November 2006

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Eternal Peace
by Sara White

Editor's Note: This essay was the winner of the Robert E. Curtis Prize in 2006. Sara White, who wrote it while a senior at Gettysburg High School, is now a first-year student at Dickinson College.

Obtaining “peace eternal in a world united” is not an easy task. In order to achieve this goal, I think we must first understand the meaning of the term “peace eternal.” The reference on the Peace Light Memorial was dedicated by some 1,800 Civil War Veterans in 1938 in hopes that our nation would never again be split. They made a monument to exemplify peace and hope that our Country would never again have to experience another civil war. Broadly speaking, peace can mean the end of war and hostilities, or it can mean maintaining harmonious relations. With this understanding of peace, I feel I can contribute in my own ways to achieve this ultimate goal.

First and foremost, I myself need to keep myself in check. In order to keep harmonious relations, I feel the youth today need to learn how to handle confrontations in a non‑violent manner. Peace does not necessarily mean absence of conflict. Conflict is inevitable, but there is an appropriate way to handle it. There is a way I can express my opinions without being aggressive. I need to be able to establish a peace in myself that I can show and hopefully rub off onto other people.

I also need to make sure that my voice is heard in the larger world. Through Amnesty International, I write continual letters to Pennsylvania Senators to show that I care. Just recently, I wrote a letter concerning the Anti‑Torture Amendment, expressing my views that there should not be exemptions in this amendment. An important aspect in eternal peace is improving human rights. I need to make sure I myself practice equality among all and hopefully, show others these practices.

In order to have “eternal peace,” I feel there needs to be a world free of meaningless violence and killing. Our world today is moving to a militaristic machine. Further, nuclear arms could potentially have horrific outcomes for the world. This year has been filled with what is often categorized as wasteful and useless war and terror. Society as a whole is responsible for this. I myself cannot accept this occurrence in the world today if I hope to make a difference in establishing “eternal peace.” It is important to resolve any conflicts around the world today and I can help further this by joining any organizations and supporting those leaders that share these views. Our country needs to stop war and learn the meaning of negotiating.

Lastly, in order to have “peace eternal in a world united,” there needs to be equality among all countries. I feel I should make a difference in helping developing countries establish themselves. It is important to promote democracy in third world countries and I will do whatever I can to help further this task.

Many past events exemplify the need for our world to come together and to form the ultimate “peaceful world.” There are numerous things I can do to help achieve this and hopefully, if all of society practices these tasks, our world truly can have “peace eternal in a world united.”

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