we all want peace!

It was the London week of peace last week and all of London was agog with one event or the other to mark the week. The theme was unity and the week showed people doing just that and asking that we all keep it going way after the peace week has come and gone.
At the various forums addressing youth gun and knife crimes,disunity amongst people of all cultures, the absence of peace in London and much more, one thing that stood out was, all, want to give peace a chance; right from the london debate 09 to RCCG Mount Zion branch in celebration of the peace week.

When asked what peace meant to these panelist at the London debate, they replied in their own words

"Peace Is an absence of anger,absence of fear,not absence of war,it is a very complex thing.........Pride,wealth,not taking into account value of other people is not peace but a war that is justified".Mohammed Aden Hassan. Committee member London Somali youth forum.

"We all have our own reasons why we do what we do-Peace is a choice I make, if to blame someone else everyday-I believe everyone has dignity,everyone needs to be heard" Jo Berry who's father was killed in the IRA bombings ,she has since gone on to face her father's killer in search of why he did it in order to understand it all .

"Equality,dialogue,understanding each other is true peace.No religion says and demand for the absence of peace,rather it is the peoples desire and greed that leads them to commit atrocities in the name of fighting for their God." Dr Waqar Azmi,chairman waterhouse consulting group.

"Collective consciousness,collective music,collective respect,engaging people,talking to them not at them is the beginning of the healing towards the achieving of peace indeed". Hattie Collins.

"Peace is about everybody taking responsibility for what is going on,to think of how to stop the future generation going the way of gun and knives and the evil that has so befallen our communities". "It is also about giving the people a voice. Having difficult conversation with each other". Commander Steven kavanagh-Metropolitan police.

"PEACE IS BEYOND VIOLENCE- but the pain of other things such as mental illness"- Ejos ubiribos-lost brother through stabbing by another youth.

The peace week highlighted that things were changing.There is now the realisation that peace means different things to different people,not what it use to be eg,the police going to arrest and bundling people into cars and going back and back. That listening more to one another is needed, so also is conflict resolution practices needed and available en-masse.

In summary I believe we need to be asking ourselves what it is we believe in.What are we teaching our children because it has a serious consequences.

Parents,individuals,policymakers should also take responsibility for our peaceful
cohabitation, as policy makers atimes come across as not understanding how society works.

Tolerance,not judging one another,agreeing to disagree are all things that can lead
us to true PEACE.