By Barrister Fabian Awhen
World Peace Day which is celebrated on January One, every year at the instance of the Roman Catholic Church is primarily to create greater awareness of the threat to world peace occasioned by continued injustice among people and nations of the world, the arms race, regional conflicts and above all, the lack of respect for nature and the decline in the quality of life.
The hallmark of the celebration is the papal message by Pope John Paul the Second devoted to all aspects of freedom, which remains fundamental for peace in the world.
The messages over the years have addressed such issues as intolerance: A serious threat to peace. The need for a just legal order and the problem of a pluralistic society must find fulfillment in charity and people should be educated to respect the law.
The essence is to demonstrate that the solution to the problem of mankind can be found through education about giving due respect to human conscience, observance of equality of men and nations the preservation of our environment.
In other words, man needs to develop his spirit and his conscience and this is often the basic thing that is missing in people’s lives.
Indeed, the lack of concern for values and the overall identity crisis that the world is now experiencing demands that we move beyond our present situation and make renewed efforts to ask important questions and seek understanding.
It is in this perspective that we see the marking of World Peace Day as not only significant but provides nations of the world particularly, in an age of pervasive individualism such as ours, the opportunity to reflect on every sphere of our social, cultural and political life.
It also affords leaders of the world the chance to reflect on the need to uphold the doctrine of equality of men and nations.
This implies that leaders of the world must promote unity rather than division, reconciliation rather than hatred and intolerance and to profess freedom and peace for all.
Human existence the world over is gradually being threatened by the enormity of the cumulative effect of air and water pollution as well as land degradation arising from the actions of man himself.
These range from polluted seas arising from the dumping of industrial waste, higher temperatures, and rising seas, all being the handiwork of outcomes of advanced technology from man’s quest to explore the unknown.
Admittedly, the sense of precariousness and insecurity that such a situation engenders reflects the totality of man’s selfishness, disregard for moral values, and dishonesty.
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