There Will Be Peace

There will be peace:

when attitudes change;

when self-interest is seen as part of common interest;

when old wrongs, old scores, old mistakes

are deleted from the account;

when the aim becomes co-operation and mutual benefit

rather than revenge or seizing maximum personal

or group gain;

when justice and equality before the law

become the basis of government;

when basic freedoms exist;

when leaders – political, religious, educational – and

the police and media

wholeheartedly embrace the concepts

of justice, equality, freedom, tolerance, and

reconciliation

as a basis for renewal;

when parents teach their children new ways to think

about people.

There will be peace:

when enemies become fellow human beings.

David Roberts

November 2003

Based on a poem in Kosovo War Poetry, 1999