On March 8th, 2023 four students competed in the C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest. This contest invites people from Mennonite and Brethren in Christ colleges and universities across Canada and the United States to compete. Here at the University of Waterloo, Peace and Conflict Students as well as Grebel Residents were invited to share their voices on topics of Christian peace position on contemporary concerns and were judged on topic, content, delivery, introduction, conclusion, and creativity.
Stefan is a third-year international student from Trinidad and Tobago, studying Computer Science here at UWaterloo, and is a Grebel Resident. He gave a speech titled “An Expression of Peace” which presented a call to action for all of us to be an expression of peace in our lives.
Stefan's speech tied for third place. Congratulations Stefan!
You are encouraged to read the other speeches by Faraja, Zoe, and Rachel.
An Expression of Peace
I was once having a conversation with a friend, and I was explaining to him that I grew up in an environment where there was a lot of crime. I told him that one of the main beliefs was in order to stop crime, the solution was to give more resources to law enforcement. I disagreed with this. Instead, I believed that if we placed a greater emphasis on education, we could create a system where children feel empowered and capable of living an honest life. I might have gotten a bit excited and told my friend that creating a strong, holistic, and inclusive education system was the solution to creating world peace. I have since come to realize that peace is a much more complex issue than education alone can achieve.
In response to my proposal my friend said that he did not think that world peace could be achieved because the Book of Revelation said that things will get worse. I thought about what he had said over the next few days and about the concept of peace. With the imperfections of humanity – our greed and hate – can we hope to achieve world peace? Is it even possible? Why not turn a blind eye to all the hate and injustice since we want the end times to reach sooner so that Jesus could return and this evil, corrupt world would be no more? Why work towards peace?
As I thought about this, I made an analogy to pray and the argument that if God knows how our life would play out before we are born, then why should we pray. If it is in God’s plan, it will happen – right? The conclusion that I came to was that – I do not know. Perhaps we cannot fully comprehend the significance of pray due to our limited cognitive abilities and confined perspective. I do not know. But that is the premise of faith. It is about taking the first step even when we cannot see the entire staircase. Jesus taught us to pray and so by faith we pray. Similarly, I do not understand the importance of spreading love and peace, if inevitably there will always be evil in this world. But Jesus taught us to love and so by faith we love. Our work towards peace is an active expression of our faith.
Now, there is a deeper complexity that must be understood in our pursuit of peace. It could be that despite our love and good intentions, we actually make things worse. There are many ways that this can happen, and each is related to the intricacies of the peace and justice issue that we are trying to solve. There is a related quote by American naturalist and philosopher, Henry Thoreau. It goes like this – “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.” Peace is complex. We should understand this and be careful as we work towards peace. But what exactly is peace?
I believe peace is more than just the absence of war or oppression. I think it is about creating an environment where everyone feels loved and supported as they work towards their goals. It is about creating a world filled with love. Everywhere you go, everything you do, be an expression of peace. Be extremely nice to everyone you interact with because everyone is fighting some kind of battle. It is absolutely terrifying what a smile can hide. So, love, love, and love.
If you are able, I encourage you to travel and spread that love. It is one thing to be aware of poverty, but it is another to see it. To be there. To see the children’s faces. To see yourself in them. It is one thing to be aware of child marriage, but it is another to see little girls being treated as a liability. To see them being taken out of school at such a young age. To see the curiosity and wonder in their eyes. To see them learn that education is only for boys.
There is evil in this world and there is a lot mixed in with laws, religion, and culture. Poverty, inequality, environmental destruction, child labor, discrimination in all its myriad forms, marginalization of certain groups. These are complex issues to solve given the nature of humanity. I encourage you to take part in discussions to create policies to construct a brighter, freer, and more beautiful world for all of us. However, don’t allow yourself to be consumed in discussion to such an extent that you forget that peace is an act that you should perform around you. Be an expression of peace. Where you go let there be love and hope and wonder.
Now, this expression of peace – it is a beautiful thing – it truly is. But there is an element of understanding that we should be aware of. You see – it is not enough to want peace; you’ve got to structure your whole life around it. You must go to that place within yourself, where you no longer fear death. What you do fear is living in this world and being happy and content in your own little bubble when there is so much suffering around you.
We should be aware of the fortune that we have being born with certain characteristics into a particular environment and having access to many opportunities for personal growth. That in another roll of the die, we could be in much less favourable circumstances. And the understanding that we did nothing to deserve our current privileges over those without them. From this torment of understanding, is where a desire to be an expression of peace is born. This understanding is within us, it comes down to our willingness to embrace it and act on it. There is a reason that there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to the one striking at the root. It is not an easy thing to do – to dedicate your life to working towards peace.
Jesus had to carry that cross up the hill. He was beaten and bruised and was crucified. He was the ultimate expression of peace. I think baked into that story of his crucifixion is an indication of how we are to live our lives. To carry our own metaphorical crosses and live a life of service and selflessness. So, if you are willing to work towards peace. If you are willing to strike at the root of evil and give it everything that you’ve got. If you are willing to go to that place of understanding within yourself where the only obstacle to get there is your own will to do so. If you are willing to, if you dare to – be – an expression – of peace.
I was once having a conversation with a friend, and I was explaining to him that I grew up in an environment where there was a lot of crime. I told him that one of the main beliefs was in order to stop crime, the solution was to give more resources to law enforcement. I disagreed with this. Instead, I believed that if we placed a greater emphasis on education, we could create a system where children feel empowered and capable of living an honest life. I might have gotten a bit excited and told my friend that creating a strong, holistic, and inclusive education system was the solution to creating world peace. I have since come to realize that peace is a much more complex issue than education alone can achieve.
In response to my proposal my friend said that he did not think that world peace could be achieved because the Book of Revelation said that things will get worse. I thought about what he had said over the next few days and about the concept of peace. With the imperfections of humanity – our greed and hate – can we hope to achieve world peace? Is it even possible? Why not turn a blind eye to all the hate and injustice since we want the end times to reach sooner so that Jesus could return and this evil, corrupt world would be no more? Why work towards peace?
As I thought about this, I made an analogy to pray and the argument that if God knows how our life would play out before we are born, then why should we pray. If it is in God’s plan, it will happen – right? The conclusion that I came to was that – I do not know. Perhaps we cannot fully comprehend the significance of pray due to our limited cognitive abilities and confined perspective. I do not know. But that is the premise of faith. It is about taking the first step even when we cannot see the entire staircase. Jesus taught us to pray and so by faith we pray. Similarly, I do not understand the importance of spreading love and peace, if inevitably there will always be evil in this world. But Jesus taught us to love and so by faith we love. Our work towards peace is an active expression of our faith.
Now, there is a deeper complexity that must be understood in our pursuit of peace. It could be that despite our love and good intentions, we actually make things worse. There are many ways that this can happen, and each is related to the intricacies of the peace and justice issue that we are trying to solve. There is a related quote by American naturalist and philosopher, Henry Thoreau. It goes like this – “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.” Peace is complex. We should understand this and be careful as we work towards peace. But what exactly is peace?
I believe peace is more than just the absence of war or oppression. I think it is about creating an environment where everyone feels loved and supported as they work towards their goals. It is about creating a world filled with love. Everywhere you go, everything you do, be an expression of peace. Be extremely nice to everyone you interact with because everyone is fighting some kind of battle. It is absolutely terrifying what a smile can hide. So, love, love, and love.
If you are able, I encourage you to travel and spread that love. It is one thing to be aware of poverty, but it is another to see it. To be there. To see the children’s faces. To see yourself in them. It is one thing to be aware of child marriage, but it is another to see little girls being treated as a liability. To see them being taken out of school at such a young age. To see the curiosity and wonder in their eyes. To see them learn that education is only for boys.
There is evil in this world and there is a lot mixed in with laws, religion, and culture. Poverty, inequality, environmental destruction, child labor, discrimination in all its myriad forms, marginalization of certain groups. These are complex issues to solve given the nature of humanity. I encourage you to take part in discussions to create policies to construct a brighter, freer, and more beautiful world for all of us. However, don’t allow yourself to be consumed in discussion to such an extent that you forget that peace is an act that you should perform around you. Be an expression of peace. Where you go let there be love and hope and wonder.
Now, this expression of peace – it is a beautiful thing – it truly is. But there is an element of understanding that we should be aware of. You see – it is not enough to want peace; you’ve got to structure your whole life around it. You must go to that place within yourself, where you no longer fear death. What you do fear is living in this world and being happy and content in your own little bubble when there is so much suffering around you.
We should be aware of the fortune that we have being born with certain characteristics into a particular environment and having access to many opportunities for personal growth. That in another roll of the die, we could be in much less favourable circumstances. And the understanding that we did nothing to deserve our current privileges over those without them. From this torment of understanding, is where a desire to be an expression of peace is born. This understanding is within us, it comes down to our willingness to embrace it and act on it. There is a reason that there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to the one striking at the root. It is not an easy thing to do – to dedicate your life to working towards peace.
Jesus had to carry that cross up the hill. He was beaten and bruised and was crucified. He was the ultimate expression of peace. I think baked into that story of his crucifixion is an indication of how we are to live our lives. To carry our own metaphorical crosses and live a life of service and selflessness. So, if you are willing to work towards peace. If you are willing to strike at the root of evil and give it everything that you’ve got. If you are willing to go to that place of understanding within yourself where the only obstacle to get there is your own will to do so. If you are willing to, if you dare to – be – an expression – of peace.