Opportunism and Prejudice: What It Will Take to Achieve Peace

October 13, 2015 by Sami H. Elmansoury

Continued from Page 1

I pray that we see the global arc lean toward justice for all in our lifetimes, that we witness an advent of more responsible leadership. I am grateful to those leaders who have elevated both themselves and their communities in light of abundant global ignorance. Given the collective will, we can progress out of the seemingly firm grip of broad-brush rhetoric, rampant misinformation, and hateful xenophobia that overshadows too many of our communities.

It begins within ourselves. It continues with standing up, even to our loved ones, and in challenging our leaders—from places of worship to the halls of Congress. It rises with fortifying our children with the will to forgive and to love again, despite hurt, and long before they are exposed to true hate. And it crests with fervently defending the other against the same prejudice from which we too seek protection. It welcomes a break in double standards and proclaims a halt on hateful vengeance, and a rejection of political, ethnic, and religious oppression and supremacism ironically disguised as human justice.

And even if we cannot break all of the chains that prevent so many from mentally fortifying the rights and dignity of others in addition to their own, then it is our task at minimum to plant a constructive seed that will grow into something far more worthy of those who follow us. For the most just, the just world that they hope to live in is the world that they seek to leave behind.

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