I have been thinking about peace for a bit and the obstacles to achieving it. After some thoughts, it seems like the natures of humanity themselves are to be blamed. Three behaviours in particular, act like three enormous boulders blocking the path to peace.

  

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Fear (We're not sure if we can completely trust someone else) 

Fear is an important instinct that helps keep us alive. Fear keeps us alert and guides us away from dangers such as big angry grizzly bears and walking down dark alleys alone.

On the flip side, on a global scale, Fear can drive nations MAD in their arms race. Nations stockpile so much nuclear weapons (enough to wipe us all clean from the face of the Earth) in order to deter other nuclear-armed nations through mutual assured destruction.   

On a way smaller scale, imagine if you will, being stuck in a locked room with a stranger and a knife on the table. Personally, I will feel a lot more comfortable if I'm the one holding on to the knife. I believe the stranger will sharply disagree.

 

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Greed (We better save up and look after ourselves first) 

Greed makes sense on a basic biologically level. Hoarding resources, be it food or money may be the difference between life and death.   
 

I am sure we've all heard pearls of wisdoms like: “You should save up for rainy days” and “You never know if it (some resources) might run out tomorrow”.
 

However, taken to extremes, Greed becomes all about fulfilling insatiable wants instead of needs. This leads to widening inequality between the rich and poor which fuels conflicts.
 

 

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Pride (We are right, they are wrong! Why won't they change their wrongful ways?) 

Pride can overwhelm logical and empathetical minds. Due to Pride, people can knowingly continue down the wrong path rather than admit that they were wrong. And due to Pride, people seem to like to impose their ways and views on others.
 

My football team is better than yours, my way of catching and training Pokemon is the right one, my dad can beat up your dad, my race is superior compared to yours, my religion is the only right one, I pray to the only God and you're not and the list goes on.   

For Fear and Greed, I can see that they have their values in helping with humanity's basic quest for survival. As for Pride, I am not sure if it serves any purpose or brings any value to us. And yet, I have a suspicious feeling that this is the toughest beast to conquer.
 
 

 

 

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Happily Ever After?
 

Are Fear, Greed and Pride too deeply ingrained in us?
 

Or is it possible to rewire and recondition ourselves to tone down our natural tendencies? To take a leap of faith and place our faith in others.
 

Can we trust our neighbouring nations and the stranger in the room? Enough to disarm our nuclear weapons and leave the knife untouched on the table? Trust that they will not try anything even when we turn our backs?
 

Can we choose to share when we have too much today and trust that they will do the same for us tomorrow?   
 

Can we lay down our pride and try walking in someone else's shoes and understanding them instead of lashing back immediately?
 

What do you think? Can we all have peace?