Written by Richard Sidy   

The day of the skeptic is over. Idealists know that world problems can be solved in a world at peace and they must have their day. Our current leaders, at the edge of the abyss, do not know how to undo all their past wrong choices, the consequences of which are spinning out of their control. They are being guided by pessimistic and fearful people with no hopeful vision of the future. All that they need to do is to come together and agree to work for peace and for the well-being of humanity and the planet. That choice is the only way that they and humanity can take back control of our shared destiny. It can happen in less than a month. All it takes is the will to do it.

It seems impossible. The world is in such a state of upheaval and conflict. There is so much hatred, prejudice, fear, suffering, pollution and injustice. Yet, one morning I awoke and felt with certainty and reason that world peace was not only possible but that it could be achieved in a very short time. I had dreamt that all world leaders decided unanimously to halt all conflicts immediately and turn their efforts to solve the human and environmental problems of the world. Of course the problems are as old as human history, but with universal cooperative efforts the ill effects of history could gradually be reversed. A world at peace is the necessary condition for humanity to solve its other pressing problems.

Survival and happiness depend upon the leaders of the world choosing peace as the number one priority of their domestic and foreign policy. Everything else — prosperity, health, educational and technological development, environmental health and sustainability — requires peace. No "leader" worth the name can have any other priority, considering the current needs in the world. World peace is a choice. Leaders have chosen to have war. They have sustained levels of hatred and fear to the extent that their economies and citizens have suffered.

When all world leaders choose to pursue peace with the same passion that they now pursue war, our world will begin to heal. The average citizen in the world still wants the basic four freedoms that were described by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his address to Congress on January 6, 1941: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. However, no one country by itself can or should impose or insure those freedoms everywhere in the world.

The United Nations was created to prevent war by eliminating the causes of war. It is the organism to carry out the healing of our world and to promote the basic human rights and freedoms. If its principles and goals were supported and achieved through universal efforts by all member nations, there would be an irresistible tide of good works for the benefit of humanity.

Although my feeling that world peace can be achieved in less than a month was the result of a dream, the logic of it indisputable. Peace is a choice. It has to be chosen by leaders in every area of world affairs. Leaders in government, education, media, religion, science, economics and the arts must universally declare peace. They must universally make it priority number one, and immediately use their knowledge and resources for the purpose of peace and for the benefit of humanity.