This is written by a friend of mine. His name is David Herman.
I think it is very important for you to read this. If you have any comments or questions write directly to David. His e-mail address is at the end of what he has written, so, make sure you read all the way to the end.
Thank-you.
Now, on to what David had to say:
WHY NO PEACE ON EARTH?
I am puzzled, perplexed and deeply disturbed by the fact that after millennia of conflict and slaughter man still has not reached the conclusion that what this world needs more than ever today is peace, in order for human beings to enjoy the benefits of progress that have revolutionized the way we live and made it possible for people to live more comfortably, happily and healthily than ever before. The trouble is, though, that we are failing, even more than in the past, to see the vital need for global peace, and instead nations and leaders still live in the dark ages of hostility, conflict, bloodshed, and harness the technological advances to perfecting the machinery of destruction and warfare to the point where the wholesale destruction of life on earth is a possibility if not a probability. How has this come about and how, after the cataclysmic horrors of the past century's two world wars and Holocaust, are we seemingly bent on following the same path of bloody self-destruction. Is this all that man has learned from his tragic past, and is this what nations and leaders are helping to perpetuate in this new millennium? Wherever one looks one sees conflict both inside and between nations, and the innocent victim who is helplessly drawn into the vortex of conflict must only ask himself, in common with millions of ordinary folk: Is this why I was born? To live my life with the shadows of death and destruction hanging over me? Why is there no peace on earth as the poets described and the prophets foretold? What is wrong with the nations and the leaders? Why are they apparently incapable of grasping the simple fact that ordinary people everywhere just want to live out their allotted days on earth quietly and happily?
Whereas it is clear that only world peace will guarantee the future existence of the human race in a world where war and oppression have at last been eliminated for good, nations, leaders and ideologies, oblivious to the crying need for global peace, are continuing to sow the seeds for mankind's eventual destruction and disappearance by continuing to engage in futile struggles for power, wealth and dominion, over their peoples, their neighbors and other faiths and ideologies. They have learned nothing from centuries of human suffering that have soiled the pages of history, and by their actions they may well bring our history itself to a bitter end.
What then is the answer to this recurring curse? How can mankind ensure its future existence in a peaceful and peace-loving world by eradicating the plagues of lust for power, wealth and dominion that perpetuate conflict and rivalry and by relinquishing and destroying the terrible weapons of mass destruction that threaten us all, and by replacing the ideologies that set peoples at each other's throats with the single sane ideology of peace and peaceful coexistence among human beings everywhere.
I believe that in every nation and faith today there are enough people imbued with the vision, experience, knowledge and the will to lead their people and collaborate with all the others who share their aspiration to lead humanity away from the current dead-end of conflict and conflagration to a new and welcome world in which peace reigns everywhere and in which you and I can enjoy life without the fear of war, bloodshed and destruction, a world in which the welfare and well-being of the individual are paramount, and where the fighting is confined to removing the plagues of crime, corruption, poverty and sickness.
Can it be done? Can humanity's seemingly remorseless march towards catastrophe be halted? Can a world of peace be achieved? I believe that it can and must be. Surely the time is long overdue for such an unprecedented revolution in human affairs and history – and it cannot come about too soon.
David Herman, Jerusalem
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