Peace Essay Contest 2008
Grade 4-5 Winners
First Place
I think that Moshe Dayan makes an important point when he says, "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." I have come to understand his point; if you take a chance and talk to your enemies, the fact is you'll probably understand them better. Understanding your enemies is, in my opinion, the most important step to make peace.
The reason that people have enemies is because they don't understand them. The reason for hate is often a huge misunderstanding. For instance, the people of another country might see Americans as wealthy, mean people who only think of themselves. But if an exchange student or an 'enemy' from that country would only have a conversation with your average American, his or her view on the US. would likely change completely. Then that person may return to his or her country with a better view of America and, hopefully, a kinder word for his or her friends. They might conclude, "So, what do you know? America suddenly didn't seem to be as awful of a place as we thought," and those kinds of views from other places may be exactly what America is hoping for.
There is more than one way to have a conversation with another country. For the New York Philharmonic, it was with music. Recently, the Philharmonic traveled to North Korea and played a concert. They played songs from both cultures so they could connect with the North Koreans. I love to sing, and music is one way to make peace. I hope that using music as a "common language" will result in making peace with other places.
There is a girl I know who has always given me difficulties. I remember telling my mom, "I wish that for one day I could be her, so I could see why she does what she does. Then I would understand how to approach her if she did something unkind." I'll bet anything that if you give a person a chance, he or she will change - probably for the better - and so should you. There's room for improvement in all of us. The reason that they are unkind might be because they want to be noticed, or maybe because - here it comes again - they're misunderstood. I tried to understand the girl a little better and I think she tried harder, too. In the end, we might not be best friends, but the girl and I are considerably nicer to each other.
In school choir, we're learning a song called "Brotherhood." It talks about how much better a place the world would be if everyone would just act a little bit kinder in everything they do. This sends out a message that everyone could hear. Every human can help somehow. World peace is happening in little steps. Maybe you could help at a homeless shelter, or even just offer your mom a hand with dinner.
Talking to your enemies instead of your friends may be harder, but hey, making peace takes much more effort than making an enemy. I think Mr. Dayan did a very good job of expressing that, and I hope I did, too.
--Katie Cantone, gr. 4 St. Michael's Episcopal School, Richmond
Second Place
Get Ready, Step it up, and Make Peace!
When I hear the saying, "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends but you talk to your enemies" I thought it was an oxymoron! Talk to your enemies? Don't talk to your friends? That's totally ludicrous! But when one comes to think about it, it seems like the wisest saying in the world and it is even more significant considering it came from a military leader and politician named Moshe Dayan.
Why do we have so many wars? Why don't we get along with neighboring and far away countries? Why do we take the risk of getting SO many people killed because we don't want to talk with the group of people who we're disagreeing with and make peace? Why do we get up to the sound of birds chirping and leaves rustling when people in other countries get up to the sound of guns shooting and bombs exploding? I don't know about you but this really means something to me. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. fought too but amazingly, they never raised a fist. Why do we talk only to our friends when we could be out there talking to and making peace with our enemies?
Not long ago, I used to hate a girl in my class because she would never let me participate in anything that I wanted to do as a group. Instead of going to her and trying to make her my friend, I just sulked and acted as though nothing had ever happened but the same thing kept on happening to me again and again. One day when she was playing basketball she slipped on some water and bumped her head against the wood floor and it hurt her head so bad she started crying. I was the only one left in the room to help her so I rushed to her side and helped her to the nurse's office. I wondered if I did the right thing when I realized this same girl who I helped when she was in pain and agony used to kick me out of any and every game I played with my real friends and with her. I got the answer to that question the day after that. When I went to the bars because that was where I usually played my so called "enemy" who I hated came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play with her. Of course I said yes and from then on we have been best friends. See, it is not that difficult to make peace.
How do we make peace? How do we talk to our enemies without them being mean to us again? Well, those questions are easy to answer. For the first question, all we have to do is go up to them and talk but if you're worried that they'll be mean to you again, first complement them by saying that you like what they're wearing or they did a good job at something. The purpose for doing that is it'll soften them up and the chances are less likely that they'll get mad. If they do get mad, then just try another time and for that time just say to yourself, at least I tried! See, it's that simple!
If you have an enemy or know anybody who has an enemy, tell them that having an enemy is totally crazy! They probably wouldn't have one if they went out and talked to them, because then they would realize what they had in common and guess what, soon they'd probably become friends. Before we have to say farewell, I need to tell you one more thing and that is, GET READY, STEP IT UP, AND MAKE PEACE!
--Lynette Sequiera, gr. 4 Three Chopt E.S., Henrico Co.
Third Place
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." -- Moshe Dayan
Children are always taught to act peaceably with each other. If they have a disagreement with another child, their first reaction is to go find someone who agrees with them. Then the two of them can laugh about how stupid that other person is, and how wrong they are. They can plan how to get even with the other child. That's what happens when you just talk with your friends about a disagreement with another person. You simply reinforce your own point of view. You don't solve the disagreement. Peace is not created, war is. The weird thing is that when children have disagreements, an adult will step in arid give each child a chance to speak and give their side ofthe story. Sometimes an adult will try to get them to think about the other child's point of view. The children may be asked, "Does the other child have a point, and could they be a little bit right?" Finally, the adult will ask them to come up with a compromise they can both agree on. Isn't this the behavior that Moshe Dayan is referring to when saying peace is made by talking to your enemies? Why are children taught to make peace using communication and compromise with those they disagree with, and yet adults who rule the world try to solve disagreements by dropping bombs and killing people?
I am a new student in my school. I'm slowly making friends, but I notice that there are a couple of students that do not like me. It makes me feel really sad when they're mean to me, and I have a few bad days when the world seems so dark because of how they treat me. I don't know how to solve this problem, but using this quote as a guide, I think I need to just keep finding opportunities to talk with them, to help them understand who I am. Maybe one day they will actually wake up and realize that I'm a likeable person.
In a town where I used to live, there was a big disagreement between the people who ran the town and the people who lived in the town about the need to have more parks. The people of the town kept on trying to talk with their leaders and go to their meetings and give them information about how important parks are to children, pets, happy families, and to a healthy community and environment. Unfortunately, the town leaders simply saw those who disagreed with them as enemies, and they would not allow them to become friends. Using the quote above as a guide, I think that maybe the townspeople may have learned a lesson on communicating politely with others. Perhaps they were too rough in the way they were trying to talk with their leaders at first. It is ~ important to react nicely to ,others when you have a disagreement so that they will listen to you. Looking at the leaders' reaction, I think it is also important for the leaders to listen even if those speaking up are not always polite. The leaders need to listen to the content of what is being said. After all, their job is to lead their people wisely; so it is important to listen to the people they are leading.
There are so many wars in the world now. I think it is because different sides are not communicating with each other the way they should. People of different faiths won't talk. People of different races won't talk. People of different cultures won't talk. People of different political systems won't talk. People only listen to the radio stations and cable television news station that agree with their point of view. What is frightening is that world leaders are not behaving in the way they are teaching their children to behave. They are not practicing what they preach. The problem is that these leaders are in charge of bombs, troops, and making war. They can destroy the world if they do not learn how to behave.
One way that world leaders can learn how to behave, a way we can all learn how to behave, is by talking to one another. It is time to try to turn those enemies into friends. I know I have been personally affected by reading Moshe Dayan's words. From now on, if l have one chance to create more peace in the world, I'll take it. When I do, I'll think to myself, "I'm helping the world, one step at a time."
--Paris Eve Reinhard, gr. 5, William Fox E.S., Richmond
Honorable Mentions
A FRIEND
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." -Moshe Dayan
This quote is very powerful and meaningful. It says that to make peace, you have to do some abnormal things. One of the best parts is how it really applies to everyday life. This is one of those times that it applied to my life.
"Oh, hey Hector!" I call. "Wanna playa game of four-square?" "Sure" he replies.
Hector and I are very good friends. We go to the same school together. It is called; the Seven Hills School for little delinquents. JUST KIDDING! No, it is a magnificent school called Seven Hills School (for Boys.)
I COULD write an entire paper on the wonderful students, teachers and activities of Seven Hills School, but I don't really have time, so I'll just brief you a little.
Our school is a private all boys school in Richmond Virginia. It is a small friendly school and I mean REALLY friendly. We have four grades and four classes. You really get to bond with each other. Whenever I wake up, I think, wow I can't wait to go to Seven Hills.
Hector and I also just like to mess around at break while we play four-square.
Although, it certainly wasn't always that way.
Before we both went to Seven Hills, we both went to the same elementary school, William Fox. It is a Richmond Public school. I must admit that sometimes I miss my other friends and teachers, but ultimately appreciate the decision my great family and I made to switch to Seven Hills, or 7HS as we call it.
Hector and my friendship did have a sort of "bumpy path." At Fox, we didn't really get to know each other that well, although we didn't really fight. We were just "people" to each other.
After we both got into Seven Hills, we were happy for a while, having a great time. We both are great friends with Romeo, another child in our class. Sadly, after a period of time, things started to "bubble."
Hector and I both liked to sit next to Romeo. After a while, Hector would get obsessed with sitting next to Romeo and on the very few days when I got to. sit next to him, Hector would physically move my chair and I across the room to another table. Sadly, I was 0: K. with it and didn't stand my rightful ground. After a while, I did get ticked off. I had had enough.
I am still not sure if any of my or any of the teachers saw this little "act" but it might not have really mattered.
We were playing a game and we all wanted the ball. When I was next to Hector, he turned right around and knocked me right in the head. "OW!" It really hurt. I was mad. Very mad. I wanted revenge. We got into it and were throwing stuff at each other pretty hard. We both got some good hits. Other times, Hector threw stuff at me, and we became "enemies."
When I look back, I know that it was silly of BOTH of us to not use our words first. I told multiple people. I guess you could say my "friends", but that solved nothing, bringing me only more sorrow and pity for myself. Not good. Eventually, talking to my friends didn't do much help making peace with Hector. When it all ended, we were smart enough to get along, WITHOUT breaking any limbs and without badly hurt feelings.
It took a while, but I had made myself a new friend. Apart from some squabbles and some "spats" over rules or calls in four-square, Hector and I are great friends.
I hope that you too can makeup with someone who is a possible mend. Hint, hint, to the U.S. government.
"Come on" yells Hector. "Coming," I reply.
--Noah Kim, gr. 5, Seven Hills School, Richmond
When I first read the paper explaining the essay topic I had to write about, I became a little confused. I said to myself "I am eleven years old, what do I know about having an enemy?" I know what having peace in my life means, because I have always had it and I'm happy to say that I don't have any enemies (right now). I talked to my mom about this and she told me that it's good that I don't think I have any enemies, but that they come in different forms. In this essay I will explain what the quotation "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your mends. You talk to your enemies.", means to me.
My mom first asked me what peace means to me. I thought about it and I said "quietness, stillness, sunshine, mends and even rain." She told me that those were things that make me feel peaceful, but what is peace? So I thought about it and I came to the conclusion that peace is being happy and being safe in my home. So then I thought about what I would do to get peace if I didn't have it and how I would handle it if I had any enemies.
Since having a friend is part of my peace because they are there for you, they make you laugh, and they won't judge you, I considered a enemy as being the opposite of that and someone that would threaten my peace. The first person that I could think of that could be my enemy is a bully at school or on the bus. If a bully picked on me I would ask them why they are picking on me and this may stop them from being my enemy or I could find out how to avoid them. If I was to afraid because they were older or bigger than me, then I would tell my best friend or maybe even my mom so they could talk to them. By communication peace would remain and they may even become my friend.
When it comes to dealing with an enemy in my community I know that an adult has to handle it. The worst enemy I can think of in my community would be a criminal. Someone that would be an enemy would be a thief breaking into my home or someone else's. In this case the police would have to handle this. The method of communication police would use with the "enemy" would be telling them there rights or if they are not caught right away ,the police would offer them a lighter punishment if they turn themselves in by announcing it on TV or in the newspaper. By communicating with the enemy and catching them we don't live in fear of them breaking into our home again and therefore our peace remains.
Every since the September eleventh attack the peaceful lives of many people has been changed. Some have regained their peace of mind because of the current war and for some it has grown worst. This attack has or will effect the peace in every persons life in the world. This is another situation where talking to the enemy has to left up to someone else. The government's administration is responsible for trying to make peace with the enemy and to keep peace with other nations so that we can have allies when we need them.
After writing this essay I really understand what "talking to your enemies instead of your friends to make peace" means. A friend is a part of the peaceful life that I have because they are share my love, my joy, my happiness, my ups and my downs. A enemy is just the opposite and they oppose everything that causes the presence of peace. So by talking to them and getting them to open up I have a better chance of knowing what there intentions are and avoiding them altogether or maybe even making them a friend.
--KeAnna Booker, gr. 5, Amelia Co. E.S.
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." This was said by Moshe Dayan, a well known Israeli military leader and politician. What does this mean to me? It says that if all you're doing is talking to people with the same opinion, you're just agreeing with them and not learning about what anybody else thinks. It says to me that you have to branch out and confront your fears and enemies to bring yourselves closer and bring others closer to peace. If you don't do this, you can't bring yourself and your nemesis to the ultimate goal of tranquility. The objective of serenity. The ambition for harmony. This is how you have to bring friends and foes together as one. As a lasting peace. This is the way of the years to come.
Considering your friends and family, you have to bring quarrels and disrespect to a stop. You can work towards bringing an understanding to the people around
you; if you try hard enough, you might get them to realize that going over to a bully, or even a different group of kids at your school could have a positive effect on their life and others. You have to embrace newcomers, help welcome different kinds of people, and branch out to broaden your friendships and broaden the welfare you have to share with others. This is what I hope humanity all around the globe, or even in a simple school community, can notice and accept.
In you neighborhood, you have to know and know well all of your neighbors. If there is someone different, somebody people on your street don't talk to, or someone just lonely, think about going down the street and using just the few minutes it takes to make a difference and make someone appreciated and happy and respected and noticed. If neighbors disagree over something, try and help to work out a compromise. If something in the area needs to be repaired (an old sign, bridge, etc.), work together to fix it. If you be neighborly to your neighbors and respect those around you, it will eventually end up with everybody being comfortable around one another and everybody being brought closer together.
Throughout the world, people are fighting wars of violence, ones of theory and thought, and ones of silent mockery. There is hatred and prejudice. This needs to stop. If country leaders acknowledge other countries, other beliefs, and respect one another, things would be different for the better. They could develop policies to bond and create mutual. trust. They could trade and trust each other to use materials wisely. They could be allies and trust each other to support them. They could value each other for who they are and become a united nation. Nations can form a world of unity and respect and brotherhood.
If everyone could get along, if everyone would accept all people for who they are, if we could all be friends, not enemies, and talk to our enemies, not our friends, the world can change and peace can be made. If everybody could be understanding, respectful, and united, we could make peace. We can make peace. We can create peace. We can form peace. We can make peace. "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies."
--Owen Ayers, gr. 5, Tuckahoe E.S., Henrico Co.
Make New Friends
"If you want to make peace, don't talk to your friends, talk to your enemies." Peace is a very important concept. I see this quote as saying if you avoid your problems, you will never solve them. So if you never talk to your enemies, they will always be your enemies. And this does NOT make peace.
When I was a little kid, I saw a show called "Mister Rogers Neighborhood." When I grew up, my mom got a book of his quotes as a gift. One of his beliefs is very similar to the quotation above. "It's very dramatic when two people come together to work something out.. It's easy to take a gun and annihilate your opposition, but what is really exciting to me is to see people with differing views come together and finally respect each other." Recently, my family hosted an exchange student from Germany. It was easy to misunderstand one another sometimes because of the language and culture barriers. Sometimes we would have conflicts and be mad at each other because we didn't understand something that was said or done. The only way that we became better friends was to talk about our problems and to listen to one another.
When I was in the fourth grade, I heard Martin Luther King, Jr.' s speech "I Have a Dream." My dad used to have a poster with this quote by King on it. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." At school, people judge each other by what clothes you wear, what games you play, and how smart they think you are. If we followed King's dream, none of these things would matter. We would judge others by "the content of their character". And the best way to find out who someone really is to TALK to them. Maybe then we could all be friends.
When I went to West Virginia to visit my grandparents a couple years ago, I saw the lMAX movie called "The Living Sea." My mom kept a quote from the movie that I think applies globally. "We cannot protect that which we do not understand. And that which we understand most, we love." If we don't really try to understand one another, then we will never really know what another culture is like. And if we never really know what another culture is like, then we cannot really protect that culture. I think that if we really want to protect someone, war is not the answer. War makes enemies. Understanding makes friends.
I'm just a kid; but I can make a difference by "thinking globally, acting locally." I can think big and act by small steps. So if we want to make peace with our enemies, we should talk to them, listen to them, solve our problems, and make new friends.
--Eli Reece, gr. 5, William Fox E.S., Richmond
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." --Moshe Dayan
That quote is very unique, true, and poetic. To me the excerpt is meant to state that when you have a bad relationship with someone you want to make peace with don't just throw in the towel and talk to the people you already have good terms with, talk and be with the one you are having problems with. It's as simple as that!
Luckily my school has a program that gives kids a chance to make peace. It is called peer mediation; it's where kids solve their problems with other kids with another student mediator to help them. It's a great way to make' peace because both kids have to agree to peer mediation. The program is run by the guidance counselor, whose job is to discuss and solve issues within the school. Even though training for being a mediator is very easy, actually mediating can be very difficult and very different than training. I know this because I am a mediator.
When I have been called upon to mediate a problem, my first observation is that the kids have a problem although they are eager to resolve the problem. My job is to help them talk to each other in a non-confrontational manner. It is also my job to discuss their problem and get them to come up with possible solutions. We are looking for a solution that suits both of them. Once we find a solution that both of them agree to, they make a promise that they will abide by that solution. Peer mediation gets students a chance to talk to each other and solve their dispute. If we didn't have peer mediation, students might let their problems grow and grow until the problem gets too big for the students to get rid of. Peer mediation helps students make peace in the way Moshe Dayan states in his quote by bringing enemies together to talk about their issues.
However, for communities and the rest of the world, no peer mediation group is big erio!Jgh to handle that many issues. If people really do want world peace, then they'll have to get all the world leaders to set aside their differences and accept that other countries are different from their own. When problems come up, they'll need to talk it out instead of resorting to violence or talking only to their allies. If the world takes to these actions, there would be less need for generals or armies. World leaders could instead seek to understand each other's points of view and try to find solutions.
--Samuel Swanlund, gr. 5, Colonial Trace E.S., Henrico Co.