On the twenty-first of September every year, the world celebrates the International Day of Peace, established by the United Nations General Assembly, during which the world commits to a 24-hour ceasefire and stopping violence. Many wonder, is stopping violence for one day enough to establish peace on Earth? Certainly not, because peace is an urgent human demand in light of the tendencies of evil and human greed that began since the creation of the world and we still see them today in the form of destructive conflicts and wars that claim the lives of millions of people, and those who survive death suffer psychological disorders. Therefore, peace cannot be reduced to an international day or a temporary treaty; it is the axis of life and must be an individual and societal culture so that it persists and is not subject to an expiration date, but reminding about it by designating a special day for it is a good thing.

The term peace has frequently been repeated in the Middle East region from which we come, a region exhausted by wars and conflicts. We heard about peace treaties that were made but were unjust, and thus failed to establish peace among the conflicting parties. All peace conferences failed to find effective solutions to settle the important issues targeting the peace of peoples and their right to live safely. Therefore, I will not elaborate on this unclear aspect, but I have concluded from what precedes that treaties and conferences do not create lasting peace.

For there to be lasting peace, we must start with individuals, and peace must become a culture, not just ink on treaties. I quote here a saying by Mikhail Naimy: "Peace is not born at international conferences but in people's hearts and minds," and this is exactly what I want to address in this article — that peace on the individual level is the most important step in establishing peace in societies.

In my estimation, the peace of peoples is not realized only by ending conflicts raging on borders; there is a more sustainable peace, the one that provides stability, coexistence among members of society, and social security, which includes food security, health security, job security, justice, equal opportunities, and freedom of expression. True peace emanates from within us when we feel our humanity, when we are treated with equality and justice. Then we will adhere to human standards in our dealings with each other, abide by morals and conscience, and accept each other despite differences.

We all seek to live in peace without conflicts, but the human soul is prone to evil. There is the envious, the greedy, and the opportunistic. Many covet what others possess, and thus most conflicts stem from a person's dissatisfaction with what God has allotted him and his greed for what another possesses, so man will remain in a state of conflict for survival as long as life exists. But the least that can be done is to reduce the severity of these conflicts and reach a state of internal peace as much as we can.

And when individuals reach a state of internal peace, the circle of peace will expand and society will become widespread, and it will widen even more when we share this peace with other societies that share this planet, and this will undoubtedly help us as humans to reach a permanent state of peace that enables us to build and prosper.

Community Peace..

Peace holds great importance in our Arab and Islamic culture; peace is one of the beautiful names of God, and it is the greeting with which we initiate when we meet anyone, saying: "Peace be upon you," which is like a prayer for safety from any harm for the other person. This creates a state of reassurance and psychological peace to begin a dialogue with the other party. Because peace is an important factor in the lives of peoples, God Almighty sent the messengers to educate people and raise their morals so that peace would prevail, and therefore all divine books carry the message of peace to all humans.

The concept of peace differs among humans according to their perspective. For those displaced by wars, peace is seen as the end of war and the return to their homes; women suffering from male dominance find peace in achieving equality between them and men; and those who suffer oppression and injustice see peace in justice and equality.

Therefore, we can define community peace as the state of balance that ensures stability for people and provides a healthy climate for creativity and prosperity. If we look at countries suffering from class divisions, we find that they are unstable and violence is rampant due to grudges and hatred. Countries lacking justice among their citizens and dealing on ethnic and sectarian bases are found to be drowning in sectarian conflicts, and due to instability resulting from these conflicts, we observe the absence of all forms of development and progress in these countries.

For peace to be achieved in society, differences in race and sect must be respected. Minorities must be given their right to a decent life just like the majority. Educational and job opportunities must be equal for all members of society and governed by competence, not favoritism and nepotism. The ceiling of justice must be high, beyond the reach of authority’s hands, so that no one is above the law. Accountability must exist so rights are not lost, and most importantly, human value must become the highest value by activating human rights principles. If these principles are achieved, we will see societies that enjoy security and peace, societies that build balanced individuals capable of reconstructing a renaissance and peace.

How can we as individuals reach a state of internal peace?!

Peace must be a culture for everyone to live in internal peace, which is the state that makes the individual reconciled with himself and those around him, meaning that he feels content with himself and his circumstances, accepts his conditions no matter how difficult, and coexists with them based on the principle that one accepts what he cannot change. He acknowledges his mistakes, corrects them, and accepts others despite their flaws.

To reach internal peace, we must free ourselves from the past. Here I mean freedom from the evils of the past and the dark points in memory that always pull us backwards and imprison us in the nucleus of painful events. The solution here is to have the virtue of forgiveness: we forgive those who have wronged us one day to get rid of the state of anger and resentment, this hateful negative feeling that poisons human relationships. We free ourselves from our failed experiences that put us in a state of hesitation and fear of new experiences, we free ourselves from the victim mentality we were inflicted with due to others exploiting us. We must build ourselves on just foundations in which we respect our selves and our abilities. We must help others because this creates a state of contentment with ourselves and grants us internal peace.

We live in societies that burden us with many responsibilities and consume our human energies, and this may make us lose the ability to see other aspects of life, so we fall short in some aspects and thus the balance needed to establish internal peace is disrupted. In life, there are important aspects we must care for, such as family, annual vacations, connecting with relatives and friends, and most importantly, not overburdening ourselves beyond our capacity.

Here, I would like to point out a dangerous factor that has begun to threaten individuals' psychological peace, namely social media and what we see on screens of the fiascos of those called social media celebrities who display their lives publicly and live in ostentatious luxury although most of them do not have any content worthy of watching. The problem is that many competent and experienced people struggle to earn a living with effort and labor and have become resentful and frustrated with their situation when they compare their lives with those celebrities. Therefore, I see that social media has greatly contributed to the absence of internal peace among many individuals, and for this we must focus more on the real world and not make the virtual world an ideal model, as what we see on screens does not reflect the reality of things.

To summarize my point of view, until we reach lasting peace, we must abide by our conscience and morals in our dealings with others. Conscience blaming robs the mind of calmness and internal peace. Let us practice our human emotions in balance: we rejoice and we grieve, we cry and we laugh, we err and we apologize, we get angry and forgive, and we express these emotions at the right time and spontaneously.

Let peace be a culture and a lifestyle so we may enjoy societies governed by peace, security, and a decent life for all.

Salwa Hammad