Technology is the Way!
(Original)

Alexander Grace
(Age 14, Australia)
Marist College, Ashgrove

In today’s society there is a lack of effort used to promote peace in the world. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what peace means and how peace may be explored. It will show how the role of media information and communication technology is infrequently used in assisting peace in the world and will show that bringing peace to communities through technological devices will make people more aware of peace.

What does peace mean? The concept of “peace” means different things to a wide number of people. A recent small survey of a broad range of people on the meaning of peace received responses including “calmness, politics working, a perfect world, silence, tranquility and no arguments.” The Heinemann and Collins dictionary defines the concept of “peace” as “serenity, the absence of war and the state of harmony between groups of people.”

In today’s society we are moving further away from peace as a state of harmony between people. There are gangs in our neighbourhoods, who are killing in our cities; there is the war in Iraq, the threat of terrorists and the strife in Afghanistan to name a few examples which are preventing peace in the world.

One of the ways to strengthen the ways in which our world understands peace is to make reporters in newspapers and newsreaders on current affair shows, cover stories about peace. Currently they often cover stories of war and violence. For example, a recent Internet search on Google for “war” produced 551 million hits, while a search for “peace” produced 186 million hits.

To incorporate peace through technology, peace emails could be sent on computers, newspapers could have peace colouring competitions and there could be advertisements on television and radio stations. There are famous people such as Bob Geldof and the lead singer of “Police”, Sting, talking about feeding the hungry and saving the rainforest. It is now time to use these actors/ singers and athletes to campaign for peace. The theme which the actors and singers drive for could be ‘stop; take a step and smile for peace’.

In today’s world there is an issue to spread peace through-out the world. There is so much violence and hatred in the world, people are often unaware that peace can make a difference to the world. In today’s civilization there are millions of people who have televisions, radios, iPods and computers; all of which could be used to bring peace via technology which would be of great benefit in spreading the message quickly.

It is recognized that spreading peace to the world through communications technology will not reach people who are in poverty and do not have the means of technology, however, there is an enormous advantage to this approach. In today’s world more and more people are using technology; this means messages can reach millions of people. There are then possibilities, when people use their computer, mobile phone etc, that they will be able to see peace – signs, images and phrases including:

Peace stars with a smile

Peace means the absence of war

Peace means harmony with your fellow man

These messages may be a starting point to gather people’s thoughts to contribute to peace and inspire them to prevent violence in our cities and to speak to governments to sign peace agreements.

Peace is a feeling which many people want to have in our world and to do that, it is necessary to increase awareness of peace so that people may embrace the world with peace. Technology can assist with the spreading of messages of peace through emails, Internet, radios and televisions. War and violence in the world are issues that need to be solved and people need to cooperate as a team to bring peace to the world. With the help of technology, peace among people could be one step closer to being a reality.