What Peace Really Is...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xh9VfGjKMQ

Hello the people of VoY!

So I wanted to start this post with a #tb to World Peace Day by sharing the video I have prepared this September. The video you see on the link is prepared by the lovely efforts of participant from all over the world to share a beautiful message on my request. I think it turned out quite cool so I wanted to share it with you. Let me know what you think :)

Now, back to topic:

This summer, I had the chance to think about the world we live in. And one of things I thought about the most was peace. I thought about what peace is. I thought about the people or the societies who claimed to live in peace and I questioned the reality of the state they are in. Then I realized how the concept of peace is misunderstood by them.

Peace is often seen only as the absence of conflict and violence. A state of stability and order where everything is in its "place" and everyone plays their "role". But is this really peace if this stability is achieved by oppression of certain people who do not fit in this picture or is this really peace if you need to make others change or give up on who they are? Is this really peace if some people are forced to live a life they don't want or held back from living the life they want?

This questions of mine lead me to other questions. Can peace be achieved in a world which some people lack their fundamental rights and others live in privilege? Can peace be achieved where people force their world view on each other? Can peace be achieved where people are filled and surrounded by a culture of violence and discrimination? Can peace be achieved in a world where people are not free, free to be who they are, free to love, free to speak, free to learn?

I say no. No it can't.

So I understood this summer that peace is not a passive state but an active one. It's not stability but
sustainability. And to achieve peace we have to create world where everyone is born not just with equal rights but also with equal opportunities.

I began this post with a #tb to International Day of Peace; because this year's International Day of Peace was special for me, because I saw that other people, realize the same problems, I did about peace. One of the campaigns that inspired me most was IFMSA's peace day campaign which was focused on sustainability (it was a social media campaign on SDGs). It was very empowering to witness that there were others among young people, who thought just like me.

And this made me realize, we as the youth of this world, have the great power to see what's not right with it and lead the change. By realizing what keeps us from achieving peace we can advocate for the opposite. We can promote equality by demanding: quality education for all, free accessible healthcare, gender equality, healthy work conditions, free
speech, action towards discrimination...

We are the future of this planet, we are the hope. If we work for peace, peace will happen.

Lastly I say:

Where people live without oppression and privilege,

Where people have their rights,

Where people are free,

There is peace.