OBAMA -SYMBOL OF GLOBAL PEACE!
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The Obama Grant Essay Contest
Topic: The Hague
is the international city of Peace and Justice.
What does the word “Peace” or what does the word
“Justice” mean to you?
By Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath
Traditional
African wisdom is reflected in this Ghanaian proverb which admonishes:
“An
elderly person does not sit down in the house and watch children to engage in a
fight.”
There
are many peaceful means of resolving differences rather than physical exchange
of blows. As the adage goes, ‘jaw-jaw’ is better than ‘war-war.’
For
this essay, I will place premium on the word PEACE and try to underscore its significance based
on my personal experience, as required by the Obama Club of the Netherlands –
the organizers of this contest. They deserve felicitation for their imagination
and vision.
The
first question that flecked through my mind when I saw the essay contest was
why is President Obama coming to The Hague? Through online search I got to know
that he was attending the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) 2014 being hosted by
The Hague from 24th -25th March. I knew The Hague is the international city of PEACE and Justice. This year’s NSS
which is the third in the series after Washington, DC (2009) and Seoul (2012),
the world summit is aimed at PREVENTING
(emphasis mine) nuclear terrorism around the globe.
Incidentally,
President Obama is the brainchild of NSS in the first place. This is an
indication that the man wants PEACE in
the world. If The Hague is the global center of PEACE, then there must be some PEACE
chemistry between President Obama and the city of The Hague.
So,
therefore, one can draw an analogy between President Obama 53, and the city of
The Hague 800 years old. But as President of the world’s most powerful nation today,
Obama is the wise elderly person in the world who cannot stand and stare while
global PEACE is tossed to the dogs of
nuclear terrorism.
As
a student from Africa, I have witnessed brutal ethnic conflicts including the
Rwanda genocide of 1994. I have seen the Liberia and Sierra-Leone civil wars at
close range. The atrocities of these wars cannot be described in words. Babies
had their ears and noses sliced like onions. Nursing mothers had their breasts
cut off to prevent them from breastfeeding their babies. Young girls and boys were reduced to armless
and legless creatures. Others who should have been in schools were drugged and
dragged in the army as child soldiers.
In
post-election disputes in countries like Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire, citizens were
massacred in cold blood with their decomposed bodies scattered in lagoons and
streets.
As
an eyewitness to these traumatic political intolerance and immaturity, the word
PEACE was rendered meaningless. But PEACE is priceless, really. No amount of money can buy PEACE. Even the World Bank cannot
purchase PEACE with all the money it
has accumulated for the past 70 years (1944-2014).
So,
to me, the word PEACE means
something more than the air we breathe!
References
Sources:
The White House website < http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama/ accessed 6 March, 2014
The Obama Club Netherlands website <http://www.obamaclubnederland.nl/wmp-nl.html > accessed
28 February, 2014
PS: This was the script this author submitted for the essay contest organised for international students for "World Class The Hague 2014" by the Obama Club Netherlands. It was in connection with President Obama's visit to The Hague for the just-ended Nuclear Security Summit 2014.
Even though it was not selected for nomination, I was not discouraged at at all. It is because experience has taught me that if you participate in a contest and did not win, it does not mean that you are not good. What it means is that someone is better than you! So you must back up and do better next time!
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