In January, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi announced the 2015 Gandhi Global Center for Peace essay contest for students to share their vision for nonviolence and peace around the world.
In a partnership between Gandhi Global Center for Peace and Gandhi’s Be Magazine, the annual essay contest took place during “A Season for Nonviolence” marking the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi on Jan. 30 and Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4 with a season of nonviolence awareness and events.
During this time, students around the world were invited to write and submit their essays on one of three focus questions under four categories: College/University, High School, Middle School, and Elementary.
Gandhi Global Center for Peace Co-Founder Missy Crutchfield said, “This year’s Student Essay Contest Winning Selections feature students who are international—from Nigeria to India to Indonesia and Vietnam. Many are living in countries that are in much strife and uncertainty. Yet, their voices and vision are very clear. They know in their hearts and souls what they want for the world, and it is a world filled with hope, peace, and compassion—for all. This contest engages the young people of the world to share their hopes and dreams. Their words will help inform the further development of the Gandhi Global Center For Peace as we strive to connect students to ideas on how we can create a better world for all people around the world, young and old, as well as for a healthy planet. With this second year of the contest, I am more inspired than ever with these visionary essays. These youth are the ones we have been waiting for and these are our future leaders.”
In a letter to the students, Arun Gandhi shared his response to this year's Student Essay Contest participation: "I am overwhelmed by the response of young people to the essay contest organized by the Gandhi Global Center for Peace. This is a virtual hub designed to give young people a platform to express their hopes, concerns, and desires for the world. We are consumed by senseless and inhuman violence and the question arises: Is this what civilized human beings are going to do to vent their anger and frustration?
"My grandfather, the famous Mahatma Gandhi, showed us that a Culture of Violence that dominates every society is like cancer in the human body. It is destroying our souls.
"This culture of violence brings out the worst in human beings -- anger, frustration, greed, inhumanity, selfishness -- all of which culminates in physical violence.
"A true civilization is that which is able to overcome the Culture of Violence and replace it with a Culture of Nonviolence allowing the goodness, compassion, love, respect, understanding to flourish within its society. He showed us that it is not impossible to practice. But we prefer status quo because it is easy to control people through fear.
"I am glad that in the two rounds of essays we have heard what you expect this Center to do. In the next two rounds we will expect all of you to reflect on: 1. What does Peace mean to you? 2. How can Peace be achieved? 3. How Can we 'Become The Change We Wish To See in the World?'
"I send all of you best wishes and God speed in this quest for a peaceful world."
One university student from Nigeria captured the essence of the Gandhi Global Center for Peace in her essay. Nineteen-year-old Ijioma Hannatu writes: "'Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer, things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the earth.' Those were the opening lines of the poem "The second coming" by W.B. Yeats which was written in the aftermath of the first World War. Indeed, these are the words best suited to describe the state of our world with wars, nepotism, racism, gender discrimination, domestic violence, drug abuse, suicides, religious bigotry, corruption, unforgiveness, hypocrisy amongst others. From the major version to the minute ones, it has continued to ruin our world; most especially among the young ones and this requires a platform for young people all over the world to be taught, interact and react to various issues concerning peace in relation to our world.
"My vision for the Gandhi Global Centre for Peace would be for the Centre to become a networking site of some sort, forming a chain and linking young people. As I read the entries of past winners, I discovered that most of them had met members of the Centre and interacted with them. That means that the Centre has been interacting with some people and I'm asking them to interact with everyone. I have spent all my life in my country Nigeria and not once have I heard about the Gandhi Global Centre for Peace, and neither have my friends. I probably wouldn't have known about it if I had not stumbled upon it whiles urging the net. We, the young people are the future, hope and leaders of tomorrow. So, what happens when one set of the leaders of tomorrow are taught to tread the path of non-violence towards achieving peace and the others are not taught? It's simple, world peace will still not be realized.
"I hope the Centre will be able to affiliate with schools all over the world and send notes which can be posted on notice boards, provide a forum where young people can register, and interact and also drop by their comments on their views and also ensure that the awareness about all this is effectively created amongst the youths. As times goes on, conferences and seminars can even be held in various countries and I look forward to having a team from the Centre coming to my country to lecture us. Through this, young people will be taught to see life from a different perspective. I know it's a big one I'm envisaging for the Centre but not an impossible one as even the word impossible says "I'm possible," as a great man once pointed out. I believe that by reaching out to young people through this, the Gandhi Global Center for Peace will not only engender the change they want to see, but make the things that have fallen apart come together and bring a glorious ray of colure to our world blackened by violence."
The 2015 Winning Selections from the Gandhi Global Center for Peace student essay contest are featured on both Gandhi Global Center for Peace www.GandhiCenterForPeace.org and Gandhi’s Be Magazine www.BeMagazine.org.