As defined by the United Nations, the Culture of Peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13 : Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243, Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace). For peace and non-violence to prevail, we need to:

This evening while exploring the UNESCO (United Nations Cultural, Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) website I came across a very interesting program under Themes. The program is called a CULTURE OF PEACE! I thought that it sounded like a great program, something that I would like to be a part of.

After reading through their program, I began to reflect upon what I had just read. I was surprised by the amount of negative language that was used in taking about the importance of peace. I believe that all words in a symbolic oriented society have energy connected to them. I wondered how it was possible to create something positive like peace using negative language to achieve it?

For example, the Declaration and Programme of Action for the Culture of Peace States, “Culture of Peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence…” If peace is the goal, I thought it would make more sense to focus on peace, not rejecting violence. I am not an expert, I just thought if the focus was on embracing peace. I would have written it like this, Culture of Peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behavior and ways of life that embrace peace as the way of life…

Lastly, in thinking about world peace what if there was another way to achieve world peace. What if we could build a culture of peace one person at a time by embracing peace as a way of life? I think that we could achieve this by promoting inner peace and self-love. Using Inner peace and self-love, I believe that we could build a more lasting, sustainable peace! People who are at peace generally do not start wars!