You want to be in peace, but it often comes with a price, a price that we have to pay with blood, violence, death and destruction. While many glorify nonviolence for a peaceful life, a realistic group of people know that peace can only be attained with violence. In English, peace comes from the Latin word “pax”, meaning a “common understanding that ends” or “averts hostilities”. In Hebrew and Arabic, peace means shalom, “whole or undivided”. In Chinese, peace means “harmony and balance”; in Japanese, peace is “harmony, simplicity, and quietness”. In Hindu and Sanskrit, peace is also said as “avirodha, shanty, chaina”, which means “absence of war, spiritual or inner peace, mental peace or calmness”. Hence, we can come to a conclusion that peace means the absence of war, just as health is more than the absence of disease. Both are unavoidable, and one cannot exist without the other.
“With love comes war and with war comes peace”
This is a contradictory statement, but it actually reveals a deeper truth, showcasing the complexity in life, logic, even art and literature. With peace comes conflict; one can find resolution in conflicts. Peace does not actually mean the absence of distress, hatred, but rather the capacity to stay calm and engrossed amidst all the chaos and madness. Peace is very delicate; it should not be bothered, and it is elusive. If troubled, the balance can be disturbed. We cannot come to a conclusion that peace is the absence of violence. But it can be the presence of Justice. But peace may not always take the side with justice; peace favours the powerful who can overpower the weak and powerless. Justice may or may not be served with those that deserves in this particular scenario.
Throughout history and in human relationships, we have seen that when you love something or someone, you put your life on the line to protect it, you suffer, face challenges and accept all struggles and hardships just for love. It is not smooth, it’s a rough patch, yet you accept it, for you feel that with love comes peace. Once you have acquired what is yours or your love, you feel that you will be at peace, more so you can die in peace. Even though the statement is ironic, you have to go through death to be at peace. So naturally, when there is peace on one end, violence is on the other end. It’s kind of like an imperative law! To maintain the peace, we might have to use force to protect it, and if anyone tries to confront it, we will have to go through threatening and other actions which may not be peaceful. As said, peace is a time of preparation for war. Nobody wants it, but somehow we end up with it.
Take a closer look at the world now, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine are all for Peace. Both of the countries feel that each country has to take control of the other, and that war is the solution! But in the journey, lives are lost, families abandoned, children orphaned, homes destroyed, and everyday life is shattered. Where is the peace? People are just left with the pieces, which they need to collect and start afresh, for that is all that they have! But what is underlined here is that only by the death of many can we attain Peace. There is no other way; war must happen, and death for the opponent to emerge victorious. They are both relevant and connected and cannot be opted out.
Living in a country where the Great Mahatma laid down his life for non-violence, he believed that violence would only create more problems and eventually lead to more vengeance and hatred with little chance of reconciliation. Yet to this day, we do not follow it? We fight, we have to fight for circumstances demand it, and we fight for our life, our country, for our freedom, which depends on it. The International Day of Non- Violence celebrated on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi (October 2), reminds us of peace, tolerance and non-violent resistance. Yet, we cannot seem to follow it in terms of political, religious and economic terms. Every conflict, dispute, hatred, anger and every issue often ends in violence; there is never a scenario where the argument is sorted in peace and harmony.
We simply cannot let our guard down in the hope that non –violence will solve things for us. We as a country have to be prepared for what is coming, we have to keep our defences strong, have the right resources and ammunition if we were to wage a war. The whole lives of the soldiers and any other army personnel revolve around the fact that they have to be prepared at any time of the day for an upcoming war or attack from their enemies. The very thought of which disturbs our peace.
We do not wish for war or want to see bloodshed and killing, yet we glorify the patriots and heroes who lost their lives in war. If it weren’t for their death in the war, do you think they would have become renowned or popular? If they were leading their normal lives as any normal soldier, they would simply be invisible, but their death in a war gave them respect, new meaning and a newfound attraction. But Why? For they fought to regain our peace. They died so we could enjoy our peace. Hence, since time immemorial, we can see that peace follows violence. The two cannot be separated.
The great leaders of the World, Alexander, Napoleon, and Hitler, about whom we study in our school. Why do we learn about them? All they did was kill, wage war, destroy lands, not for peace but for power and their personal selfish reasons. Yet we learn about them as the most important dictators and leaders in history. If they were meant to advocate for peace, then why adore the ones who commenced wars? Gandhi, Jesus, Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King, and Malala Yousafzai were all advocates of non-violence; they preached it, practised it, and yet they died or were attacked violently, shot and crucified. They were not armed, yet they were courageous and confident, willing to face the world with nothing so much as their ideology and belief as their defence.
But in the world in which we live now, we are normal mortals; if we do not respond or object to any form of injustice, we are seen as cowards who do not react to anything but take a stand of peace, as if the problem does not affect them. Being a coward is not a weakness; it simply means they are at peace and they chose it to opt out of non-violence. Your courage and resistance will get you safely through any kind of violence. Two different worlds, two different perceptions. Choosing the path of nonviolence is the most humane, kind and realistic way to live by, for we do not have blood on our hands from any sort of violence and that way we have attained our peace. Jesus Christ was no coward; he did not raise his voice or try to prove himself when they accused him and violently attacked him with false allegations. Rather, he listened, he prayed and won in the end, for every defeat is rewarded with a victory. You will emerge victorious even if you accept your defeat. That is the real power for everlasting peace. If you wish to practice nonviolence, you must be strong enough to withstand any kind of violence.
Listing below some examples of the Paradoxes of Peace according to famous authors;
– Shakespeare, “I must be cruel, only to be kind” —One has to be cruel to be kind!
– Orwell, “War is Peace” – Peace can be achieved only by going through war. Through war, you attain peace.
By citing these examples, I rest my case that peace cannot be achieved just through nonviolence alone; your peace is when you stay protected and safe and at times you will have to turn to violence to achieve the same in the process. And also by staying silent or not reacting against violence does not make you a coward, you are just bravely standing for peace, the non-violent way. Choose peace above all, rest will follow! Sometimes, on a personal level, even when the whole world is in chaos, or when life is too stressful, you try to find peace in the most non-violent way with yoga and meditation, through which you acquire inner peace, tranquillity and stability. The paradox is that we try to acquire peace or a state of bliss and harmony through violent and disruptive methods, but the journey can be dangerous, it can be messy, and it can be difficult. When the world decides it’s time to fight for what is right, everything will turn into a mess, and then peace will happen subtly.
By: Ann Maria Sandeep
Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.
About the Author
