Lisa and Jazmin Final

All I Want is Peace

After all the research I have done on world peace this semester, I came to realize that when trying to promote peace, any little thing you do can help.  That is why my short term commitment to promote peace will be to recycle and to treat everyone equally with respect. I chose to recycle to help the pollution problem the environment has to deal with. I also chose to treat everyone with respect because being nice to someone can make their day. They can even be convinced to do the same and so on. In the future I would like to open my own shelter or begin a program to help people who have had a traumatizing life experience and seek help.

The Effect of Pride

I believe that pride is the number one obstacle preventing peace worldwide. I believe that a lot of the violence going on in the world is caused because of the pride people take in the group they are a part of. Some examples can be groups such as gangs, religious groups, groups based on their race, political groups and many more. A great example I can mention is the Violence going on in the city of Juarez. The drug cartels are literally taking over this city and the root of the problem is that the different cartels are competing against each other. Each believe that their group is better than the other and they are going to the extreme to prove it to one another.  At first they began showing it to each other by killing members of each others’ groups but now they have gotten to the point where they are killing innocent people as well. The cartels show that they are proud of what they are doing, or what group they are representing  by leaving certain clues in the crime scenes where they have committed one or several  murders.  The sad part of the situation Juarez is that not even the authorities can control what is going on. A few years ago they even called the military to help with the major problem but it didn’t make a difference, the violence quickly escalated to a point of no control. It is even said that the police is even a part of what is going on.  What they don’t understand is that at the rate they are going, they will eventually run out of people to murder and what will they do next? The best thing one of the sides can do is back down or the city they “run” will be completely destroyed.  But for now, Juarez will continue to be named the most dangerous city in the world.

 Although the violence in Juarez is the one I feel I relate to the most because it is happening so close to me. I am aware that there are so many other situations in which pride plays a major role in the reason why people are not at peace.  Another example would be in domestic violence. So many men and women are victims of domestic violence world wide.  In my family, my grandmother was a victim of domestic abuse for so many years and she set the blame on my grandfathers pride. She believed that my grandfather was very much capable of being a loving husband and father but he began hanging around a group of men who bossed around their wives, so he began to do it as well. His wall never again came down and he got more and more prideful as years passed. Luckily my grandmother got the courage to file for divorce and contact the authorities for her protection.  A lot of victims are not as lucky and some even end up dead.

                 Another great example of why pride gets in the way of peace in the world is with gangs. Driving just a few blocks down the street you can find graffiti written by gangsters to represent what crew they are with. I have seen my share of fights between gang members and at the end of the day; they say it was done because one or the other had insulted the other gang. And the thing is that a lot of the time, members are supposed to prove their pride for their gang by acts of violence. Some of the major gangs even require an initiation that will risk their life or those of others. The amount of pride only increases as the desire for power does as well. Sad thing is that the competition is only getting worse and worse and people even fear that the violence from Mexico will transfer into the U.S.

                At this point I believe that the issue of violence cannot be resolved unless the government sets a good example for society to follow. The government is always talking about promoting peace in the world, but they don’t even realize that they have their own problems depending on which political party they are representing. I believe that if people in higher power start showing peace among everyone and the country really dedicates itself to promote peace, a dramatic change in our society will be made. Even as children, parents begin socializing their kid’s to become part of a certain group and dislike others. I see this happening a lot, whether it’s with sports or in political views, kids are being taught by their parents. If we truly want peace in the world, people need to swallow their pride and admit that there is always going to be someone trying to cause problems, but instead of giving into them, we need to help them out and show everything is better when there is peace.

Juarez

This past weekend there was another shooting in our neighbor city, Juarez. The reason why this particular shooting raised so much controversy was because it took place at a 15 year old boys’ birthday party. I don’t understand what has gotten into the cartels lately but what I do know is that they should not drag fifteen year olds’ into their business. Some people did say however, that the boy they were targeting was part of the war. My opinion about this is that they most likely recruited him to take care of business for them and something went wrong so they went to his home to get revenge. 

An enemy is someone who's story we have not heard

Everybody is different in this world. People have different parents, brothers, sisters, etc. Where a person comes from can and most likely will determine the person they turn out top be in the future. That is why I believe that an enemy is someone who’s story we have not heard.

             Many times we judge people by their actions without really thinking deep into what might have caused them to do what they do. They might have hurt someone you care about or the person they hurt might even be you. But a lot of the times, your enemies’ actions might come about because of the way they were brought up. You never know, but perhaps their parents were abusive so they rubbed off their anger on their children.

            For example, bullies, they are known to be the tough kid in the school or in any place. Nothing seems to phase them but in reality they have something or someone hurting them deep down. At home, he/she might have a lot of problems with their parents. The parents might be alcoholic or they might even abuse other drugs and their kid was a witness to it and became angry because of that. If you don’t know someone’s story maybe it would be nice to ask them what it is and it may explain their actions. 

Women Against Abuse

Domestic violence is a problem that continues to grow in the world, especially towards women. This issue has always really touched me which is why the agency, Women Against Abuse really caught my attention. Women Against Abuse is a program where women who are victims of abuse can come together to help one another get through their trauma. Counseling is offered to victims along with the help of legal professionals when they seek advice. They also have a committee who speaks about the topic of domestic abuse at different locations such as schools, or church’s. Women Against Abuse has various means of communication. They often make phone calls, ask schools to make announcements about their appearances, send e-mails, and also send packets of information to your doorstep. The reason why they make such in effort to inform others about the program is because they know people are afraid to seek any sort of help when deep down they know it is important to do so.  

Building Peace

The building peace video really made me appreciate the fact that as a young woman, I am able to get an education. When people say that the United States people take things for granted at times, they are often right. The video inspires me to give school my all so that maybe one day I’ll be helping woman in other countries get their education and start getting into a career. This also applies with my job. All they allow women to do in some countries is sew. In the U.S. we can pretty much work wherever we want, but it is also linked to our education. They are probably not allowed to work anywhere because they don’t have an education. Everyone needs an education to get somewhere in the future. I believe in many places, the men don’t allow women to get an education because they fear their power will be taken from them by women. But what they don’t understand is that women are more likely to use their power to achieve peace. Knowledge is power and I believe everyone should have the right to earn their education like we do here in the U.S. I think that one day the world will come to peace when people begin to realize that we are all equal and there really is no reason to be fighting with one another. Most people fight for power, money, or because of jealousy without realizing that it will not get them anywhere in life.