Doctrine of World Peace

Growing up nationless meant that I would walk around the world searching for something that was not allowed or condoned as appropriate by others. I wanted to be a citizen of the world, holding a passport that simply stated ‘stan’ (eg. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Hindustan) which in some parts of the world means ‘a place’. In other parts, it refers to the name Stanley. I wanted to be from somewhere, but although for travel purposes I held an Indian passport, I never quite felt I was just from there. Third eye blind profoundly stated that ‘I’d walk with my people if I could find them’. I’ve walked (actually flown) about 30,000 miles in my life to find my people, only finding that my person is figurative for anyone who I can talk to. I’ve always believed that everyone has a story to tell, has laughed at a funny sounding fart, dreamt of being somewhere else or held the people dearest to them closer than their comfort level allowed. We are all the same, only our approach to the world has been skewed by the elementary school we went too. As a kid, too young to comprehend who I was and who my neighbors were, I drew tanks invading a city in Pakistan, with Mig-29’s roaring above armed with Indian insignia and Russian made missiles. I feel terrible now for the hate I felt, without even knowing what hate can do. I once bored a Pakistani cabbie in New York on the similarities between our countries, made the man and myself almost teary eyed. The extreme affection was short-lived as I still had to pay my full fare plus tip. But it made me realize who I was. A worried man whose hatred towards a certain people had developed into a hatred, towards hate itself. And simply because what I didn’t understand frustrated me. Why, was there that disconnect and why are neighbors often the ones that dislike each other? We are all impatient in finding a connection between ourselves and others. I have a great Japanese friend from high school in Hong Kong, and even though our language barrier prevented extended conversations on Nietzsche, we never grew tired of sitting on top of our residential blocks, staring at the sun set over starfish bay, west of Ma On Shan mountain. Our perception and understanding of natural phenomena allowed us to go days without speaking, and although we did speak, the camaraderie was stemmed from an appreciation of the absolute. We are all the same. We feel emotion in the same manner, but express it differently. We understand unconditional love, but find it hard to say those three words every girlfriend of mine has wished I said more often. We know of social well being, natured into us via our affinity to packs of wolves (who I was raised by in Borneo). We can very easily find a pack of humans who can point at differences between various cultures, but have never attempted at finding the similarities. To end my doctrine on world peace and cultural understanding, I say this to you’ “Make a funny sounding fart in front of a foreigner”, and –insert laugh here-.

by Rathi