The CBC holds an annual writing contest called Canada Writes, which challenges writers to come up with their best 200 words under strict deadlines. Following is our entry, and readers of this site will recognize the familiar theme promoting the real potentials of world peace.
World peace is coming, and it will be here within 20 years. A fanciful dream? No, it is firmly rooted in reality.
Technology has been arriving at an accelerating pace, bringing us cheaper, better technology sooner and sooner. Within a decade, we will have the means to meet the basic needs of every human on earth, letting us address a root grievance that contributes to war – poverty.
Along with addressing poverty, technology also presents new powers of communication… powers which will help form new channels of dialogue. Dialogue is an integral path to peace for it allows warring parties a way to bridge the gap with words instead of bombs. As well, dialogue can re-humanize an enemy, making it harder to kill another fellow human being.
Finally, technology is uniting our world like never before. Social networking sites are enabling the formation of huge, well-organized communities, which will grow to become more powerful than corporations or governments. Combine the might of these groups with instant messaging tools, and we will be able to mobilize to action in real time.
United, we will make our world everything we want it to be… peaceful and prosperous.
