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Youth
At Work: Building a Global Culture of Peace
by Jason
Crowe
"We as youth must use our
creativity, idealism, and energy to work for non-violence
in our homes, schools communities, countries, and
the world…"
" Think global, act local"
is an appealing slogan, but the advice falls short.
We live in a world where our best friends live on
different continents and we converse more with our
neighbor in Nigeria than our neighbor next door.
No longer is it logical to say, "Charity begins
at home." Instead, our work for human dignity
and human rights must be carried on everywhere at
once. To create a global culture of peace, youth
of the new millennium must think and act both "global"
and "local" contemporaneously.
Youth with a burning inner desire
to see a global culture of peace must seek opportunities
and relationships in which to demonstrate peace.
Over 50 years ago, a child fugitive knew this and
proclaimed, "How wonderful it is that nobody
need wait a single moment before starting to improve
the world" (Frank). As a young teen, Anne Frank
innately knew that the premise for building a global
culture of peace is for each of us to reach out
and touch the lives of as many people as possible
in an attitude of love and tolerance. To accomplish
this goal, young people must work concurrently in
3 spheres: local, national, and global.
Locally, we can create our own
community-based peace clubs and/or we can join established
clubs within schools which promote peace, peer mediation,
and conflict resolution. In these clubs youth can
learn about peace and then go a step further to
educate others by organizing peace walks, writing
letters, distributing petitions, planting peace
gardens, writing poetry and essays about peace to
present in coffee houses, sponsoring peace essay
and art contests, writing peace plays to present
to the public, and/or publishing our own newspapers.
Besides peace clubs, we can create
service clubs. These organizations would unite and
empower youth across racial, ethnic, religious,
and socioeconomic lines to work for multicultural
harmony through volunteerism. Youth would meet to
have fun, learn about each other's differences and
similarities, assess the needs of the community,
and then go out "diverse but united" into
our neighborhoods to meet those needs.
Our multicultural cohesiveness
and desire to help the community would serve as
an example that all peoples can work together to
create a culture of peace. We could raise money
for our service projects and raise community awareness
of global cultures simultaneously by sponsoring
international dinners, multicultural folk dance
exhibitions, foreign language fairs, art fairs with
a multicultural theme, foreign film festivals, and
peace concerts featuring ethnic music.
While acting at the local level,
young people must also act at the national level
to promote peace. Letters, phone calls, emails,
and petitions to Congressmen and the President make
a difference. Youth can join national organizations,
such as Students Against Violence Everywhere, which
have chapters in several states. We can join other
national organizations, such as National Youth in
Action Campaign, which sponsor national-level youth
action councils, youth conventions, and youth action
summits linking young people across the country
to lobby and advocate for human rights, stricter
gun laws, disarmament, hate crime legislation, etc.
In addition, there are national
internships, interfaith programs, summer camps,
summer institutes and online discussions -- all
of which educate youth about peace and give us the
tools and training to speak out and take action.In
addition to working locally and nationally, we must
work internationally. The Internet is a great tool
for building world peace. We can create our own
web pages to promote global peace. Youth can develop
international solidarity by participating in online
discussions, such as those held by Voices of Youth/Unicef,
and long-term programs such as MIT's online international
Junior Summit. We can use the Internet to connect
with international youth organizations such as Peaceways,
International Student Activism Alliance, and Global
Youth Action Network.
Unfortunately, computers and Internet
access are not available to many youth, especially
in third-world countries. This exclusion in a technology-driven
global community is tantamount to withholding humanitarian
aid to victims of famine. Therefore, one of the
major tasks for youth wanting to ensure world peace
is to find creative solutions to this disparity.
We could "encourage" generosity from companies
such as Dell, Microsoft, and AOL by asking them
to supply schools and libraries in third-world countries
with computers. We could lobby Congress to give
incentives to businesses which bring computer technology
and the Internet to all disenfranchised people.
Young people should also pursue
the establishment of an international youth foundation.
Most foundations give grants for specific kinds
of projects benefiting local communities. Youth
need a foundation which will provide grant money
for international projects and which will act as
an umbrella allowing us to create our own initiatives
using the tax exempt status of the foundation to
avoid the hassle and expense of founding our own
501(c)(3) organizations.
Moreover, young people can help
build a global culture of peace by working toward
a permanent presence for children in the UN. Children
under 15 make up 30% of the world's population ("World
Population Trends"), yet we have no voice in
our future. A representative body of youth from
around the world could discuss issues and concerns
and reach consensus. Then, we could either report
to the main body of the UN in an advisory capacity
or try to solve the problem through our own actions.
Youth can make a difference if we are just given
the opportunity to come together and work "all
for one, and one for all" (Dumas).
In conclusion, we as youth must
use our creativity, idealism, and energy to work
for non-violence in our homes, schools, communities,
countries, and the world embracing Francis of Assisi's
prayer, "where there is hatred, let me sow
love" (Halamandaris). We must let our peace
flow outward to influence other youth and adults
to join us in our cause. For it is only when we
agree to settle our disputes and attain "liberty
and justice for all" with words and not wars,
gentleness and not genocide, harmony and not hatred
will we achieve the ultimate goal - a global culture
of peace.
Jason Crowe, a 13 year old from Newburgh,
Indiana, is the winner of our 2000 Swackhamer Peace
Essay Contest (l). Through his organization, the
Cello Cries On, Jason is raising money to commemorate
the innocent lives lost in the Breadline Massacre
- May 27, 1992, Sarajevo, Bosnia - through constructing
the Children's International Peace-and-Harmony Statue.
Jason is profiled in Teens with the Courage to Give:
Young People Who Triumphed Over Tragedy and Volunteered
to Make a Difference
Bibliography
Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers.
Bergenfield, New Jersey: Penguin USA, 1982.
Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young
Girl: The Definitive Edition. Otto H. Frank, Editor.
New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Halamandaris, The Brothers, editors.
Caring Quotes: A Compendium of Caring Thought. Washington,
DC: Caring Publishing, 1994.
"World Population Trends."
United Nations Population Division, Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). May 28, 2000.
Available http://www.un.org |
