Wish Zero: Peace on Earth
My zeroeth wish is Peace on Earth. I want to get that out of the way, rather than get a thousand similar suggestions. Not that I won't welcome them, but I want you to come up with wishes from your heart instead of from the Bible or Hallmark greeting cards.
This first post will give you an idea of how this goes. I like to talk about the wish of the day, and it might go like this:
We all want Peace on Earth. At least most of us do.
But it is so fleeting, unachievable. Has there ever been a part of the history of the world when no one was fighting another?
As long as people have different ideas, goals or ways of doing things (which is, by the way, okay), and they choose to impose their ideas, goals or ways of doing things on others (which is not okay), World Peace is just a myth.
Since we're wishing for it anyway, let's imagine that it can be achieved. And you have the power to make Peace on Earth a reality.
Oh yeah, there's always a catch. Here's version 1: You have to choose which country to kill, and you will be granted World Peace. What country would you choose to kill? Think about that for a moment. A whole country, with all its people: politicians, regular folk, old people, rich people, poor people, innocent kids and babies. They would all die for the sake of Peace forever, and you have the power to choose. Have you made your choice?
It's not easy. Some people say they'd sacrifice the smallest country in the world - just look through an Almanac and find the least number of people and call them casualties. Others would choose the nastiest country they can think of, where their way of thinking and doing stuff is different from ours. Others just flatly refuse to make that decision saying no whole country is worth sacrificing for World Peace.
OK, let me try a less stressful catch. Version 2 is: You have to choose which person to kill, and you will be granted World Peace. "Now", you say, "that's easy". You think about the worst person you know, like a mass murderer on death row or a terrorist. You can think of someone you hate so much his life is worth sacrificing for the sake of the rest of us seven billion.
It is so easy to do this one. Almost no one will hesitate to choose someone for the ultimate sacrifice.
Now we have an interesting paradox. Most of us are willing to kill someone else for World Peace. That's because someone else's life is worthless and expendable. That person is worthless and expendable because he/she is different from you and me, right? And there it is: the same kind of thinking that starts wars is the same reasoning we use to achieve World Peace.
You may cry out: "But these are the scum of the earth," "You would put a value on this murderer?" "They're willing to kill themselves anyway"... and you have made yourself "more equal" than they.
You know what Jesus said: "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brother, you do unto me."
Oh, boy, we're in a pickle. Here's the one chance of achieving Peace on Earth and you can't choose anyone to kill. Because Leo's appealing to our sense of what is right and making us all feel guilty. What to do?
Has anyone considered choosing him/herself as the sacrifice for World Peace? Guaranteed World Peace! Even I would think about that a lot. What's bad is that nobody would know what my sacrifice was. No one would put an epitaph: "The guy who gave us Peace on Earth". Can I ever be genuinely selfless?
Well, did you know someone actually took the deal? Someone sacrificed himself for the possibility of World Peace. It's that same child that will be born in 13 days.
Thirty three years after He was born, He died on the cross. Not just for our sins, but also for World Peace. The possibility of World Peace! Not even a guarantee.
How do we know Christ was going to sacrifice himself for us? It was his mission statement. When Christ was born, the heavens announced "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men".
So, if you want to wish for Peace on Earth, what would you be willing to do for it?
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