Children as torch-bearers of peace and harmony

Children as torch-bearers of peace and harmony

(Dialogue of the Peace Gong (Bhopal) with Prof N Radhakrishnan)

A team of students  led by Kanupriya Gupta (Class XII) and the National Editor of the Peace Gong put together the following perspectives  and questions to me recently. Other members of the team include: Gurnihal Singh (Class XII), Prachi Lavania (Class XI), Siddharth Jain (Class XII), Kavya Singh (Class XII), Simran Gupta (Class XII) & Saurab Yadav (Class XII).

Question: Mahatma Gandhi had said, "If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children." In today’s world we are witness to conflicts across a large number of societies. Children are worst sufferers in all these conflicts. Right from being victims of violence, they are likely to lose their kith and kin, they could face food shortages and violence could hamper their education. But globally we find very few examples of children getting opportunities to contribute to peace-building. In the context of Mahatma Gandhi’s views, how we can have a global movement for children contributing to peace?

Radhakrishnan : Children as Ambassadors of goodwill and harmony can play probably a very effective role in bringing together  elders and youth to help them reflect on the importance of dialoguing, which of course does not happen now. Many elders do not envision any role for  children beyond their homes and schools and childhood is reserved as a  period of study and study alone.

It is a good thing that many elders recognise now that children can facilitate dialogue even in their homes, schools they  study and the world outside they have to grow  provided elders are prepared to recognise their potentials and encourage them. Peace-building in fact begins at the level of individuals and in man-making (womanmaking) children have a very significant role to play. Let us not forget what the English poet Wordsworth said: “Child is the Father of Man”.

Question: The  Manifesto 2000 of UNESCO for the International Year of the Culture of Peace a) Respect all life; b) Reject violence; c) Share with others; d) Listen to understand; e) Preserve the planet; and f) Rediscover solidarity. These are important traits for children to imbibe to be peacebuilders. However, in our daily lives, we tend to forget these traits. Many of the root causes of conflicts arise when we start believing that we are superior and are egoistic, we believe that violence is the only solution to our problems and are not ready to listen to others point of view. In the midst of conflicts when parties are ready to kill each other to establish supremacy, how do we work to ensure children imbibe these traits to contribute to conflict resolution?

Radhakrishnan: It all depends on our view of life and the  role every individual has to play in knitting society together as a viable instrument of peace.The Unesco’s gentle , at the same time pithy reminder, that war/confict originates in the minds of men and hence , defences of peace are to be constructed right in the minds, seems to have been forgotten by humanity. The Culture of Peace Programmes  for some time rekindled visions of a unified and peaceful world and highlighted the values you have referred to in your question.

It all depends on whether we take these things beyond points of discussion and debate.

How do we inculcate these values which in turn have to percolate into the hearts and minds of every individual so that as the Buddhist view of ” the cosmic oneness” and “interconnectivity” of Nature and Man and the entire universe is translated into  the life of everyone becomes an article of faith and practice in day-to-day life.

Question:Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had said civilization fails when it maintains entrenched inequalities and ignores the need for inclusive social transformations. He said, “No great civilization is possible in a country divided by the constant interruption of steep mountains, as they retard the natural flow of communication. Large fortunes and luxurious living, like the mountains, form high walls of segregation. They produce worse divisions in society than physical barriers.” Inequalities and lack of justice result in conflicts. Every day we read and listen to serious conflicts from different parts of the world. Can there be any role for children to challenge these inequalities and contribute in addressing the divisions in the society.

Radhakrishnan: Good question. You should also know that children can be  very  good teachers, teachers not in the classroom situation but in influencing elders. You might have noticed how Gurudev Tagore subtly wove into his experiments a pattern of learning through loving each other which should positively begin loving nature and all what the plentiful nature has preserved for us.

I have a chidren’s campus where arts,crafts,music,dance,lullabies,creative dramatics, music and dance,games and all that interests children are woven into the matrix of their day-to-day activities.

It is now a 50 year old  experiment initiated by two great Gandhian  theatre activists. A Children’s Theatre for value Creation and in the Art of Growing up.

You will be surprised to know how adults  in the village learn from these children and how many social evils and individual corrupting habits were given up gradually by the elders. It is a remarkable experiment and I welcome you to visit this village and spend your holidays here. It is 20 kilometers north of Trivandrum city.Iam certain you will enjoy your stay here.

Question: In our daily lives we find that conflicts take place when we are not able to contain our anger and aggressiveness. There are number of instances when children are found hitting each other in a bout of anger. Also there are instances when children heap abuses at each to resolve conflicts. Many times our teachers and parents tell us not to be angry, hit each other or restrain from using abuses. This may work sometimes. What in your views are the most practical approaches to imbibe in children are the art of anger management, practice use of nonviolent words, and be ready to speak to each other rather that resorting to violent confrontation.

Radhakrishnan: To a large number of children their role models are either parents, teachers, film/sports icons. But in their daily lives they are more influenced by their parents and teachers.These two categories very often can make or unmake the character of a large number of young ones.

What I do in my anger management sessions with children is to initiate them into  a series of yoga,meditation,tension-lessening exercises,involve them in creative dramatics and role-play and poetry recitation.

I have a feeling that the adult community in their anxiety to shape the lives of their children  in their own image or larger than their image unknowingly contribute the growth of unnecessary tension in the children both academically and otherwise.

The children are force-fed much more than what they can chew and digest. We need to change this attitude effectively.

What do we do to help our children laugh and be merry. Seldom do we do enough to help the chid to discover himself/herself.We are denying our chidren their childhood.

The biggest question is: How do we give our children their childhood back?

Question: Mahatma Gandhi had said, “To be true to my faith, therefore, I may not write in anger or malice. I may not write idly. I may not write merely to excite passion. The reader can have no idea of the restraint I have to exercise from week to week in the choice of topics and my vocabulary. It is training for me. It enables me to peep into myself and make discoveries of my weaknesses.” Further Daisaku Ikeda has suggested three principles and guidelines for communication: (1) exchange among civilizations as a source of value creation; (2) a spirit of open dialogue; and (3) the creation of a culture of peace through education. Further the Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO underlines, “Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defences of peace must be constructed.” In the backdrop of the nature of the media today, an individual is exposed to variety of media messages in daily life. Many of these are violent. Violent communication result is conflicts. It is important to imbibe and practice nonviolent communication. What should be our strategy to teach children the art of nonviolent communication right from childhood?

Radhakrishnan: Can we help to make each home into a value creating zones first? What values do we communicate to our children who watch and learn from us silently and without our knowledge? It is very important that each of us has to become a value creator first.

 You are right, the heroic role the SGI President Dr Daisaku Ikeda has been playing very effectively by highlighting the role of Dialogue in value Creation needs to be highlighted as a significant example.

Question: Eminent Gandhian environmentalist, Dr Vandana Shiva has talked on the essence of mutual co-existence, “We are all members of the earth family, interconnected through the planet’s fragile web of life. We all have duty to live a manner that protects the earth’s ecological processes, and the rights and welfare of all species and all people. No humans have the right to encroach on the ecological space of other species and other people, or to treat them with cruelty and violence.” Imbibing the essence of mutual co-existence is important for children for global sustainable development. But most children today are materialists, they want more of everything. What needs to be done to ensure that children take the lead globally on the significance of mutual co-existence?

Radhakrishnan: the lessons of co-existence can be highlighted and transmitted effectively by encouraging children to work together in community activities so that they will realise the magic of hands and learn from joy of working together as the Father of Indian Nation highlighted.

Question: The Guiding Principles of the Peace Gong underlines our commitment to bring together young people to work for peace, “Let every dream become Martin Luther King’s dream, let every step towards peace become Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March and let every obstacle in your path become Nelson Mandela’s painful twenty-seven years in prison. Promise yourself that you will contribute your best to make the phenomenon of violence outdated, promise yourself that you will try to motivate your friends to walk on the path of nonviolence.”  This was articulated by one of our former Peace Gong child reporters. How do you think we can reach out to other young people across the country and abroad for a global movement of ‘Children as Peacebuilders’? How can we work with peace scholars like you and others around the world so that are able to initiate an intergenerational movement for a global nonviolent world?   

 Radhakrishnan:  Childern can definitely play very positive and effective role as bridges of good will and harmony and emerge harbingers of hope and change if only the adult world recognises the truth that the future belongs to the children and the adults should resile from the futile exercise of shaping children into their images .