Dear Friends
We had organized an International Conference of All India Association for
Educational Research (AIAER). This conference was held at Amritsar in
India on 20th March 2003. The conference and the Iraq war started on the
same day. It was a coincidence or something else. The theme of the
conference was Peace & Development. In that conference, I was delivering a
talk by saying the following. I thought it would be in the fitness of
things to share my deliberations of AIAER with this group. I was saying
the following:
.... Let us suppose that Man learns to live a moral life that is free from
conflicts and wars. Many strange things would happen to our civilization
and social development. There would be no fights. There would be no need
of any army, no defense production, arms, missiles, guns, tanks, cruise
missiles, police stations, lawyers, criminal courts, prisons, borders,….
no need of security forces, locks, smuggling, and custom checks. No need
of so many other things that are today taken for granted. Resources could
be diverted to eradicate poverty, disease, and ignorance. There would be
enough funds available for the development of education, health,
recreation, and culture. There would be a safe and happy world. Millions
of people will not die in conflicts and wars, and billions of people would
not live with the chronic fear of wars. Life would be a celebration!
A question keeps coming in my mind, "Is the idea of having a peaceful life
an Utopia or an achievable goal? Conflicting whisper-voices are heard in
my ears. One whisper says that we are standing on the brink of wars. We
have created so many killing machines that every blade of grass can be
killed more than seven times. Opposing to it, I hear another whisper,
which says that the number of wars has been decreasing over time. We are
more engaged in negotiations than ever before. Are we not gradually
progressing towards this Utopia of peaceful life?
The wishful conclusion is that the attainment of this Utopia will take
time. It is not an over-night achievement. It is not an 'all or none'
story. Perhaps, we moved in that direction when we created bodies like the
UN. We are adding more and more mechanisms of seeking negotiations at
local, regional, and global levels. I know that all this is not enough.
Politics and Education have to pursue this matter with a little more
seriousness. It is matter of creating a mindset. We must believe in the
famous ideals of the UNESCO "to construct the defenses of peace in the
minds of men.” My hope is that it will be possible to live in peace some
day.
It is a doable action and an achievable goal. We get such a hint while we
observe nature. We know that many of the living animals do not kill their
own species. But why has Man grown to do so? Is it that during evolution,
man had acquired to fight for survival? Is it compulsive, accidental or
survival behavior? Once I was looking at the exhibits in a museum. I found
that many of those exhibits were related to conflicts, fights, and
battles. I asked a question to myself … "Is it that the museum has
exclusively and purposely chosen such exhibits?" If yes, why so? A
question came to my mind, when and how have men acquired this behavior of
fighting and killing each other? Why are we failing to overcome this
avoidable behavior? I reflected further and found that we do not kill each
other within families that live in intimacy and trust. In such families
and in our groups, we live in harmony. The whole question moves to trust
building. This means that the problem perhaps lies in our up-bringing in
homes, schools, and environment. Some parents purchase guns and tanks and
give them as presents to their own children. Why do they do so?
I want to say that nothing happens by accident. It is we who are
responsible for constructing world-peace or inflicting world-wars. Each of
us is an architect of this world. If you walk in the direction of peace,
you will create your destiny that will be full of peace. Why can we not
decide in favor of the peaceful futures?
Prof. B.K.Passi
Bangkok
--"Passi Bk" <passi.bk@kmutt.ac.th>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.