Youth Category 1st Prize

SERENITY OF OUR LIFE

By Miranti Daniar
(Age 19, Indonesia)

What is my dream and hope for my future and the future of our world? When I read about this topic, only one thing came up in my mind: serenity of our life.

If you live where I live, there is nothing you want more than to see things to go back to normal, not to be afraid anymore to go outside or not to see more and more riots everywhere you go. The economic crisis in 1997 put my country in a very deep dark hole and caused nothing but suffering. And the effect of this economic crisis spread to all aspects of life just like a disease.

There are so many incidents that have happened in my country since the crisis. Everyday I heard about people getting murdered, demonstrations turning into riots, military crackdowns against communities, controversy between different religions or clans, politicians arguing about the best political movement, and recently I heard how the government is trying to subjugate the movement called Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) in Aceh which has already sacrificed many human lives. People get depressed because of the difficulties of life. To be honest I can say there are lots of people who have nothing to eat tomorrow and don't have a home. I guess because of that, people can now easily hurt each other and no longer pay attention to their faith. People get mad because of the situation and don't know whom to blame. Facing this situation is like a never ending story. Each human tends to be selfish and tries to fill up their needs no matter what, even if it means one has to steal from someone else or even worse, kill someone else. All they know is that they have to eat and feed their family, and this is a reality that happens where I live.

I'm sure what happened in my country also happens in other places. I'm sure no one wants to be in this kind of situation, no one wants to feel this suffering. But how can we heal these diseases if we still fight each other instead of helping each other? I think unity is the most important component to build serenity in our life. I'm here to encourage you to think about how we should be more appreciative of others and try not to be selfish. How can we not be selfish? I think by being grateful for what we have. When we feel grateful about ourselves and what we have, we'll never feel unsatisfied. We always have something to be grateful for; basically, I think we should be grateful because we are born and given a chance by God to live.

After we are able to be grateful for what we have, than we should start to look around us and realize that there are so many humans who are not as lucky as we are. Helping others is always such a beautiful thing to do. Have you ever felt that when you ease others pain, there's warmth in your heart, and you feel the happiness of seeing someone smile because of you... I think that is the most wonderful feeling in the world!!

I imagine all people appreciating and helping each other. I imagine people in this world becoming united and there will be no more wars between nations. I imagine the earth as a peaceful place to live, where every human can live with serenity and feel no fear to live day by day.

I hope my dream for the future of our world will soon become a reality, because I'm sure that deep inside our heart, no matter who we are, we all missed the peacefulness on earth. I'm sure we are compassionate human beings God created to love each other. I know we are and can make this earth a better place to live.