Opinion: To live in peace, we must choose peace, not for one, but for all

How can we ask justice for some and injustice for others? How can we cheer for bombs to fall on the houses of some, but not on the houses of others? These women and men are our fellow brothers and sisters, are they not?

A child is a child. A woman is a woman. A man is a man.

It doesn’t matter what we believe or where we’re from. It’s who we are that matters, and we are inherently humans. It’s our humanity that unites us, not divides us.

Our first identity is that of being a human: it is what defines us before any type of food, flag, clothing, music, political party, or language we all inherited from our forefathers and pride ourselves on today. And yet, it is the differences between us humans, that makes us stronger not weaker.

John Hume reminded us repeatedly, that difference is not only an accident of birth but the essence of humanity. It is not something you fight about, but something you respect.

He was right then. He is still right now. I would take this definition further though. Difference is something you celebrate not discriminate. Difference is an opportunity to build unity. A unity rooted in our humanity.

Our world chooses peace.

How do I know? Because let’s look at our human society - made of the sum of its people – and how it craves for peace, justice and beauty for all. Today, we humans, want Winners and Servants of Peace not ‘Masters of War’.

The path we choose to take is not one of despair, chaos, and discord but rather a path where hope, harmony and cooperation win. Not for one, but for all. In truth, Peace is not only possible, it’s inevitable.

Peace requires a purpose. Peace demands a vision. Peace depends on action.

Living in Derry for the past five years, I often wonder what would John Hume say or do? In an interview on the BBC, Pat Hume, his wife, was interviewed by a female journalist just few years before John’s passing, and she was asked this exact same question: ‘What would John Hume say about what’s happening today?’

Pat Hume answered that he would be very disappointed and sad of course; but that despite all the Troubles during his time, he always had his eyes on the horizon. He had a vision, and he did his best to work towards it.

John Hume made salient points at the Nobel Centennial Symposia held on December 6, 2001, in Oslo, Norway when he spoke about conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.

He said violence is not the solution, that it is making it worse, and that it’s agreements we need on ‘how we share a piece of earth together’.

I, too, have a vision. It is our children and young people that hold the destiny of our planet in their palms; that we adults, are here to support them, and that we must unite to empower each other to make our human society better than we found it, together. Not for ourselves only but for the children of our children also.

Carmel Irandoust, International Speaker and Consultant for NETLOVE. Advocate for Peace.