World Changing Commitments

World Changing Commitments

There are many things one can do to make a change in the world, and this does not apply only to people with money. It applies to every single individual in this world. No matter where you are or who you are, you can make a difference. That is why I believe that if every human being made a commitment for peace and see it through we could get closer to world peace.

            So to support my believe I will make two commitments, a short-term commitment and a long-term commitment. My short-term commitment will be to make three random act of kindness to three different persons and smile to as many persons as I can, in an attempt to spread kindness among the world. My long-term commitment would be to finish my career as a mechanical engineer and work every day to make the world a better place for the generations to come. I have hope that my commitments will make a positive change in the world and that humanity will change its ways.

Inner Peace

Inner Peace

When people hear the word peace most of the time they think about all the world grabbing hands and singing happy songs. But people seem to forget there are many kinds of peace, one of them being inner peace.

Inner peace is very important, because how you are and feel in the inside is what you project and manifest into the outside world. So, if you have inner peace you will feel great and live a more happy life. Also, you will transfer that feeling of peace and harmony into others making a chain of peace throughout the world.

Know that you know inner peace can change your life and the world, work every day to keep a calm mind and find the positive side on everything, be patient and respectful, and smile to everybody to start a wave of change in the world you live.

Fear and rejection of what is different

Fear and rejection of what is different

            Have you ever seen someone do something that not even in your wildest dreams you could have thought of doing? If so, what was your reaction? Many people around the world experience these kinds of situations and often feel offended or disgusted by them. Some people even react violently to something they don’t like. That is why fear of and rejection of what is different is a major element preventing peace. By secluding themselves, people stay away from one of the main paths to peace which is dialogue and understanding. That is why we need to open ourselves to new experiences and different opinions.

            One may reject something so little as food or something bigger such as a city or country.  For example, North Korea and South Korea were in a constant fight that kept on going because of their different ideals, communism and democracy respectively. They rejected each other’s ideals in extreme ways, but when they decided to sit down and talk, they were able to reach an agreement in which they ended their fighting, not the war, but at least many lives were saved.

            If by trying to reach an agreement these countries ended their fighting, then maybe someday they will end their war.

            Besides rejecting actions and ideals, people also reject preferences. Sexual orientation is a constant factor of conflict around the world. For different reasons, like religion or ignorance, people reject and fear other people who have a “different” sexual orientation from the one that is “normal” (man-woman, woman-man). Such rejection has grown to such an extent that gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered people have started to commit suicide from the extreme feelings of guilt, shame, sadness, despair and depression that came from these rejections.

            Google Chrome launched a commercial for the campaign “It Gets Better” to let people with a “different” sexual orientation know that even if you face rejection and bullying for who you are, there’s still hope. Not the whole world thinks alike and there are people who accepts and tries to understand everybody no matter who they are.

            It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, there will always be people, actions or ideologies that may clash with your own values, ideas, and persona. But when we face these kind of situations, we must not close ourselves; instead, we must try to understand and respect whatever differences we face. Because, right now you may be rejecting something but someday you could be the rejected one.

Stand up!

Standing up for what you believe or what you are can be a terrifying thing. That is why we shouldn't attack or bully people who have the courage to do so. In the video, we see two boys being bullied for showing their love to each other, but in the end their friends stood up for them. And even better, they stood up for them in a peaceful way. Just like their friends, the whole world needs to respect, understand, and have tolerance for each other. That’s why if you see someone being bullied, don’t just watch and do nothing, stand up for them in a peaceful way. If you do, you’ll make a big difference in that person’s life and in the world.

Egypt

Egypt was named a Republic since June 18, 1953, but in the year 1967 Egypt was officially under a Emergency Law that has kept on going until now. This law gives the government the right to arrest and keep people in prison indefinitely, limit freedom of expression, and use a special type of court and government. The citizens of Egypt started to get  overwhelmed with the situation but it wasn't until Husni Mubarak's 30-year rule (1981-2011) that they wouldn't take more and rose against their government. Everything started with the youth of Egypt, they organized via social networks on the internet like facebook and twitter and started to do nonviolent protests. The older Egyptians soon followed the young ones when they saw their courageous acts and their desire to gain  true democracy. Sure some of the nonviolent protests ended violently but it wasn't the revolutionaries fault, they only reacted to the violence the army or pro-Mubarak citizens used against them.

In February 11, 2011, Mubarak step down from his position as president and left in charge the Egyptian army as a response to the nonviolent protests thousands of Egyptians did through 18 days. I'm truly proud and inspired by the events that occurred in Egypt, not only did they achieved their purpose but they did it in a peaceful way. I believe the world can use Egypt's example as proof that we can settle disputes in a peaceful way.  

University for Peace

Date:   February 14, 2011

To:       1311 students

From:   Daniel Morales

RE:      University for Peace

Since the beginning of human history, we’ve seen, over and over again, wars and conflicts sprout among ourselves, but in the past few decades there has been an alarming rise of these situations that endanger the survival of humankind. The United Nations saw the great danger and threat to peace inside these situations and decided to take action against. However, member states realized that most of what they did only solved the conflicts already present, but it didn’t prevent them. They analyzed the situation and concluded that the disarmament of countries and closure of conflicts was necessary and must be continued, yet something was missing. That key factor to prevent war was education. They recognized that to maintain peace, they needed to seed the idea of peace in the human mind, and the way to do that was education. So, to completely prevent these situations they created the University for Peace.

The University for Peace is focused on teaching and promoting important values and qualities such as tolerance, equality, respect, love, understanding, and friendship, all in order to offer humankind an institution of higher education for peace that that will help people live in harmony among themselves and their environment. That is why its main campus is located in Costa Rica, a country that disarmed its army, has a female president, and is considered one of the greenest countries in the world. The University was founded there to honor the constant efforts of Costa Rica to achieve peace, democracy, equality and sustainability, and set it as an example to the world and its students that it can be done. The students who apply need to have a four-year undergraduate degree and be fluent in English, and if they have experience in related themes to those of the University is a plus. Candidates may apply from anywhere in the world; that’s why the University has such a diverse and rich alumni and faculty. Teachers from all around the world will come to the university to teach the students, face-to-face, all the tools they will need to achieve their goal of peace. That way, no matter where the graduate goes, he/she will be able to apply all that he/she learned to achieve peace where it is needed.

People all around the world can get insight on the University for Peace through its informative website. The website offers contact information on the main campus, for the general public, students and, donors; and links to its Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts. Future students can find all the information they need to enroll in the school, on what their courses will be like, and on who will their resident teachers as well as their visiting teachers will be. Donors can access a special section that will tell them in detail how their donations will be used and where they will be thanked if they do donate. The webpage also offers a detailed library on peace-related issues and various links to different initiatives the University for Peace endorses.

The University for Peace has been opened for 30 years and according to its website, there are 192 students currently enrolled. There are more than 900 alumni. As we head on to our future, we hope to see an increase in the student number, showing a rise in the interest for peace from the world and getting closer to world peace.

Education is the way!

Education is the way!

Education is one, if not the one, of the greatest things a person can acquire during his lifetime. We can see from our history that education has always been a precious thing but a privilege that only persons in the past with money or power or influence had. We can see from this that education indeed was and is a coveted, important and powerful thing.

In our present time things have changed; now, education should be a free right to every human being and in most countries it is, but unfortunately for underdeveloped countries this is not the case. That’s why Greg Morrison decided that creating the Central Asian Institute, to help people from Central Asia earn a certain level of education for them to have a higher quality of life, was the best way to return the favor of them saving his life.

Citizens of countries like Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan will learn important lifelong skills such as basic hygiene, how to write and read, how to perform mathematical operations, and how to do crafts and make clothes. They will be able to apply this acquired knowledge to earn money and gain another income to their homes, protect their families, and to help them stay alive and healthy.

I personally like this project and totally agree with the idea of educating all the persons who want to be educated because since I was little my parents always taught me that education was indispensable for life and that with it we can change the world into a better place. This example clearly shows that one person can make the difference in the world, and if we all make a difference, we will surely make our home a better place to live.

Achieving the "Impossible"

Achieving the "Impossible"

Albert Einstein once said, “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” I believe that in his words we can find two key elements towards achieving peace, which would be “by force” and “to understand.”

It is a fact that we cannot hold on to peace by means of force such as armies and weapons because the very existence of these put in danger and go against what peace stands for. Now, people may think that they can’t live without these “essential” things for survival, but that is not true; in fact, there is already a country in the world that has dismantled its army. Costa Rica understood that its land, people, and natural resources were far more important than fire power and so it took all the funding of its army away to preserve what really matters.

We can follow Costa Rica’s example into the other key element, which is “to understand.” Just as they did, we need to understand each other and the place where we live. We cannot imagine the positive effects that would come out with just a little bit more communication between us. Many persons would think that peace is impossible to achieve, but they are wrong; in fact, thinking that way is what makes it impossible. We all just have to understand, respect, and love each other and then we will start moving in a direction towards peace.

I hope that I get to see a peaceful world in a near future and of course I will do my best every day to put a part in to making this happen. One way to start changing is doing a random act of kindness or following the “Golden Rule”: One should treat others as one would like others to treat one. With these two actions we’ll start changing the way we live little by little. I know that peace may be a hard thing to achieve but we must not lose sight of our goal and we must keep faith that all humanity will understand each other and achieve peace some day.