Some politicians casually say that difficult international problems should be left for the next generation to solve. But this effectively means tolerating the cruelty of war until then.
Because of such a lack of vision among political leaders, humanity continues to live under the heavy burden of unresolved “difficult international problems.” As long as this continues, the road to peace remains distant.
When speaking about peace, we must never forget the existence of young people, including elementary, middle, and high school students. The younger generation, who will become the central actors of the future, must be taught the history and present reality of the world — including war — and the importance of peace in language they can clearly understand.
At the same time, we must never plant prejudice or preconceived notions in their minds. To impose bias upon young people is like secretly stuffing old values and false assumptions into their pockets. Under such conditions, healthy awareness and independent thought cannot grow.
Departure from Chaos
According to modern understanding, the universe was born approximately 13.8 billion years ago. Then, about 4.6 billion years ago, the Earth was formed, humanity eventually appeared, and the long history leading to today’s population of eight billion people began.
That was all.
At that time, there were no instructions telling humanity what to do or how to live. There were no standards defining beauty or ugliness, good or evil.
Within such chaos, the minimum wisdom necessary for survival slowly emerged. As humans searched daily for food, cooperation appeared alongside conflict and desire. Concepts such as territory, family, community, protection, society, and discrimination gradually came into existence.
Without even possessing a concept of peaceful coexistence, our ancestors acquired various tools, methods, and ways of life through spontaneous learning and ingenuity. Among them surely existed violence and plunder as well.
Wisdom and cunning evolved further, eventually producing the “civilized” concepts of borders, nationality, and war. These ideas became increasingly complex, reaching their peak in the modern age.
Unfortunately, as daily reports of wars and conflicts demonstrate, cunning often prevails over wisdom, and violence over dialogue. Humanity continues searching for solutions through the United Nations, international law, diplomacy, politics, and policing.
However, such efforts are merely a temporary process of retracing our steps in the name of “reflection,” searching for a leak in an old pipe and sealing it with a patch.
It is as though humanity dropped breadcrumbs along the path to avoid getting lost — breadcrumbs made of words, memories, knowledge, experiences, and definitions. We pick them up one by one, dust off the mold, and force them into new places like mismatched puzzle pieces. But such methods cannot prevent new leaks from emerging, because the puzzle itself is confined within the limiting frame of fixed assumptions.
Relying on mold-covered breadcrumbs from the past cannot truly solve humanity’s problems. Instead, we must set those breadcrumbs aside, look broadly upon the entire path of history, prepare fresh breadcrumbs — new ways of thinking, new values, new visions, and new historical turning points — and move forward while leaving them behind as new guideposts.
Fortunately, we possess at least enough wisdom to recognize such turning points in history. We also know how to look back and reflect upon the mold-covered breadcrumbs of the past in search of solutions.
What humanity must do now is establish a future-oriented vision and move history toward a new direction — sdg0now: a world without war — while sweeping aside the mold-covered breadcrumbs of outdated assumptions and values such as war and invasion.
At this stage, it is essential that those mold-covered breadcrumbs be completely discarded. If even traces remain, humanity will continue to be ruled by obsolete assumptions and outdated values, forever misled by the very breadcrumbs we believed we had kicked aside, and condemned to repeat tragic wars and conflicts.
We must not be trapped by the word “war.” We must step away from the concept itself and find another path. Even if the word remains in memory, we must never feel tempted to experience it again. The negative relics of the past may be subjects for study and reflection, but they must never become objects of admiration.
Children’s Rights Are the Responsibility of Adults
The moment humanity renounces war should become the beginning of a new chapter in history — a new vision for civilization.
We must first imagine a world without war, and then ask how peaceful societies can be built from there.
The tragedy of war is not limited to the loss of human lives. Rebuilding cities, apartments, schools, hospitals, and parks reduced to rubble by bombing, as well as providing safe beds, warm meals, and clean water to those affected, requires unimaginable amounts of time and enormous financial resources.
Those who will bear these immense social and economic burdens are today’s children, the young people who will support future society, our sons and daughters, and our grandchildren.
Children do not easily forget their distrust of adults. Their anxiety, grief, inconvenience, and suffering were all created by adults. And even now, such foolishness continues as though it were normal.
This is because the monster called “war” still lives powerfully within human hearts as an entrenched concept often wrapped in glorified stories and heroic myths. As long as that remains unchanged, the option of war can never truly disappear.
Even more alarming is the possibility that anger, resentment, and hatred toward former enemy nations are being engraved into children’s hearts under the name of “education.” If so, war may continue repeating itself across generations in the form of revenge.
Even when diplomacy appears to improve international relations little by little, humanity may still be living merely by relying upon the mold-covered breadcrumbs scattered along history’s road of war.
The blogger wishes to ask the leaders of the world:
How much longer do you intend to force young people to live under the shadow of war, fear, uncertainty, and hopelessness?
As promised by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, young people everywhere have the right to live freely and pursue their dreams.
The younger generation — the protagonists of the future — deserves a bright future filled with hope, freedom, and possibility.
Young people possess sincere passion and a genuine desire to contribute to human welfare and peace. In science, academics, sports, art, welfare, and entertainment, they are eager to inspire one another, cooperate fairly, and compete honorably.
There are no young people who dream of spending their lives trapped in ugly struggles for domination, carrying competition even into outer space merely for personal glory. Nor are there young people who genuinely long to follow selfish leaders driven by such ambitions.
The future of humanity depends upon them.
We must entrust young people with the great responsibility of proving that humanity is not destined to remain foolish forever.
We must never forget that they are the true “time-binders” — the ones who will continue weaving the grand story of human history across the stage of the universe.
Continue ⇒ SDG0-3 | Live and Let Live
