Pope Francis’ message for the 55th World Day of Peace 2022 conveyed that all denizens on this earth must follow and underscore once again, even today, that the only way to peace is through dialogue. The idea that dialogue is only between individuals is beyond, and to include everyone to another higher level. The title of the message was: “Dialogue between generations, between education and work”: a tool for sustainable peacebuilding.
Intergenerational Dialogue
Here reference is to (i) dialogue that needs to exist between different generations. In the modern times, such a gap between the old generation and the new generation is very clear. The consequences of this are now and then felt in different sectors of the society. Young people should always listen to the elderly, as they are sources of knowledge. As such, inter-generational dialogue should be accelerated and adhered to.
Other important dialogue should be in the field of education. Here the need is to strengthen dialogue in the field of education. Perhaps in today’s educational arenas, shrinking into small niches, behind mastery, refusing to even bother to get to know each other. Education ought to be a platform for dialogue to take on greater significance.
Free Flow of Ideas at Work
Still another (iii) is Conversation that is very essential in the field of work. In the context of segregation, exclusion, and discrimination in the workplace, the message is on the ideas. The dialogue between individuals and ideas in the workplace will make the world more beautiful, create conditions for everyone to find work, and help reduce poverty in the world.
Peace is just not a social concept only. It also underlines goodness prevailing all around and particularly in religious establishments with great moral values and ethics.
It is very clear that everyone can be a messenger of peace. The arrival of an angel of peace means the hope of a rebirth from the ruins of history, the beginning of a brighter future. In the context of today’s world, indeed, we all are eagerly waiting for the messenger of peace in the current turmoil of wars between different countries, slowly inching towards World War III.
Human life is always short-lived and is meant for exemplary works meant for the sake of others and the society enabling others to exist in peace and tranquility. However, today, there are such conditions that make it seem that peace is far from life.
It is natural for everyone to feel that peace is becoming a mirage at a time when the efforts to connect countries fail despite the amount of dialogue at various levels, when the climate emergency continues to intensify, and when epidemics drive people to uncontrollable distances.
But, instead of narrowing down to ourselves individually, the opportunities to encounter each other should be opened up more. The need of the hour is for mutual cooperation in the family, society, country and international spheres at various times.
Walking Together
Mutual trust should be the basis for dialogue between generations. Contextually to the Covid pandemic, it is in the light of experience that the need for dialogue is there. With the loneliness of the elderly, the anxieties and indifferences of young people about the future demand a mutual exchange of ideas. The practical aspects of dialogue are listening to each other, discussing, working together and walking together.
On the one hand, the young need the presence, wisdom and spiritual experience of the elderly; and, on the other, the elderly need the support, affection, creativity and dynamism of the young people. Such advice reveals that as much as history influences our lives in the present; historical experiences can help shape our actions.
Education is essential for peace and holistic human development, which is the path to peace. If we want to build a society full of goodness, we need education. Pursuing a genuine international disarmament process will bring great benefits to the development of people and nations, and this will be useful to further accelerate the field of education. Investing in education is a way to promote a culture of care, which can be very useful in efforts to bring about peace.
The education can be seen as a synthesis of different cultures. True education is influenced by different types of culture-including popular culture, university culture, youth culture, artistic culture, technological culture, economic culture, family culture, media culture etc.
Workplace is also a great source of peace. Work is an indispensable element in building and preserving peace. For the proper development of skills and talents; more jobs should be created, where people will bring mutual cooperation for peace into the workforce.
In the dire conditions of unemployment, everyone should respect the freedom and dignity of workers by making the social protection system more efficient, without enslaving it. One must not try to replace human work with technological progress: to do so would destroy humanity itself.
Educationist/Administrator/Editor/Author/Speaker
Commencing teaching in his early twenties, Prof Aggarwal has diverse experience of great tenure in the top institutions not only as an educationist, administrator, editor, author but also promoting youth and its achievements through the nicest possible content framing. A revolutionary to the core, he is also keen to address the society around him for its betterment and growth on positive notes while imbibing the true team spirit the work force along with.
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