Is World Peace Achievable?

How can we achieve world peace?

    How many times have we asked this question to ourselves? Or how many times has the word, "world peace," been abused by a lot of fake peacemakers? Countless times, indeed.

    This grand concept has always been aspired by so many musicians and artists, while some TV shows also use it as a catch to raise funds and achieve high audience ratings. However, not so many people have argued over the definition of it. What is it exactly like to live in a peaceful world?

    In this essay, I would like to make a concrete definition of the state of world peace, and then argue how we can work together to achieve it.

     Before we argue what the state of world peace is, I should mention that we are not saying a perfect world with no pain is possible. At individual levels, we sometimes experience unwelcome events, and some of those events are inevitable. We cannot do away with natural disasters, and also we cannot rewrite our DNA to become somebody else, well, at least not yet. There are things out of humans' control, and there is no use discussing things we cannot control or change. However, there are also things manageable by human beings, which are the systems and the structures of human society. So when I mention the word, "world peace," it always means a state of balance human beings can achieve through talks and endeavors, not a dream or far-fetching idea.

    The definition of "world peace" I want to make in this essay is pretty simple. It is the security and well-being of life in three aspects: physical, mental, and social lives.

    Physically, we humans need food and water supply to survive, a place to live in to keep ourselves safe and comfortable away from possible dangers or threats, and a medical care service to recover from sickness and injuries.

    Mentally, we all first need to feel good. Happiness is the key to our mental health, so doing whatever makes us happy is the best. Good communication and relationships with others make us feel loved and satisfied. Removing worries, anxieties, stresses, and other negative feelings from our lives is also the basis of our mental happiness. Having hope and positive expectations for the coming future is also very important to keep our mental health.

    Socially, we need to feel connected to others and respected by the members of the societies to which we belong. Social life quality, in general, has a lot to do with communication skills and other skills or abilities. Sharing common interests and topics with others can also make the connection strong. Last but not least, having a good occupation and getting enough income will firmly secure your social status.

    Those three aspects combined, we can lead a happy life, and if every one of us in world society can achieve balanced triangles of those aspects, we can call it the state of world peace.

    Now we have a clear image of the concept of world peace. If everyone in the world would have a fair opportunity to achieve this happiness triangle in their physical, mental, and social life, it is the world peace that we seek. So the next question is: Will that be possible?

    There are too many impediments on the way to achieving world peace, but roughly speaking, we can classify them into three categories: mind immaturity, existing social inequality, negative inheritance from history.

    It is easy to understand how immature human minds still are when turning our eyes to technologies that have advanced amazingly in the past centuries.

    Technology has innovated our lives dramatically. Instead of riding a horse, we now drive a car, ride a train, airplane, or even space shuttle as a means to travel. In the infotech field, we now live in a different universe from the times we did not have a computer and the Internet. Within this small device called a smartphone, the universe of information and intelligence has been expanding with lightning speed. And we're getting close to entering the territory of God in genetic engineering and some other fields that make humans a creator of life.

    On the other hand, how far have we come mentally? Have we dissolved anger and hatred and stopped all the wars and killings? Nope. Are we mentally much more loving, caring, and less selfish than centuries ago? Doubtful. Have the numbers of crimes and frauds reduced? Well, the case went the opposite. We are still as weak, selfish, indifferent, insecure, and imperfect as we were centuries ago.

    We need to advance mindedly as well, or otherwise, the massively growing power of technologies deserves better handlers than we immature humans. Immature minds can turn evil when empowered with arms beyond their capabilities. So it is quite dangerous that our abilities based on the rapidly growing technologies are extending, while our minds remain the same. It is like giving a rifle to an elementary school boy, allowing him to do whatever he likes to do to make himself happy. Now, who do you think are the owners of nukes? Are they better humans than you are? It gives me chills just to think of the fact that this is the world we live in!

     As a result of this dilemma that our minds haven't grown up in proportion to tech advancements, many social problems have emerged, the most serious one being the problem of social inequality.

    It is too apparent that, in a sense, we are all different, and those differences can also be named inequality. Some of us are shorter in height than others, less excellent and good-looking than those blessed ones, and weak physically or mentally. However, we accept those genetic differences because they give us unique identities different from manufactured robots.

    On the other hand, social inequality is something changeable, and it has to do with the rules and systems of society. While there are kids who don't have a shelter to sleep in, there also are blessed kids who have everything they need and want in their lives from the beginning. Those inequalities have been handed down from generation to generation, and the gaps have been enlarged, which means the social rules and systems are there to consolidate the advantage of the rich. It is a very difficult problem to solve as long as we humans believe in money than in humanity. Also, it is a sensitive issue to openly discuss because everybody loves to believe in their goodness but nobody wants to see their tax goes up while income goes down.

    All the negative things we inherited from the past are hard to deal with, for they are deeply ingrained in our minds, thoughts, and society's hearts.

    Throughout history, humans have caused countless hatreds and resentments to generate. Finding outer enemies to maintain inner unity has been the golden method for the rulers to keep the people loyal to their entity. They have used any differences they could think of, such as philosophies, religions, political beliefs, and even colors of skins to create enmities, to defame their enemies, and justified wars and killings. Historical resentments often last not only for decades but sometimes for centuries because nobody can erase the horrible events in the past.

    Racial, ethnical, sexual, and social class discriminations also have deep roots in society. Even now that many African Americans won equal levels of social status and quality of living as the white Anglo Saxons in the States, there still are some people who claim that they are discriminated. Similarly, in Japan as well, there are an association named Buraku Liberation League. Although most young people don't even know about the word, "buraku," there are activists who claim that those descendent of buraku are still tolerating the disadvantage they have had as discriminated minorities. As Me Too movement went viral several years ago, many sexually abused women had also kept their repressed feelings inside. Those who got wounded would never forget the experience, while those who hurt others easily forget what they had done.

    While our abilities have changed dramatically with the advancement of technology, our mental stage hasn't advanced much, and we are not capable enough to manage those abilities given to us. And even in this richest world ever in human history, some elementary problems, such as poverty, wars, and other social problems are left unsolved because of our mental immaturity. We have also failed in renewing ourselves and setting ourselves free from all the negative inheritances from the past. So, how can we dissolve those dilemmas?

    In my opinion, the world first needs to change three things: the leading philosophies and future visions, education and media, and the systems and structures of society.

     The world needs a new philosophy suitable for the coming future. As discussed above, our target is to realize world peace, so the future vision is clear as snow.

    First, we need to match our collective mindset to the abilities technological advancement has brought to us.

    Second, we want every person to have an opportunity to live contently and happily without tolerating fixed inequality.

    Third, we need to free ourselves from the negative chains from the past and work together to make the world a positive place for everyone.

    The new philosophy to lead the world should be: Team up for world peace!

    To materialize the philosophy, we first need to change education and media because these two make people the people.

    We are products of education. Depending on the educational goals, children can become either killers or humanists. Instead of teaching students resentments from the past, teachers should teach children to accept all the differences and love each other to make the world a happy and peaceful place for everyone. Students should also learn to help the weak by sharing what they have. The meaning of success students should learn is not just to win the race but to make others happy.

    The media also needs to change because they are the most powerful influencers in society. Based on how they report an event, the majority form their opinions. In other words, if there is an evil intention on the media's side, it can easily manipulate people and lead them in the wrong direction. Since its business runs on advertisements, there is always a risk that whoever pays more money takes control of the media. Considering its mission to serve the public good, this is quite problematic. Therefore, the media companies should shift to a subscription model where all the viewers pay an equal amount of money. The legislation would also be necessary to ban any types of donation or to have other income sources to keep the media clean and public.

    Most importantly, we need to change the systems and structure of society, and it is where political actions come in. Without strong political leadership, it is impossible to change the structure of society.

    First, to eliminate fixed inequality over generations, it is necessary to drastically change the ideas of possessions. The main reason why the economic disparity between the rich and the poor has expanded largely is that assets are inherited through generations. Those born in an affluent family have a promised future to stay rich throughout their lives because they have financial assets that continue to bring them profits, such as real estate properties, stocks, and other investments. On the other hand, children from impoverished families have nothing to inherit. Also, they have fewer chances to get a good education to get a high-paying job because their parents cannot afford the educational investment. For eliminating this inequality, it is necessary to change inheritance customs. However, it is a very complicated issue that should be discussed in combination with other taxes, education, housing, income-related issues, and company laws.

     Next, let me briefly go over tax reformation. In my opinion, governments of nations should agree to raise inheritance tax and corporate tax while lowering other taxes. Inheritance is the key factor of fixed financial disparity as we have discussed. By raising the rate of inheritance tax to 90% at maximum based on progressive taxation, we can factually end inheritance customs. It doesn't mean this will solve all the problems related to the inequality issue, but it will largely change the meaning of assets and people's way of thinking on financial planning. It also works as a stimulant to boost the economy, for people will start using money instead of saving them for their children. As a result, the revenues brought to the governments will significantly increase, and they will become financial resources for welfare spending. 

    Along with those changes, introducing the basic income model will be one of the major structural reformations. With the increased funds for social welfare, the governments can redistribute the money to every member of society to assure equal opportunity to live and make a challenge in their lives. The basic income guarantees everyone's survival, and work income brings them extra happiness and excitement in life they deserve! 30% of the population might stop working, 40% of the people might lose motivation to work hard, but the rest will keep working hard to enjoy their lives. In the world robots and artificial intelligence take over humans in business, this balance will be perfect because we need more consumers than workers in the future society.

     Educational reform will be the most challenging part of this structural reformation. The purpose and the targets of new education should comply with the future society model that all society members are to team up for world peace instead of maximizing a personal benefit. To change the world into a better place, we need to change our mindset first, and education has a crucial role in developing our sense of values.

      Last but not least, we have to dispose of weapons of mass destruction, especially nukes. Those are the weapons that can thoroughly destroy our civilization, and we have to prove that we are smart enough to abandon them for the future of human beings and the environments of the Earth. This future will be possible after all the nations and their peoples have successfully shifted to the new structures of society we have discussed already.

    In this essay, we first defined "world peace" as the state where every person can feel content physically, mentally, and socially. We have also discussed the impediments of world peace, which are our mental immaturity, fixed inequality, and negative inheritance from the past. To dissolve those impediments and get close to the state of world peace, we first need to renew the leading philosophies and future visions of the world. Followingly, it is necessary to reform education and media, and then remodel the systems and structures of society.

     Claiming for world peace might sound either lame or too green. Since the theme is too big and wide, I might not have succeeded in organizing the ideas neatly. However, it is also true that this is the question everybody would love to know the answer and yet nobody has given a concrete answer. And maybe it is more important to keep asking ourselves how and discuss than just giving up and saying it is impossible.

Questions

1. Does the author say that we can eliminate all the pains and sorrows from the world?

2. What are the things humans cannot control?

3. What are the things humans can control?

4. According to his theory, what is the state of world peace?

5.  Have our mentality experienced any innovation in the past century?

6. How is "inequality" different from "differences?"

7. Why are education and media so important to materialize the philosophy?

8. How does he claim to solve the problem of inequality?

9. Is the author saying complete disarmament is necessary? If not, why do you think he is not?

10. Do you think world peace is achievable? Why do you think so?

Translation

Make sure to;

1. Try to read the writer's mind.

2. Find out the thesis of the essay.

3. Imagine the setting and translate it into adequate expressions.

4. Try not to focus only on words but implied nuance so you would keep the spirit in the original alive.

5. Reflect cultural differences, if necessary, to make it easy for readers to comprehend the message correctly.

抑えるべきポイント；

1．書き手の頭の中を読み取りましょう。

2．エッセイの核（一番伝えたい中心メッセージ）を見つけましょう。

3． 場面を想定し、ふさわしい表現を使って訳するようにしましょう。

4．言葉だけではなく、言葉にならないニュアンスの部分に注意を払い、原文が持つ響きを活かしましょう。

5．読み手がメッセージを正しく理解できるように、必要に応じて、文化的な背景の違いもまた反映しましょう。

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