner.

In fact, many talked of the so called “peace dividend,” little they knew that the weapons industry and the military industrial complex were determined not go out of business. Hence, mafia type of groups spread all over the world to create conflicts without limit, most of which resulted in civil wars. This, they firmly believed, would justify the continued manufacture and sales of endless weapons. Some members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have attested to this in books they wrote after they decided to leave it.

The US military would intervene in any country where the natives elected democratically a government that was not pleasing to the USA. To quote one instance, when the people of Chile elected Salvatore Allende, who promised the people free health care and free education to all citizens along with adequate residential facilities for the homeless, the USA labeled him as a socialist and vouched that he should go. And we know the rest of the story. The CIA intervened afterwards and had him killed!

We have witnessed here that for the USA, peace consists of its imposition on other countries in a way that US big business is enabled to confiscate good resources, even to the detriment of the native population. This explains why the saintly Pope John Paul II said in Mexico during the decade of the eighties: “World peace is possible and it will eventually come but only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone – communism and capitalism, because they both achieve their objectives through the exploitation of people.”

Peace Education provides us with the solution of all problems that stem mostly from political corruption. This explains the well know saying: “Money talks,” which explains the story of briberies that take place behind closed doors. We can never have national unity if our politicians continue to promote the welfare of some to the exclusion of that of others. This explains why in the sphere of character and personality we are literally creating monsters that prove to be so brutal and vicious. Our secret of success lies in our faith in righteousness and in our hope that the good we genuinely seek will eventually triumph.

Importance of Global Harmony

All people of all nations are like the various part of our body. When every single part of our body works in cooperation with the other members of the body, everything moves smoothly. We enjoy life and all those around us are bound to benefit. However, when segments of our body become sick, cease to work constructively together, then we experience the creation of surmountable problems. This explains why obstacles created in our global community may go out of control in a way that may lead to surmountable suffering unnecessarily.

Speaking on the art of happiness, some ascetical writers tell us that it does not take us much to achieve joy in our heart. If we treat others well, we will be treated likewise to our eventual joy. This is what global harmony is all about. We need to help others to the best of our ability in order to lead a life of perfect fulfillment. The focus of peace education should always be on making all people, from every walk of life and profession working together harmoniously.

One Canadian Jesuit priest once exhorted his students saying: “When you pray keep in mind that everything depends on God; without Him you are incapable of doing anything. However, when then you leave the scene of prayer and go to work, keep in mind that everything depends on you; without you the Almighty God feels powerless and cannot achieve anything unless you make constructive contributions to the best you can in your life’s mission.” In recent decades the tendency among some of the leading governments has been to prepare for war as a means to achieve peace!

This philosophy constitutes a contradiction since war always consists of violence. We do know that violence breeds violence and more violence breeds more violence. Wars do not have anything constructive to offer. They are always meant to really destroy the infrastructure of cities and kill millions of people mercilessly most of whom are women, children the elderly and the sick. The major focus of peace education should always be love and service to all people without exception. This will bring us to national unity and global harmony.

Charles Mercieca,
8 june 2011

Beyond Global Crisis: Reflections by Terrence Edward Paupp

One of our greatest academic leaders is Terrence Edward Paupp, former US National Chancellor of the International Association of Educators for World Peace. He is now the Vice President of North America. Since 2005 he wrote quite a few articles and books to reach many people working together on issues related to global peace. He wrote four major books, the last one being Beyond Global Crisis: Remedies and Roadmaps by Daisaku Ikeda and his Contemporaries.

World Peace in Perspective

Daisaku Ikeda, who is a prolific writer, is currently head of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. His well-known peace philosophy has attracted numerous followers who are now scattered across the world. For Ikeda, the first gigantic step toward the creation of a global civilization starts with our transformed inner self that enables us to seek for the solution of all problems through healthy dialogues.

When we consider that millions around the world share already this same vision, we should feel encouraged because that means we do still have hope. An examination is made in this regard of all major events that developed in our earthly community since World War II ended in 1945. What kind of lessons did we learn over the past 65 years? Many books were written to this end and they all demonstrate, like Pope Pius XII said to Great Britain and Germany on the eve of World War II, that “in a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner.”

Paupp’s current book speaks on virtually every single conflict that emerged, while demonstrating the lack of wisdom and serious consequences that developed from every war that took place since 1945. Some of the leading nations, headed by the United States, have embarked on a continuous military build-up while they have developed devastating weapons that are meant to lead eventually the entire world into Armageddon.

In the initial part of this book under discussion, Paupp concentrates on Ikeda’s vision for the realization of global civilization. This noble dream will eventually materialize after we start viewing each other as members of one big family living in the same planetary environment. Ikeda was born and raised in Buddhism, a religion that teaches detachment from the material things of this world. This means that we should elevate our spirit to a higher level of existence where our character and personality become our distinctive characteristics.

Culture of War in Operation

If we were to give a rapid glance over the history of the last 6,000 years of civilization we would discover that the nations of the world as a whole were characterized by violence. In other words, we are born and raised in a culture of war. In spite of this, people in general are literally sick of wars. They just want to live at peace, the only true element that gives them genuine security. They really yearn to see the very concept of war completely obliterated. With this in mind, former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his farewell speech to the US Congress, he said very emphatically:

“Remember that all people of all nations really want peace, only their government wants war.” And then he added saying: “Remember also that every dollar you spend on weapons and wars is a theft from the hungry and the poor.”

Unfortunately, since the United States seems to be thoroughly addicted to war, these inspiring words of such a highly concerned US President have been ignored to this very day. However, we should never give up hope. Ascetical writers tell us that the greatest mistake we can make is to give up hope.

If we continue to do our best to create a peaceful world, at a time least expected God will intervene and will finish the job for us very successfully. We need to analyze problems we encounter carefully and then raise questions fearlessly. For example, the United States revealed to be very sensitive when the Soviet Union put missiles in Cuba, located a few miles away from the USA. At the same time, this same world power revealed no sensitivity at all for Russia when it put missiles in Poland, a few miles away from the Russian border.

Also, the USA revealed no sensitivity at all toward Venezuela when it put missiles in Colombia, a few miles away from the Venezuelan border. Peace can never be achieved through threats, under no circumstance whatsoever. Today, more than ever, the world has become increasingly interdependent. We all became to each other like the various parts of our body. The legs carry us from one place to another. The hands secure for us nourishing things to eat. The heart keeps our blood circulating, and so on and so forth.

One of the best documents ever provided to our earthly community is the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. In spite of the fact that this document was signed by every single nation on earth, there seems to be not one country anywhere that observes of all the enlisted rights. This explains why the entire world is saturated with so many problems. Daisaku Ikeda wanted to do something constructive in this regard, as revealed in his writings. This was the challenge that Terrence Edward Paupp felt he should take, namely, to bring to our attention the inspiration and wisdom of this Japanese man of vision.

Turning a Crisis into a Good Opportunity

One of Ikeda’s secret is revealed in his ability to turn a crisis into a good opportunity. Out of the nuclear devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in World War II, Ikeda moved forward to make sure this tragic event would never be repeated again anywhere in the world. In order for us to develop world peace through harmony we must, in the first place, establish global justice. All humans share the same identical nature and the same identical needs. Hence, they all have a right to be protected from any harm whatsoever.

In the educational process of our schools, we should clearly understand the mind-set of people everywhere both collectively and individually. That’s where our real challenge is in our effort to foster peace through global harmony on a permanent basis. The strength of people cannot be measured in terms of weapons and military equipment. It can only be measured through a total understanding of their character and personality. This would be our first gigantic step to move from the culture of violence to the culture of peace.

History taught us that a nation that tries to control others does so because of imperialistic tendencies that seem to have gone beyond control. Today the United States has emerged to become the sole world power, as revealed in its hundreds of military bases spread across the world. As a capitalistic nation, the United States is controlled by big corporations which finance the election of all major political figures. This explains why the US government often takes actions in favor of big industries, even when they are detrimental to the people.

Under President John F. Kennedy, the United States was really seeking ways to bring about a genuine world peace where everyone would be winner and no one a loser. This was viewed by scholars everywhere as a “win-win” situation. His brother, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy worked hard to help create a new global order that was characterized by genuine peace. Very sadly, both of them were killed by evil forces. Since that time, every US President relied heavily on weapons and wars supposedly to bring about peace!

If we were to study of the history of religions that developed over the past 6,000 years of recorded civilization, we would discover that Buddhism hardly ever resorted to violence to solve human conflicts. This may be due to the fact that this religion advocates detachment from the material things of this world. Hence, greed, which often leads to struggles and conflicts, is conspicuously absent. Ikeda, in his quest for world peace has often resorted to the effective peaceful teachings of such a religion, which was initiated by Lord Buddha.

Importance of Courage and Perseverance

Courage to do what needs to be done in the best interest of all people without exception, along with a determination to persevere in this effort, remains the best option to replace hatred with love, selfishness with generosity, and violence with harmony. The difference between good and bad politicians lies here. The good ones concentrate on what people have in common and utilize this medium to solve differences and develop mutual respect. This approach instills trust. The bad ones tend to concentrate on what people do not have in common and view this as a threat and an excuse to promote struggles and wars.

The culture of pluralism is a reality which we cannot deny. We need all to learn about our respective cultures and proceed to respect them. Before we know it we will be on the way of establishing global harmony. Non-interference in the internal affairs of others remains a sine qua non condition to go beyond the global crises we have been facing over so many years. Needless to say, regardless of the form of government a nation may choose, it remains a fact that respect for human rights remains indispensable.

In spite of its handicaps, the United Nations remains the single entity in the world capable to bringing about harmony and peace. We need always to support it and to help improving it. This could be relatively easy if we were to replace pride with humility, egoism with altruism, dominance with service. Speaking of world peace 42 A.D., Roman philosopher Seneca said: “We will have world peace after we educate our children to look at the whole world and say: Omnis orbs terrarium, patria mea est – The whole world is my country.”

For the past 2,000 years we have never tried to implement seriously in our schools everywhere this philosophy. And we know the rest of the story. We have never succeeded to bring about a genuine world peace that is characterized by harmony. The rich of the world should do something that was done in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, namely, to voluntarily give most of their wealth to the poor. Such wealth could be used to provide land with built housing facilities and with good ground where people could plant their own food.

Daisaku Ikeda firmly believes that there are three gigantic steps that need to be taken to hasten the achievement of a world-wide peace. These are nuclear disarmament, improved and reformed United Nations, and the strengthening of an international criminal court. Once these three elements are achieved world peace prospects should appear on the horizon. In view of this we need to keep in mind that violence breeds violence and more violence breeds more violence. The military by, its very nature, exists to wage wars and to control people by fear.

Creating a New Mind-Set

Relative to disarmament we may raise the following question to ourselves: If a group of 5,000 people are in an auditorium watching a stage show, what makes each one of them feel more secure, if they all carry loaded guns or if none of them carry no guns at all? Those nations that continue to arm other nations are guaranteeing the perpetual promotion of struggles and wars with all the tragic consequences. Disarmament should be taken seriously and put into operation, the sooner the better. This would create for all nations a win-win situation.

When the United Nations was established in 1945, it started on the right track. It was meant to prevent the possibility of a future World War III which would be more devastating, since this would be very likely a nuclear one. In the process, a number of world leaders began to become corrupted ending up doing more what benefitted them personally than what would have benefited their own people. The United Nations Security Council consisting of five permanent members in addition to others that rotate every two years became a problem.

Over the last 60 years we always had one of more of these five permanent members exercising their right to veto anything that is not conducive to their liking. These five permanent members, above all the USA, always tended to keep the entire United Nations as hostage. Hence, they weakened this body of nations conspicuously, which explains why so many problems in the world, that could have been solved long time ago, are still among us. The veto power should be eliminated and all nations should be treated decently on the same level.

The International Court of Justice needs to be strengthened in a way that all those in the world that violate seriously human rights should be held fully accountable. Some nations, especially the USA, follow the directives of the International Court of Justice only if they agree. No one in this world should be exempt from the commission of crimes. The UN Charter on Human Rights remains the best charter ever written to safeguard the dignity of human beings.

Ironically, there seems to be not one country in the world that observes fully the content of this providential charter.

It is a fact that human beings are the most important elements in the entire planet. Things are bound to improve and move forward in proportion to the kind of health people enjoy, the kind of education people acquire, and the kind of living facilities they have. These are viewed as vital and indispensable elements and every government has a sacrosanct obligation to see to it that people are provided with these necessities of life. A government cannot abandon these responsibilities by passing them to what is termed to be the private sector.

Environmental Protection

Since all people need clean air to breathe and pure water to drink, a government has the obligation not to allow any industry abuse these two vital elements be tampered with. When a nation has very rich people and very poor ones, there must be something wrong going on in managerial government. When US politicians advocate saying: “Let’s get the government off the back of the people,” we have to explore in what way and under what circumstances. In personal private affairs, the answer would be yes.

However, when it comes to health, education and residential facilities the answer would be no. In these three vital areas, the private sector, especially in a capitalistic society, would serve to literally exploit the people by fleecing them out of all the money they could. It explains why the priority of big corporation is always to find ways in how to control the government of any kind with iron fist.

In the USA, for example, the weapons industry and the military industrial complex have emerged as a very lucrative business.

In this regard, we may understand and fully realize why the USA, in the midst of its financial crises, it tries to cut systematically money from the vital needs of the people, like health care, education and residential equipment. At the same time, the US government continues to waste billions of dollars on a daily basis on foreign military bases as well as on more struggles and wars around the world. This trend has forced tens of millions of people around the world to view the USA as dangerous, as a real enemy.

In our earthly community we do have both good and bad governments. Such governments are judged not by what the heads of state say, but rather by what they eventually do. When the vast majority of the national budget is invested on the vital needs of the people, such as health, education and homes, then we know there is a good government. But when top priority of the national budget is put on weapons and military equipment, then we know the people of such a nation must be faced with exorbitant problems. They are bound to suffer from every aspect one can imagine, like today with the US people in general.

Here are Paupp’s major four books that may be secured from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The four articles that follow are secured from tpaupp@aol.com

Achieving Inclusionary Governance: Advancing Peace and Development in First and Third World Nations, Transnational Publishers, New York, 2000

Exodus from Empire: The Fall of America’s Empire and the Rise of the Global Community, Pluto Press, London, 2007

The Future of Global Relations: Crumbling Walls, Rising Regions, Palgrave-Macmillan, New York, 2009

Beyond Global Crisis: Remedies and Roadmaps by Daisaku Ikeda and his Contemporaries, Palgrave-Macmillan, New York, 2011

The Revolutionary Core of Liberation Theology: The Union of Faith and Ideology in the Works of Hugo Assmann and Juan Luis Suguendo.

Between Arrows and the Olive Branch: The Tortured Path of War Powers Resolution in the Reagan Years.

As Legacy, As Vision: Charting the Implications of Urban-Race-Poverty Nexus in the Thought of Robert F. Kennedy.

The Nuclear Crucible: The Moral and International Law Implications of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Of course, since this latest book of Terrence Edward Paupp, Beyond Global Crises is based on some of the leading publications of Daisaku Ikeda, it would be appropriate for those interested in global issues to read some of his books. One leading concern of Ikeda in bringing about a permanent world peace lies in his struggle to restructure international politics. In this venture, many scholars have demonstrated their full support.

For Ikeda the basic values of all people may be enlisted as humanity, reciprocity, and respect for life, non-violence, equality, solidarity, justice, tolerance, truthfulness, and partnership. All people need to view themselves the way they are, that is, members of one same global community. When one single individual hurts, the whole world, sooner or later is bound to share in this pain. Each time we perform beneficial actions, numerous others will definitely benefit as a result. So, by doing good we always end up to be a win-win situation.

To bring about a permanent world peace we must change the purpose of the military, from an element of destruction to one of construction. Military bases need to pass into the hands of humanitarian groups. Warships should become floating hospitals for remote nations to alleviate their pain and suffering. World peace is a reality that we can achieve. There have already been many pioneers in this area. We need to continue their work to achieve our noble goal: world peace.

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
18/04/11

Ethics in Business Education

If we were to give a rapid glance at the last 6,000 years of recorded history, we would soon discover that most problems in the world stem from the government. Needless to say, the source of such problems may vary from one country to another. The most common one could be easily traced to questionable behavior in business transactions. This is due to power-abuse in the deliberate exploitation of people. We need to keep in mind here that the end does not necessarily justify the means. In other words, we cannot succeed in life through fraud and manipulation.

Integrity of Character

We are all familiar with such traditional sayings as: (a) honesty is the best policy, (b) the art of living is the art of giving, and (c) you reap what you plant. In all of our business dealings, integrity of character becomes an indispensable element in human relations. In this regard, egoism needs to be replaced by altruism, hatred by love, arrogance by modesty, pride by humility and anger by patience. Above all, trust must become a vital element, which is indispensable for the achievement of our common goals and objectives.

Such evidenced virtues were the source of power and strength of some of the major religious leaders in the world from Confucius down to Jesus of Nazareth all the way to Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II and the list goes on and on. The presence of these deeply spiritual individuals made a difference. Because of them we have today a better world in spite of the manifold problems it still faces. Doing to others what we would like others to do to us, remains the way to go by all means and with no exceptions whatsoever.

Ethics deals with morality, that is, with human behavior. It is something that can be taught in schools at all levels of education through the development of virtues that would enable one`s character and personality to be pleasant, positive and constructive. When we feel at ease with those around us we are more likely to perform better. In this regard, we become visibly more successful to the satisfaction of everyone involved and concerned. Let us keep in mind that we live in the kind of world that we create by our actions. In other words, we reap what we plant, nothing less and nothing more.

A former president of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor once made the following remark: “What are our universities doing? Some of the most sophisticated crimes in the nation are committed by former students of ours who graduated with flying colors, summa cum laude!” This remark was based on the fact that while our institutions of learning provide our students with knowledge, they fail to provide them with the responsibility to use such acquired knowledge in a positive and constructive manner. This means the present academic approach needs a lot of improvement.

Setting Good Example

Instructors in the schools of business have to keep in mind that their first duty is to set a good example for their students. They cannot exhort students to be honest in their business transactions while they themselves practice dishonesty through manipulation and fraud. A careful study of quite a few big corporations vindicates precisely what is being stated over here. For example, the weapons industry has emerged to become a very lucrative business. This is revealed in the fact that such an industry is ready to sell its lethal product to anyone that gives the right price.

It makes no difference if those who want to purchase such disastrous product happen to be friends or enemies. It really does not matter for the weapons industry if those to whom they sell weapons would decide to use them afterwards for defensive or offensive purposes. The primary purpose of such an industry is not to create a safer world, as it proclaims, but to make plenty of money and to make it fast, even if the world were to be literally annihilated as a result. This demonstrates clearly that those in the management of such an industry do not have any sense of responsibility due perhaps to lack of ethical knowledge in their business education.

Let us keep in mind that people are more important than money. In fact, if we were to have a world with people but with no money, everything would still move forward. People may still grow their food and build adequate houses where they can live. They may still get a good education as to develop better knowledge in the way they could make their life more beneficial and constructive. However, if we were to have all the money in the world with no people, all such money may be viewed merely as toilet paper that is totally worthless for all practical purposes.

When during the decade of the eighties Pope John Paul II was asked in Mexico as to whether he thought world peace was possible, he stated the following: “Yes, world peace is possible but only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone.” After a brief pause he added saying: “These two great evils are communism and capitalism because they both advance their cause through the exploitation of people.” Three years later communism collapsed and the world took a sigh of relief, thinking that now money would be spent for only constructive purposes.

Instead of having capitalism taking the lead to solve all vital human problems as to bring about permanent world peace, it embarked upon the largest military build-up in history. The weapons industry was adamantly determined not to go out of business. So, numerous weapons were furnished in countries with inner conflicts that led to civil wars, like we had with the case of Uganda, to mention one instant. This demonstrates clearly that the very concept of ethics in the business education of those involved in the transaction of such lethal products was conspicuously absent. The harm we are inflicting in the world at large is beginning to get out of control.

Our Moral Obligations

We are all familiar with the saying: “Better late than never.” We can still take the initiative to take over where the schools left off. This means we need to bring into the open the concept of business ethics as to have it implemented by all means available at our disposal. Anything we do in life, which is geared toward violating the divine positive law and the natural law, should be strongly opposed through all the peaceful means we have at our disposal. Such violations are revealed in the destruction of human lives and the annihilation of the infrastructure of cities.

Let us keep in mind the saying: “When there is a will there is a way.” When we deal with business education we are not merely dealing with that kind of education that students normally are expected to get in schools. We are dealing with all those sources that have the potential to covey principles of good ethics in business transactions of any kind. Hence, if we feel we are well versed in ethics then we should feel the obligation to provide guidelines when needed. We also should make it a point to bring into the open all moral abuses that are being taken for granted.

Hence, ethics in business education is to be taken in a broad sense. Just because the school from which we graduated did not offer a good program in business ethics, it does not mean that we are free to do anything that crosses our mind as long as that would lead to the eventual achievement of our goals and objectives. It’s better to make, say, $100,000 a year with honesty than $10 million a year with dishonesty. The first case will provide us with a good conscience and feeling of happiness while the second case will instill in us a bad conscience and a feeling of remorse and eventual unhappiness.

Happiness is something that comes from the inside of our being and it generally stems from the good and beneficial actions we perform. In essence, it is not linked with the material things of this world. This explains why we have so many people that have hardly the basic necessities of life and they are happy, while we have many people who are rich but feel rather desperate to the point, in a number of instances, of committing suicide. It explains why we had great people in history who were rich and gave everything they had to the poor to lead a very simplistic life.

The history of the world may be described as the history of human actions. When such actions are beneficial everyone ends up a winner. But when such actions are disastrous everyone ends up a loser. People are entitled to help even if they were to refuse it. At least we should do our best to give them the inspiration they need as to perform constructive actions that are beneficial not only to themselves but also to people elsewhere as well. The concept of ethics is not restricted to one person or to one group but to all people without exception.

Making Constructive Judgments

To this end, we should develop a strategy to convince those who work for the manufacture of lethal products to quit their jobs and to work, instead, for companies that produce beneficial products. Our job is merely to enlighten them to see things into true perspective before they may possibly have any regrets. When we speak of lethal products we are talking of a variety of items that would include water and air pollution that over the years have inflicted millions of people with cancer of some sort and led many of them to their grave at a faster pace than anticipated.

At this stage of history there seems to be a dire need to reform the teaching­/learning process as to make it more meaningful and beneficial. Rather than teaching a subject area as an end in itself, instructors should teach their respective subject areas as a means to a further end. This would be revealed in the students’ ability to use anything learned in school for positive and constructive purposes. One of the best contributions we can possibly make to our earthly community is to provide every human being with the ability to develop one’s potential to the maximum.

At the same time, we need to help all human beings to use the maximum of their potential to contribute toward the creation of a better and safer world. We need to bring into the open the viciousness of the Machiavellian dictum: “The end justifies the means.” By the way, this dictum has become the law of the mafia who try to get what they want even if they were to have a number of innocent people killed. Since everything we do in life may be viewed as business, including teaching, the concept of good ethics needs to be taught in every subject area.

Let us illustrate this by a couple of examples. Suppose we are assigned to teach history. It is not enough for the teacher to teach accurate historical facts. The teacher needs to go a step further and discuss with the students what could be done that we may avoid in the future the repetition of such a historical war or disaster. Hence, from the knowledge of history the students may feel the obligation to become directly involved in creating a better and safer world. The development of a conscience in the students as to feel the moral obligation to become involved in society constitutes an integral part of business ethics in the teaching of history.

Suppose we are now assigned to teach geography. It is not enough for the teacher to show a good map of the world with its oceans, continents and countries within each of such continents. The teacher needs to go a step further to demonstrate to the students how the boundaries of nations change from time to time. For example, before World War II, west Poland was a part of Germany and people there spoke German. Then it became a part of Poland and, while the people there still spoke German, they became officially Polish who now travel with a Polish passport.

Priority in Human Relations

The teacher here may raise to the students the following question: “Does it make sense for the world to refer to these people as Polish when they are essentially Germans?” Then the teacher may proceed to show how it would make more sense to speak of people in terms of their character and personality and in terms of what they can contribute to society than simply in terms of being Germans, French, Chinese, Polish or Russian. After all, the concept of ethics is linked to human actions and not to people’s nationality.

If we were to explore the nature of government of many countries in the world, we are likely to find out corruption a major factor. And if we were to study the major source of such corruption, it almost boils down to money, which is said to “buy” power. This is best understood when one studies the United States political system. In theory we have a nation of democracy but in practice we have a nation of plutocracy. For anyone to be elected, one must have plenty of money to reach millions of people through proper advertisements.

Once the individuals are elected mostly with corporate money, then their primary job is to boost the product of the corporations that financed their campaign, even though such product may prove to be a detriment to the people that voted to elect such officials. Here the American people witness corruption at work that comes from a conspicuous absence of ethics in the way business is conducted. The past is gone and we have no longer control over it. The present is in a state of transition. Our hope is to get good hold of the future relative to the knowledge and implementation of ethics in business education across every academic sector of each school.

In view of what has been stated, it is obvious that we cannot take lightly the role ethics plays in business education. As a matter of fact, it is a vital element in the various branches of academics as far as our ability to create a better and more stable community is concerned. If the members of every government were to conduct their job on ethically sound principles, the concept of struggles and wars, would become a thing of the past. Prosperity would flourish and people everywhere would be given the opportunity to make constructive contributions to society on a habitual basis.

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
05/04/11

The Golden Rule: Basic Link of all Religions

If we were to take a world-wide tour and visit the religious practices of natives across every continent, we would discover a great variety of beliefs and ways of spiritual behavior as a result. Some of them are centered on the belief of one God, the source of anything that exists, while others tend to concentrate more on a variety of sources that work together for the common good. However, in spite of all this they all have one strong thing in common that is known everywhere as the Golden Rule.

Meaning and Purpose

The Golden Rule concentrates on vital human relations that are mutually beneficial in spite of numerous diversities that may exist as a matter of fact. It deals with love and respect for our neighbor, that is, for every other human being in our community, the nation and eventually the whole world. In Christianity, for example, we find Jesus saying in the New Testament: “Do to others what you would like others to do to you.” This has become a distinctive characteristic of Christianity, which is found in virtually every country around the world.

In Islam we discover Prophet Muhammad saying in the Hadith: “Wish for others what you wish for yourself.” A true believer is viewed to be one who is genuinely concerned with the welfare of all other people without exception. In Judaism we learn from Hillel in the Talmud: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” This is considered as the essence of the whole Torah, all the rest is viewed merely as commentary. In Buddhism we hear Buddha stating in Udana-Varga: Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”

In Hinduism we notice in Mahabharata the statement: “Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.” This is viewed as the sum of duty from which no one can escape. In Confucianism we read in the Analects what Confucius has stressed to all of his followers: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. “ To this end this religious leader advocated good conduct revealed in loving-kindness.

In Taoism, we hear Lao Tzu telling us in T’ai Shang Kam Ying P’ien: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” This means we should identify our neighbor as an integral part of ourselves. In Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib expressed his basic message to those embracing this religion saying: “I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.” This approach has proved to be a real source of peace.

Common Denominator

In the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah underlines the importance of good human relations stating: “Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself.” In Jainism, in Sutrakritanga the basic teaching of this religion was expressed by Mahavira as follows: “One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated.” In Zoroastrianism we find in Shayast-na-Shayast the following important statement: “Do not do unto others whatever is injurious to yourself.”

In Unitarianism, we notice the following basic principle of Unitarians: “We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” In Native Spirituality, as it is known, Chief Dan George affirms the belief of his religious group stating: “We are as much alive as we keep the earth alive.” This is based on the belief that for all people to live strong and healthy as well as happy we must protect our environment from air and water pollution. The quality of air and water we have does make a big difference.

Needless to say, the list of various religions we have in the world may go on and on. Besides, each of the religions mentioned above has a lot of denominational groups or sects within it. In Christianity, for example, there is a big variety of such denominational groups, such as Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and so on. Regardless of the various denominations or sects we find in each religion, the Golden Rule is always there, even though some adherents may tend to disregard it.

The question that needs to be raised here is this: If every religion advocates love and respect for our neighbor, how come we have had and we still have so many struggles and wars, so much hatred and pain? This may be traced to greed, envy, power-abuse, ignorance, pride, mistrust, disrespect, hypocrisy, sadistic tendencies, and anything that is negative and destructive. Since the early days of civilization, the world has always been saturated with beneficial and vicious people who served as a benefit or a curse to our earthly community.

For many centuries now, the dominant philosophy in human relations has been based radically on the culture of war. Needless to say, the governments of our respective nations must assume full responsibility for all the massacre and pain they caused to tens of millions of good and innocent people. They always resorted to secure the most sophisticated and devastating weapons to this end. Whether they admit it or not, their hearts were full of venom and hatred toward their fellow brethren whom God loved dearly as His own children. Let us keep in mind the proverb: You can catch more flies with honey.

Retaliation as Self-Defeating Purpose

We are all familiar with traditional sayings such as: What goes around comes around….. In a war everyone is a loser, no one a winner. In fact, at this stage of history, the traditional concept of conventional war, like we experienced in World War II, is no longer applicable. Today, the deadly struggles we are experiencing are not between one nation fighting against another, where each side knows where the other side is. Those nations that continue to amass more devastating weapons, including nuclear bombs, are faced with a great handicap.

Their enemies are no longer nations, where you can locate them geographically. They consist of small groups, which use small sling shots like David of the Old Testament that are bound to hit and destroy Goliath, in our case the United States and its military allies. Since such enemies cannot be identified by nationality, they are just referred as terrorists who use entirely different tactics than those which have been used in conventional wars over the past several centuries. They simply try to destroy the economy of their targeted enemy.

How do they do it? They try to perform terrorist activities as to alarm the government of that nation whose economy they plan to destroy, which is usually a big power in the traditional sense. At this stage of history, the real target of these few individuals is the United States. They will do anything to alarm the United States as to force it drain billions and now trillions of dollars on building more military bases, more warships spread in all oceans, and more devastating airplanes. They are not afraid of all this since they have no real identification.

Since the United States still believes that it can control the world once it has a strong military and highly devastating weapons, it seems there is no choice as to identify these so called terrorists with a nation and then go to wage a conventional traditional war there. In the process of doing so, millions of innocent and good people are killed or maimed for life and their property is utterly destroyed. This is viewed by the natives at large as cruelty and great animosity has grown against the United States and its war allies as a result.

In the meantime, the American people, which may be viewed as the backbone of the nation, begin to suffer because their government has no money left to provide them with a free good health care system, affordable housing facilities and productive education for all. The United States can solve the problem of terrorism, properly and effectively, through sound educational means and not through a so called strong military. This nation can bring peace on earth only through highly dedicated groups that are characterized by love and service for their neighbor and not by hatred and threats.

Secret of Political Success

The United States, and its military allies, must adapt to the realities that surround us. The choice is crystal clear: Just continue to adhere to traditional conventional wars, which are now becoming totally outdated and fully ineffective, or simply follow the instinct of every human being in every religion by doing to others what you would want others to do to you. If you threaten others, soon you will be threatened in ways totally unexpected. If you destroy the property of others, soon the lives of your good citizens will be put in danger.

In a commencement address he gave at the University of Kansas in 1966, former US military commander in Vietnam, General Westmoreland, said the graduating students: The Vietnamese come to shoot us with rifles we use in the USA for pigeons; at the same time, we have the most sophisticated and devastating weapons one can imagine and yet we cannot subdue them. Unless we have the support of the native population there is nothing much that we can do. And the Vietnamese as a whole view us as enemies.

This was also confirmed by US military commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, who, like General Westmoreland, said that without the support of the people in Afghanistan there is nothing much that the United States and its war allies can do. He pointed out flatly that the people in Afghanistan in general viewed the US troops as enemies. There is nothing of a surprise in this since many good and innocent civilians were killed by Americans and had their houses and all of their belongings destroyed.

The USA may become the salvation of the world if it were to take the initiative to change the nature of the military from one of destruction to one of construction, from a belligerent entity to a humanitarian institution. All the money used on the military would then be used only for constructive purposes with positive results. But the USA still speaks of anti-ballistic missiles and of sharing nuclear information with nations it views as allies. Of course, this keeps encouraging the little Davids that are bent to destroy the Goliaths of our time.

What is ironic lays in the fact that war alliances, headed by the United States, cannot understand anything, which is not in line with the culture of war mind-set. They still keep on thinking of wars fought between nations, which have specific boundaries found in our various continents. Besides, such war allied nations do not admit actions they take which are fully provocative, like the case of American and South Korean forces performing joint military exercises close to Japan and China.

Ultimate Choice in Perspective

In view of what has been stated, we may begin to realize and understand why so called terrorist activities keep on going with no end in sight. Many of us still cannot comprehend that the objective of these so called of terrorists is not to “defeat” the United States militarily but merely to “weaken” its economic potential by continuing to force this world power to spend money, not on the vital needs of the American people, but on the manufacture and sales of weapons, the maintenance of 746 foreign military bases, and the eventual implementation of the star wars concept.

As a result, the United States has incurred the largest economic debt in history, which is putting it on the road of economic collapse following the footsteps of the Soviet Union. Is there a way out? Is there a way that would outsmart the present terrorists and all prospective ones in the future? Is there a way that would bring about a permanent world peace where everyone will be a winner and no one a loser? The answer to such questions is a qualitative yes, which is easily done through the implementation of the Golden Rule.

As a matter of fact, the Golden Rule remains the only hope we have at our disposal for the eventual establishment of a permanent world peace. This brings to our mind the warning former US President Eisenhower gave to the United States Congress in his farewell speech. He said emphatically: “Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their government wants war.” In studies made on so called terrorists it was discovered that these are generally young men who lost their will to live along with the very concept of fear.

This was due to the fact that they lost several of their family members and friends, along with the destruction of their properties through a conventional war fought on their own land by foreign military forces. If the United States and its military allies continue to use military force to solve human problems, not only such problems would not eventually be solved, but they are planting the seeds for an eventual Armageddon, where everyone will be a loser and no one a winner. Respect for the Golden Rule remains the only hope for human survival.

Charles Mercieca
18/12/2010

Role of Harmony in World Religions

Harmony is derived from the Latin harmonia and the Greek harmos meaning “the just adaptation of parts with each other.” It refers to a situation where all elements fit perfectly with each other as to complement each other fully well. This also applies to people when they live together with mutual love and respect in serenity and peace. This element is expected to be the chief characteristic of every religion.

• Nature of Religion

If we were to give a rapid glance at all religions, individually and collectively, we would soon discover that every religion may be viewed as one coin with two sides, the divine and the human. As far as the divine aspect of a religion is concerned, there is not much to say, since the divine element is identically the same everywhere. Problems start to develop when we face the human aspect of religion.

Human beings, by their very nature, are imperfect. For them to reach perfection they must really work hard for it. In the process, some may succeed and some may not. This explains why in every religion we find those who are good and beneficial, an asset to humanity. At the same time, we come across those who are evil and detrimental to all people. Those who are good do follow the guidelines that God provided for them in their respective religion.

Such guidelines may be seen in the Ten Commandments that are found in the Bible, which are also found in every single other religion in one way or another. We observe in history that when such guidelines were followed there was harmony, characterized by serenity and peace. On the other hand, when such guidelines were ignored there always tended to be turmoil, animosity, conflicts, struggles and wars.

In this write-up we will explore some of the major religions of the world and see why in the past they experienced conflicts with each other that they ended up waging wars where millions of people were left dead or maimed.

Those that may be held fully responsible and accountable of such needless conflicts, reveal considerable weakness in character and personality. They choose systematically to practice revenge instead of forgiveness, to harbor hatred instead of love for others, to develop greed while suppressing generosity, to embrace pride instead of humility, and the list goes on. Instead of leading a life of virtue many choose to lead a life of vice.

Human versus Divine Aspect

Needless to say, all of these mentioned items reveal the human aspect of religion. However, those who demonstrate love for others, even for those whom they detest, who are ready to forgive instead of playing tit for tat, and who give away generously and never expecting anything in return, all demonstrate the divine aspect of religion at work. A religion’s greatness is revealed by the constructive actions taken regularly by its followers, its proclaimed members.

We are all familiar with the traditional religious saying: “Judge a tree by the fruit it gives.” This means if the tree looks like a lemon tree but produces oranges then we have to call it orange tree. If we were to enlist some of the major religions of the world, we will discover they have had plenty of things in common. With the exception of Buddhism perhaps, every single major religion has, at one time or another, resorted to violence to achieve what it wanted.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam have all practiced violence at one time or another. In a number of instances, they were instigated to promote violence by their very own religious leaders to this very day, either directly or indirectly. Of course, the divine aspect of such religions is good and holy and there is nothing much more to say. But the human aspect of such religions has proven to be a total mess for all practical purposes.

We are not dealing here with a matter of an opinion but with tangible facts. As the traditional saying goes, “Contra factum non valet argumentum – It’s useless to argue against facts.” Just a rapid glance at what happened to the world over the past several decades since World War II ended in 1945 should make everyone convinced. US Christian clergy, for example, support self-proclaimed pro-life politicians who claim to be for the safeguard of the life of the unborn.

Such US clergy on the whole support them strongly even if such politicians were to take away money from the hungry and the poor and put it on the manufacture of weapons and the waging of wars. Such clergy seem to view the destruction of the infrastructure of cities and the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of people as a “necessity” for the survival of the United States!

While the Islamic clergy tends to look at God as a benevolent Father who loves all of His children immensely, such clergy does virtually nothing to stop those Muslims who wage ferocious wars, known as jihads, in the name of God, as they say, to maim and massacre many of God’s very own beloved children. To make things worse, such carnage is viewed as a moral obligation they have to defend “God’s honor!”

Responsibilities in Perspective

In the Middle East, for example, the Jewish clergy, as a whole, seem quite hesitant in condemning their government for devastating the infrastructure of nearby cities along with the massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people. We need to keep in mind here the traditional saying, silence brings consent. In spite of the fact that the Jewish religion is very good and holy when it comes to its divine aspect, it is totally something else when it comes to its human aspect.

Religions were not meant to be political in their orientation, neither directly nor indirectly. They were meant to provide guidelines so that all people would be given the opportunity to lead a good life characterized by such virtues as love, humility, prudence, justice, generosity, concern and responsibility for others, as well as patience and perseverance. The practice of such virtues will eventually lead to harmony among all people.

Every major religion in the world has as its responsibility and obligation to do anything conceivable to bring about serenity and peace in every community within the same country and with other countries as well. This is what harmony is all about. To this end, we need to find ways to enable people to fit into each other in respect to their vital needs in life. After all, the only sensible life in this world is one of inter-dependence.

Again, this is not a matter of an opinion. If people living on one side of the ocean constantly pollute their water, sooner or later the water on the other side of the same ocean will become polluted too and the people there will have to suffer the consequences by all means. Similarly, if people of one country pollute their air, the air of the nearby countries would soon become polluted as well. This means in whatever we do we should keep in mind how this would affect others.

If what we are about to do will affect others positively and constructively, then we should proceed with our plans. Yet, if what we are about to do will affect others, in some way negatively and destructively, then we should avoid doing it by all means. This way, we will surely become instruments of harmony by developing the habit to show a genuine sense of responsibility in our actions.

In our earthy community, we do have four major categories of laws which are hierarchical in nature. They are enlisted as (a) the Divine Positive Law, (b) the Natural Law, (c) the Ecclesiastical Law, and (d) the Civic Law. They are hierarchical in nature because if they happen to clash, then the one that is higher should be observed while the one that is lower should be discarded. This is a sacrosanct moral duty that all conscientiously good people have. Each time this was followed we always experienced serenity and peace expressed in harmony.

Four Hierarchical Laws

(a) The Divine Positive Law – This is viewed as the highest in the four hierarchical laws because it was made directly by God Himself from the very first beginning of human existence. It is commonly known as the Ten Commandments where we find, for example, such laws as you should not kill; you should not lie; you should respect your parents; you should put God above anything else; you should not destroy the property of others; you should not steal, in addition to others. Any law that goes directly against such laws, whether it is ecclesiastical or civic, should be discarded. In other words, human beings are not empowered to defy God’s commandments. The observance of such laws does reveal the positive and constructive aspect of the divinity in a particular religion.

(b) The Natural Law – This is also God’s law which He implanted in the universe at the moment of creation. The observance of the Natural Law is not an option but an obligation that all of us have to uphold and respect. We may illustrate this by a few examples. (i) the law of gravity, where everything heavier than air goes down, (ii) the law of plantation, where the roots of the trees go down while the tree itself grows up above the ground, (iii) the law of birth, which results from the physical unity of a male and a female. Hence, marriage by its very nature comes from the Natural Law, which involves the union of a male and a female. Defiance of the Natural Law always leads to confusion sooner or later. Such laws enable us to retain the aspect of the divinity in a religion.

(c) The Ecclesiastical Law – This consists of a law enacted by the religious leaders of a religion so that the adherents of that particular religion would be able to follow a similar pattern in their worship and open practice of their faith. It is like creating a spiritual uniform for the followers to dress as to look the same and to recognize each other fast and smooth when they come across each other. The religious authorities of any religion are free to enact any laws they deem appropriate to enhance unity between their members and to bring them closer together as to live a better and more harmonious life. However, in doing so, such religious authorities cannot enact laws that may go against the two higher laws, namely, the divine positive law and the natural law.

(d) The Civic Law: - This is man-made law which changes from time to time. Its purpose is to keep order in the nation. No government of any kind may enact laws that go against the Divine Positive Law, the Natural Law and even against the Ecclesiastical Law unless it violets the two higher laws. People should defy any civic law that goes against higher laws. For example, the Divine Positive Law says: You should not kill. Hence, the Civic Law should be defied when it allows abortion or when it directs its young people to destroy other nations and kill tens of thousands of innocent people. The Natural Law says that marriage is between male and female. Any Civic Law that allows same-sex marriages should be viewed as unlawful, immoral and invalid.

Harmony at Work

In view of what has been stated, we may understand why all the world religions have a vital role in the promotion of harmony everywhere, an element that is so vital and indispensable to permanent peace. Both the leaders of such religions and the followers must keep in mind that the practice of virtue is very important to keep such religions holy. Perhaps we may learn plenty of lessons from Buddhism, which has been in operation now for some 2,500 years.

During the decades of the eighties, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to six little children in Medjugorje, a small mountain village in the south of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Among other things she told them: “I am the mother of all people, of those who know me and of those who do not know me, of those who accept me and of those who reject me and I love them all very dearly.” She also revealed to them God’s infinitive love for every single human being without exception.

She later added saying: “I wish my Christian children will learn from my Buddhist children the detachment from the material things of this world.” We learned from such communications that we live in God’s religion when we elevate our mind to him in prayer and meditation, when we love and respect each other as He loves us and respects us, and when we follow His Holy Will through the observation of the Commandments He gave Moses a few thousands of years ago.

So for God the name of the religion we claim to belong to is irrelevant for all practical purposes. What counts lies in the actions we perform on a daily basis. If they are good, if they respect the dictates of the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law as well as the Ecclesiastical Law when it is in line with the two laws just mentioned, then we may pride ourselves of the specific religion we claim to be affiliated with. World religions should be viewed as a means of transport that is bound to take us to heaven.

Let us assume we are a group, say, of 50 friends who live scattered in Europe. We all agree that we should visit the ruins of ancient Rome and a definite date is set up. It is not important for such 50 scattered friends to decide upon one means of transportation that all should chose to be in time in Rome on the stated date. Some may chose to take an airplane, others may prefer to take a train, others may rather travel by bus, and others may choose to drive their own car, while others may find it more interesting to reach to Rome by motor-cycle.

Various Spiritual Means

Quite surprisingly, on their way to Rome some may decide to change their means of transportation like, for example, to continue the rest of the journey by train instead of by bus. The focus should be only on arriving in Rome on the specified date, nothing more and nothing less. Some world religion may look down on its followers when they decide to continue on their journey to heaven by joining another religion. Even worse, some world religion may even try to punish those that dare to make such a change.

Regardless of their defects in the human sphere, world religions are equipped with the capability to bring harmony among all people across every continent. Although theoretically, that is, in the spiritual they are technically all on the same level, in practice, that is, on the human level they have tremendous differences. In fact, we may conclude by saying that the more focus is made on spirituality through the practice of virtues, the more beneficial such a world religion may prove to be to the entire world.

The more focus is made on the material things of this life that may be revealed through the practice of vices as they stem from disregard especially to both the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law, the more detrimental such a world religion may prove to be to our earthly society. The three major religions mentioned in the early part of this presentation – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – have a recorded history of violence, of disregard of the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law, even though many of their religious leaders advocated very often respect for such God-made laws.

Let us move forward with enthusiasm and optimism and not look background regretting that we cannot turn back the clock of history. Regardless of what we might have done, the same God of love and mercy of all the world religions is still there waiting for us ready to embrace us at any moment. The job of such world religions still remains the same, namely, to serve as instruments in the hands of God to bring harmony among all people across every continent. The leaders of world religions need only to do their best and God will do the rest.

Free education for all citizens : best investment for world peace

One of the leading problems in the world may be viewed as ignorance, which is described by The New Webster's Dictionary of the English Language as a state of being where knowledge is wanting, that is, missing. We tend to make several mistakes to the detriment of many because, quite often, we are not aware of the realities that surround us. This explains why people with adequately needed knowledge tend to commit considerably less mistakes, if any at all.

• Prevention Better than Cure

  Needless to say, the more people create problems the more headaches are created for society at both the local and the national level and, quite often, at the global level as well. There is hardly any government in the world that does not spend tens of millions, and even billions, of dollars for the so called national security. Most of this money could be saved if each government were to take drastic steps to provide preventive methods as to have crime avoided in the first place. In the long range, such preventive methods may serve as a great asset.

  To this end, we need to keep in mind that the greatest and best asset of each nation lies with its people. Only people can make things happen for the better or the worse. If people are given the opportunity from early childhood to develop a positive and constructive view of themselves and their surroundings, the actions they perform will tend to be equally positive and constructive. In other words, people will, as a matter of fact, behave as ideal good citizens.

  In view of this, we may categorically state that the primary responsibility of every single government is to provide to its people free education not only at the elementary and secondary schools but at the college and university as well. This would be the best investment that the governments of the world could make to their respective nations. Through free and proper education people will be given the opportunity to develop their God-given potential to the maximum, where everyone will be a winner and no one a loser.

  According to British educator John Locke and many others, the human being is born tabula rasa, that is, with a brain that is totally void of any knowledge conceivable. As the human being grows and passes from one stage of life to another, knowledge of any kind begins to enter into this tabula rasa. Such knowledge is afterwards bound to play a great role on the various actions taken afterwards by human beings, individually and collectively.

  Importance of Good Education

  A good education will enable people to act positively and constructively. On the other hand, a bad education will move people to perform actions that may prove to be detrimental to themselves and to others. As a rule, governments have to train many policemen to control all kinds of crimes at the cost of tens of millions of dollars, amounting to billions on a global scale. Statistics demonstrate the bulk of crimes are generally committed by those least educated. It would definitely cost less money to give free education to all citizens to eventually preserve the rule of law.

  The knowledge that could be bestowed through education has no boundaries whatsoever. For instance, such knowledge may deal with geography, history and philosophy. Through geography we learn about the various people on earth in terms of culture and language expression. History enables us to comprehend the various actions of human beings over the centuries in terms of eventual consequences for the better or the worse. Besides, philosophy enables us to analyze carefully the human mind in terms of its function.

  To illustrate this by a few examples of quite a few philosophical systems, the idealism of Plato tends to base human actions on a world of ideas, while the realism of Aristotle views human actions as a world of things. On the other hand, the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas makes reality consisting of a world of reason, since not all the glitters is gold. These three major philosophical systems are considered as objective in the sense that things are the way they are a parte rei, in themselves; they are not the result of an individual interpretation.

  However, by way of contrast, the following three major philosophical systems may be viewed as subjective in the sense that things are the way they are because of a majority, individual or unanimous decision. In the case of a majority decision we have here pragmatism, where everything is decided by the taking of a vote. When a decision is individualistic, that is, based on one's own feeling and perception, we have existentialism at work. When everyone happens to view things the same way, then we have spacism, that is, the space age philosophy in operation. In this regard, the whole world is viewed as one big family.

  This latter philosophy is expected to become the dominant philosophy of the 21st century. When the astronauts went into space they could not see where the boundaries of nations were. They could see only masses of land and water. Planet earth looked very peaceful and astronauts were amazed when they brought to mind the numerous struggles and wars that took place in history. Today more than ever, people everywhere are realizing that when the air of one nation is polluted the air of the nearby nations will soon be polluted as well.

  Best Means for Survival

  In other words, the role of education plays a vital role for the survival not only of one individual nation but for all the nations combined. Hence, it is the obligation of every single nation on earth to protect its air and water from pollution. This is a moral obligation and no one is exempt from it. Hence, every government is obligated to educate its citizens to become responsible not only for the good of their respective communities, but for the welfare of the entire world, as a matter of fact. It explains why education cannot be taken lightly.

  For citizens to benefit immensely from education, they must, in the first place, have their mind free of worries as to enjoy good health. They need to learn to eat anything that is nutritious and not just delicious but junky at the same time. The provision of a free education for all citizens enables the nation's people to stop worrying on how they will pay for the education of their children. We should stop putting financial burden on people when it comes to education. Parents should have more time to enjoy their children without distractions.

  After all, people are being educated not for fun but for the benefit of the entire nation in particular and the world at large. The real security of a nation is based on its people's ability to make positive and constructive contributions to society, which can only come through the provision of a free education for all people from the cradle to the grave. It has been stated and proven over the centuries that the best form of government is social democracy, where the people govern themselves through elected representatives.

  Moreover, in social democracy the government fulfils its sacrosanct obligation to provide its people not only with a free education but also with a free health care system. This makes great sense and it proves to be highly logical. After all, for the people of a nation to get things done properly and effectively they need to be strong and healthy. They need to be alive and well. Let us keep in mind that a government is as good and as bad as the quality of its people. This explains why in social democratic nations, people on the whole seem to be better off. As a whole, these nations tend to enjoy more stability and security.

  In accordance with the Natural Law, free education and free health care is a human right. Ascetical writers of all time tell us that we should always practice what we preach. The religious leaders of every era of history did just that including Jesus of Nazareth. During the decade of the eighties, Pope John Paul II told people in Mexico that world peace would eventually come but "only after two of the greatest evil systems of the 20th century, communism and capitalism, are gone because both seek to advance their causes through the exploitation of people." Shortly after communism collapsed and the cold war was over.

  Collapse of Communism

  The whole world took a sigh of relief because people everywhere thought that since the Soviet Union, the seat of communism, was gone, the United States would then pursue the course toward universal peace. But the Pope proved to be right, the United States, the seat of world capitalism, embarked on a big military build-up and tried to sell weapons of all kinds to anyone that gave the right price. The manufacture and sales of weapons and the promotion of struggles and wars became a lucrative business. Tens of millions of people around the world were fully exploited and many lost their lives unnecessarily.

  Since World War II ended in 1945, the United States preferred to equip nations with all kinds of weapons and military equipment than with needed educational material and with needed medicine and medical equipment. This capitalistic nation preferred to create needlessly and uselessly military bases in 146 nations than creating missionary stations that may serve as centers for learning and for medical assistance. The US government sent representatives to several nations not to disseminate peace but to sow the germs of war.

  Moreover, most of military coups that overthrew democratically elected governments were supported by the United States that claims openly to be a "nation of freedom and democracy." In reality, the United States is a nation where the concept of free education from the cradle to the grave does not exist. Not only so, but such a concept never crossed, not even remotely, the mind of any government official. It is a nation where the citizens' freedom of movement is conspicuously restricted.

  Unlike Canadians and people of many other countries, Americans are forbidden by their government to visit a number of countries including its peaceful neighbor Cuba. In other words, the United States has increasingly become ineffective as world leader because it has developed the habit of saying one thing and doing another. Thus, its element of credibility has been radically shaken. It's a pity when there are so many good and beneficial US citizens.

  In this presentation focus is primarily made on the tremendously good investment the various governments of the world can make in providing their respective populations with free education at all levels. As we have seen, education, like health care, is not a privilege. It is a sacrosanct human right that cannot be violated under any circumstance whatsoever. If we were to make a careful analysis of the problems of every single country in the world, we will discover that those nations where people have a free education at all levels of learning, they tend to have much less crimes and people feel more secure.

  Proliferation of Military Equipment

  It is not right for the USA to clutter the oceans of the world with warships and to saturate 146 nations with military bases, supposedly for "national security" when the American people, that constitute the real backbone of the nation, are not provided with free health care. What is really curious is found in the fact that, while the US government says there is no money to provide free education and free health care for all Americans, there is always money for the manufacture and sales of weapons, and the promotion of struggles and wars.

  Throughout history, the people of every nation have always been viewed as the best ambassadors of peace of their respective countries. On the other hand, the military has always been viewed as an instrument whose purpose is to wage wars with a green light that would allow them to destroy the infrastructure of cities and to kill mercilessly tens of thousands of innocent people while maiming tens of thousands of others. In spite of this, a substantial number of governments have used the military, instead of their people, to deal with other countries.

  Why is education so important as an investment in the future of any nation and of the world at large? Well, education is derived from two Latin words "e" plus "duco," that is, "from" plus "lead." This means that education is a process that would enable us to lead others from darkness into light, from confusion into clarity of mind, from doing things that are negative and destructive into doing things that are positive and constructive. However, in this process we may also lead people the other way round. Much depend on those that are set in charge of the educational process.

  In every era of history, the people proved to be the most powerful element in every single nation. This explains why governments in general are so much afraid of their own people that lead them to perform even atrocities to control them. This is usually revealed with clarity in nations where we have a dictatorial government. Hence, people need to become actively involved to safeguard their sacrosanct human rights relative to free education and free health care.

  In his farewell speech to the US Congress, former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated emphatically: "Remember that all people of all nations want peace, only their government wants war." If this is a fact, then a question needs to be raised. How is it that some governments continue to wage one war after another against the will of their own people? The manufacture and sales of weapons along with the promotion of struggles and wars has become a great lucrative business. What a way of making money! To this end nothing serves a purpose, not even human life itself.

  Making Wise Expenditures

  It is impossible for anyone to talk about free education and free health care without talking about a government's urge to deal with the business of the manufacture of weapons and the waging of wars. If merely 50% of all the money spent on weapons, military equipment and wars is spent on free education and free health care, there will be enough money to finance schools and hospitals for the rest of the 21st century. This way we will be contributing toward the creation of a nuclear free world characterized eventually by disarmament and peace.

  What kind of legacy we would like to give to our children, to our grandchildren and to posterity, as a matter of fact? The answer to this question is entirely in our hands. In Italian there is a proverb which says: Parole si, fatti no - words yes, facts no. And the Romans had a saying which stated: Aliud est theoria, aliud est practica - one thing is theory, another thing is practice. We often hear politicians talking of peace in anything they say but then we witness wars in anything they do. This is certainly betrayal of people.

  In view of this we may fully understand the warning that Jesus of Nazareth gave us when he said: Homo hominis lupus, which is best translated as man is his own worst enemy. Our government officials in depriving their people of their basic human rights, such as free education and free health care, become in good faith our de facto worst enemies! Peace is so precious that when good people meet they always tend to greet each other with the word "peace" or simply by saying: Peace be with you.

  We need to keep in mind that peace is priceless. In fact, those governments that spend millions, billions and trillions of dollars on weapons, military equipment and wars, they all tell their people that they are doing this to preserve or bring about peace! Of course, this constitutes a contradiction in terms. The money that has been and is still being squandered on these negative and destructive elements should stop abruptly and be shifted for positive and constructive purposes, like the provision of free education and free health care.

  What all the nations of the world need to keep in mind by all means is this: Violence breeds violence and more violence breeds more violence. We cannot bring others under control through threats, which always serve to harden them and make them more determined to resist and do the opposite of what may be expected. The best way to solve human problems is through diplomacy and healthy dialogues that should be developed on mutually beneficial bases. Let us keep in mind that all human beings share the same identical human nature.

  Sharing Same Basic Needs

  This means that all human beings would want to eat when they are hungry and to drink when they feel thirsty. They all would want to live a happy, healthy and long life in prosperity and peace. To this end, they need to be prepared from early childhood properly and effectively only through a good education where no one should stand in the way. We learn from history that nations where people had to pay to get a good education had more problems than those other nations where people had a free education.

  The enrichment of a nation is always measured by the caliber of its inhabitants in terms of education, good health and productivity. Confronted by this reality, the whole world should wonder as to why we still have governments that seem to be convinced that the strength of their nations is to be sought in sophisticated and expensive weapons and wars! Some say that governments of this caliber may be run by the mafia because they see in these negative and destructive elements the generation of a tremendous amount of money.

  From the outset, the United Nations had a program on disarmament and arms control along with the development of human resources for positive and constructive purposes. However, quite a few countries did not take such a program seriously because they saw a loss in their war industry profits. This is sad since the human life is worth more than all the wealth and money in the world. Instead of sacrificing our wealth and money to preserve life in the best shape possible, many responsible governments went the other way round. They would not hesitate to sacrifice the human life for these materialistic elements.

  At this stage of life we need to learn at least one big lesson, which is, never to believe politicians who put more and more money on weapons and wars to "safeguard the security of the nation." They refer to the interest they have in their pocket as the "nation." We all know that in the sphere of morality or ethics, the end does not justify the means. Those that put the nation's money in weapons and wars instead of in education and health care are performing a criminal act against humanity, which should be brought under control.

  The greatest spiritual leaders of all time, along with numerous outstanding philosophers, found that the secret of wisdom lies in the renunciation of worldly elements in the sense that you feel detached from them. This would include money and wealth. This explains why the Master Teacher of Nazareth said emphatically to His disciples that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Lord Buddha was born into a wealthy family and he had anything that he might have wished in life except for one thing, happiness.

  Putting Priorities in Order

  Later on he did find happiness but only after he renounced the material things of this world. He could then discover genuine serenity and happiness. Mahatma Gandhi was a good lawyer and had a promising future but he became increasingly convinced that he would exert a better influence if he were to renounce all the valuable things of this earthly community. His spiritual power became so strong that quite a few historians attribute India's independence from Great Britain to the great spirituality he managed to build up.

  Mother Teresa, who decided to give her life to work among the poorest of the poor, became one of the most respected women in the world. When she passed away, the Indian government gave her a state funeral like she was a head of state. Like Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth and Mahatma Gandhi, and others, Mother Teresa exercised great constructive influence on others, something that all the military might in the world could never achieve. Yet, many still seek for the strength of the military that is trained for destructive actions.

  The preamble of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) starts with the words: "Since wars being in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." Former US Presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, said that "everything that takes place in the world for the better or the worse originates from one single idea; if that is the case," he stated afterwards, "we should all try to generate good and constructive ideas and proceed to implement them immediately afterwards."

  Experience demonstrates that those who receive a good education are in a better position to present to the world community positive and constructive projects. This explains why free education for everyone should be viewed as the best investment that a government could possibly make. This would be the best step for us all to provide future generations the kind of peace and harmony we all have wished to experience since we were very young. We need only to cultivate will-power since when there is a will there is a way.

  The larger nations of the world that do not offer free education to their people, far less free health care, often bring the excuse that there is no money available to provide such benefits to their people. Yet, these same nations spend billions of dollars day in and day out all the year round on the manufacture and the indiscriminate sales of weapons and the waging of wars. Several years ago Costa Rica was viewed as one of the poorest countries in Latin America. It had a large military with several civil wars. Finally, one general who took over the government assured the people that there would never be a war again.

  Changing Role of the Military

  This general, with one stroke of the pen, abolished the military. Then he used the would-have-been military money to build the nation from the devastation it had for a long time. At that time, some 80% of the people were illiterate, many were homeless and the rate of mortality among infants was the highest in all of North and South America. Within a matter of a few years, all people were provided with adequate residential facilities and with a free education at all levels… elementary, secondary, college and university.

  Besides, all people were given free health care and today the population of Costa Rica is among the healthiest in the world. Also, their mortality rate among children is the lowest in all of the Americas, even lower than that of the USA. The time has arrived when the whole world must either abolish the military or, still better, change the purpose of the military from one of destruction to one of construction. Soldiers could be trained to plant trees along the highways of nation, repair roads and bridges, and build homes for the homeless.

  The military in Cuba, for example, already took a step in this direction. The free education Cuba gives to all of its citizens from the cradle to the grave has now been extended even to thousands of foreign students studying there. Besides, Cuba gives free health care to all the people and provides medical doctors to a number of poor nations, along with needed medicine. In spite of the unjust embargo against it that has been enforced by the United States for almost half century, Cuba continued to move forward with determination and success.

  It looks like when a nation is equipped with people that are well educated and in pretty good health, there is always a way found in overcoming all kinds of obstacles that come along. Education and good health tend to instill in people a feeling of confidence and security. This means that for a government to give people free education and free health care there is everything to gain and nothing to lose. National stability becomes the characteristic of the nation. After all, this is the ultimate goal of every responsible and sensible government.

  It is a sad, especially in capitalist nations, to measure the value of anything conceivable in terms of money. We need to stress the importance of volunteer organizations where many could offer their expertise in every field of knowledge possible to fellow citizens. There are many of such organizations who are already doing a tremendously good job in this regard. Among others, we have physicians, nurses, teachers, and construction workers, as well as businessmen in the food industry, and pharmaceutical personnel all of whom are serving their fellow brethren with pride.

  Importance of Volunteer Organizations

  The great philosophers of all time remind us to do to others what we would like others to do to us. Volunteer workers, as they can attest, often feel highly rewarded especially with inner joy and happiness. This is an experience that is greatly valuable and it cannot be purchased with either money or wealth. To understand the importance for a government to provide free education and free health care to its people, let us imagine we have a large number of families who have been blessed with many children.

  Such parents do proceed to look after their children the best they can but, at the same time, they fail to raise them up with a sense of responsibility, while they do not really provide them with good nourishment. Such children are likely to grow up showing little respect for others in addition to getting into mischief where later some may even end up in prison. This will be due to the fact that the parents, for one reason or another, failed to give them adequate education. Besides, some of these children may develop needless health problems.

  Such problems may be due to the fact that their health care was neglected. As a result, such parents will end up facing endless problems with numerous headaches. Let us keep in mind that prevention is better than cure. The USA, for example, which does not provide free education and free health care to its citizens, has more people locked in jails per capita than any other nation on earth, including China with six times the population. Now the US government is spending countless millions of dollars every month on these jails.

  If the US government worked on the provision of free education at all levels and the provision of free health care to all of its citizens, there would definitely be less jails. Many of those in prison might have been doing on a voluntary basis, a lot of constructive work for the benefit of the entire nation. The problem of drugs and alcohol might have been considerably less. Besides, violence in America might have been on the way to extinction. All of this takes time but we need to start somehow and someway, the sooner the better.

  We may now begin to see with clarity how in giving free education to all citizens, a government has everything to gain and nothing to lose. Access to free education and to free health care is bound to create a healthy nation where everyone will have less worries and a greater peace of mind. As we saw in the preamble of UNESCO, conflict and wars originate in the human mind. Likewise, serenity and peace also originate in the human mind. The history of civilization over the past 6,000 years should convince us that when people are at peace with themselves and others, they become more constructive and productive.

  Blessings of Peace

  The financing of wars is enormously more expensive than the financing of peace. Besides, there is absolutely nothing constructive that could be achieved through the waging of wars. In giving just a brief glance at the recent Iraqi war we discover the destruction of the infrastructure of several cities, the massacre of and maiming of well over one million innocent people, and the displacement of two million Iraqis. In addition, some 5,000 young Americans lost their lives, more than 30,000 of them were maimed and quite a few committed suicides while others had their family life disrupted and got divorced.

  Besides, this needless war forced the US government to enter into its biggest debt in history. The nation's economy is falling apart in spite of the optimism expressed by the US president. The US government's contention is that there is no money to provide free health care system for Americans, far less to provide free education for everyone. At the same time, this same US government continues to build more foreign military bases, which it has already in 146 countries, construct more weapons and seems determined to continue with its waging of wars indefinitely.

  The advantage of the study of history lies in the fact that we give an opportunity to ourselves to learn vicariously, that is, through the mistakes of others and not the hard way, that is, through our own mistakes. Ascetical writers tell us that the difference between the wise and the fool lies here. The wise learns vicariously, that is, through the mistakes of others, while the fool learns the hard way, that is, through his own mistakes. The choice is entirely in our hands.

  In conclusion, let us keep in mind that the greatest mistake we may commit is to give up hope. This means that we should always look forward into the future with hope and determination to succeed. Free education for all citizens, along with free health care, constitute a dream that is bound to be achieved by all means in the best interest of peace. It is only a matter of time. A number of nations have already achieved this objective. We do have hope.

  • Related Bibliography

    Barash, David P. (Editor). Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA, 2000

    Choue, Young Seek (Editor). Proposal for Peace: Last Option for Humankind, Institute of International Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 131, South Korea. 1986

    Choue, Young Seek (Editor). Will World Peace be Achievable in the 21st Century? International Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University Press, Seoul 131, South Korea, 1999

    Diamond, Louis. The Peace Book: 108 Simple Ways to Create a More Peaceful World, Conari Press, 2550 Ninth Street, Suite 101, Berkeley. CA 94710, USA, 2001

    Galtung, Johan and Jacobsen, Carl G. & Brand-Jacobsen, Kai Frithof, Searching for Peace: The Road to Transcend, Pluto Press, 345 Archway Road. London N6 5AA, UK, 2002

    Ikeda, Daisaku. For the Sake of Peace: Seven Paths to Global Harmony, A Buddhist Perspective, Middleway Press, 606 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401, USA, 2001

    Hicks, David (Editor). Education for Peace: Issues, Principles and Practice in the Classroom, Routeledge, 11 New Fetter Lane. London EC4P 4EE, UK, 1988

    Nathanson, Stephen. Patriotism, Morality, and Peace, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706, USA, 1993

    Paupp, Terrence Edward. The Future of Global Relations: Crumbling Walls,

    Rising Regions, Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA, 2009

    Prasad, Surya Nath Prasad and Shukla, Suman. Science, Religion and Peace, IAEWP, 216 Laxminagar, Nagpur 440 022, Maharashtra, India, 2002

    Reardon, Betty and Nordland, Eva (Editors). Learning Peace: The Promise of Ecological and Cooperative Education, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY 12246, USA, 1994

    Yoo, Jong-Youl (Editor). Men's Search for Peace, Institute of International Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 131, South Korea, 1985

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President
International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
21/07/2009

Discovering a Nation’s True Friends and Enemies

One familiar proverb reads as follows: “Not all that glitters is gold.” Another well accepted saying is: “Actions speak louder than words.” This one is virtually found in every nation with slight changes or modifications. The Romans, for example, used to say: “Aliud est theoria, aliud est practica – one thing is theory, another thing is practice.” On the other hand, the Italians often state: “Parole si, fatti no – words yes, facts no.” All of these have the same identical meaning.

Nature of People in General

When the Master Teacher found it necessary to describe the human being as to enable to understand ourselves better, He said clearly: Homo hominis lupus – man is a wolf of man, meaning the human being is his own worst enemy. In view of this, we need to set up new criteria for judging those around us individually and collectively. Everything boils down to the character and personality of the individual. The height and weight, one’s own age and good looks, as well as the academic achievements and good paying jobs cannot really serve as criteria to classify people into true friends or confirmed enemies.

Friends are best measured by the degree of virtues they may care to demonstrate on a systematic basis. Among others, we may enlist humility, prudence, patience, perseverance, charity, and dedication to the service of others. Humility consists of one’s ability to recognize and admit one’s mistakes with a willingness to listen to others and to learn from them to the best of one’s ability. Prudence is revealed in one’s ability to weigh carefully alternatives before jumping into conclusions. As the proverb says, “Look before you leap.”

Patience is a very important virtue for as the French say: Avec la patience on s’arrive a touts – With patience one arrives everywhere. Throughout history we discover that many problems were eventually solved properly and effectively through the practice of patience. Perseverance is noticed in one’s ability never to give up in the pursuit for the solution of encountered problems.

Charity reveals concern for others as to help them in a number of ways. Very often those who perform acts of charity do so at the cost of self-sacrifice. One of the songs found in the Gregorian chant states: Ubi est amor, Deus ibi est – where there is love there is God. In ascetical writings, charity is identified with love. In one’s dedication to others we have individuals who view the welfare of others as their life’s mission. No wonder why in one proverb we find that “a true friend is with you in danger.” In other words, we can always trust genuine friends since they prove to be really faithful. In fact, they often become the source of our hope and consolation.

Friends and Enemies in Perspective

True friends reveal interest not in the good of some to the exclusion of others but in the universal welfare of all people. They are by nature humanitarians who proved to be highly reliable. In politics, this is where the line is drawn between statesmen and politicians. Statesmen tend to take interest in the universal welfare of all people with the exclusion of no one. On the other hand, politicians tend to reveal interest in the welfare of some to the exclusion of others. In other words, in the sphere of politics we may view statesmen as genuine friends of all people from every walk of life and profession.

Enemies are viewed to be those who directly or indirectly perform actions that in some way or another are conducive to our discomfort and harm. Unlike true friends, enemies tend to generate negative and destructive energy. Regardless of their exterior looks, deep inside they tend to harbor jealousy, anger, vindictiveness, and hatred in various ways. They feel upset when they notice we have been showered with blessings and they rejoice when they discover we are going through a period of desolation, frustration, and pain. Besides, they would do anything in their power to deprive us of happiness, which may be viewed as a great gift of God.

In addition, enemies do not believe in forgiveness and worse still, they tend to judge others by the way they are. They tend to believe that the whole world is going to get after them to damage or destroy their material objects they are attached to in various ways. Moreover, they always try to find a way to blame others for the results of their negative and destructive actions. Just as friends are measured by their character and personality in terms of the virtues they exhibit, enemies are measured likewise by their character and personality in terms of the vices they demonstrate.

Vices are the opposite of virtues. Among such vices we find infernal pride, arrogance, impatience, lack of trust or unreliability, hatred, and selfishness, which ignores the needs of others. Pride in itself may be viewed as virtue especially when we feel proud of ourselves or others for an eventual success that was achieved. However, infernal pride is something else. It consists of lack of humility, that is, of lack of one’s ability to admit mistakes while expressing regret and asking for forgiveness.

Arrogance is revealed in those who try to get what they want by all means, regardless of whether or not it is right. This vice forces one to ignore all kinds of advices or counseling that are not conducive to their frame of mind. A brief analysis of all major wars in history may be traced to the arrogance revealed in those responsible for the waging of such wars. Another vice that we notice in enemies almost systematically is that of impatience. This enables us to understand the wisdom of the French proverb we mentioned earlier: Avec la patience on s’arrive a touts – with patience one arrives everywhere. Ascetical writers tell us that if God were not patient with us, the human race would have been exterminated quite a few thousands of years ago.

Developing Good Intuition

Needless to say, enemies can feign to be friends in quite a number of times. Even so, there comes a time were their mask is uncovered. Sooner or later, they will show that they are not trustworthy that they are unreliable for all practical purposes. In the spiritual sphere, their hidden hatred may be viewed as their weakest trace in their character and personality. What we need to do here is simply to hear them how they tend to talk of others, especially those whom they do not like out of inferiority complex or jealousy in particular. Enemies tend to be selfish, that is, they concentrate mainly on getting what they want by all means, even at the expense of others.

Pope John Paul II viewed communism and capitalism as the greatest two evils of the 20th century because, he said, both advanced their causes through exploitation of people. In other words, both communists and capitalists could be rightly viewed as the enemies of the people in general, as our enemies as a matter of fact. Regardless of their façade, they were instrumental in different ways to make millions of people suffer brutally and mercilessly. Those that come to help us in time of need must be considered as our genuinely true friends. On the other hand, those that not only refuse to help us in time of need but also take steps to hurt us should be viewed as our confirmed enemies.

When we come across people whom we do not know as yet but we would like to size them up fast in terms of being potentially true friends or enemies, let us hear what they have to say about others systematically. If they demonstrate goodness, love and mercy as well as readiness to be of help the best they can, we know these would likely make very good friends of us. However, if they reveal to be highly critical where we could depict a degree of hatred and detestation, we know our close association with them would be bound to be detrimental.

All the good people of history that were viewed as highly beneficial and friendly to everyone had always something good to say about everyone, even about those that persecuted them. In the social sphere of life, we would act wisely if we were to avoid the company of potential enemies and to seek for the company of true friends.

Charles Mercieca, Elected Delegate to the Peoples Congress