Mahatma Gandhi is recognized for being a noteworthy man who attained unspeakable feats, and most of all, supported ahimsa, or nonviolence. Singlehandedly, he gathered enough supporters to barricade the ruthless British from further captivating India. During his highly respected lifetime, he declared, “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.”

India’s cherished peace follower really meant business when he uttered these golden words. Children are the ones who must be trained to establish world peace. When children grow up, they are in control of the world; not the adults who are the root cause for all the violence we see today. Gandhi is astutely concluding that it may be too late to alter the attitude of adults who currently dominate the world. Nevertheless, children are the ones who are “the future descendants to the throne”. Much to our benefit, youngsters don’t have preconceptions. If you can prove to them that your way is right, they will support you, meaning we can teach juveniles to merge into advocating world peace!

But how can we etch the idea of peace into children’s hearts? The answer is simple. Violent movies and video games are root causes of children believing that it’s ok to shoot someone. Aren’t comedy movies just as entertaining? Aren’t there sports just as fun as video games? You must prove to children that nonviolent entertainment is also equally fun. Also, you should try to peacefully resolve conflicts within your family. Look at it this way. If children are never even exposed to something called guns, can they become terrorists? If they’ve used peaceful resolutions throughout their childhood, will they ever attack someone in the future over petty matters? These are ostensibly small steps, but if all children can learn to peacefully resolve conflicts, the result will be colossal.
Protests in Libya and Bahrain are only few of numerous recent events that prove Gandhi’s quote correct. Because of the impenetrable will to destroy dictatorships, protestors are even capturing and sending bomber jets to violently attack the government! Thousands of people are arrested and killed each day, but it is children who are truly affected. Having to endure the loss of a mother or father in such a murderous time period will be their zenith of difficulties. These children are the ones who experience the pain, and are willing to do something to prevent others from undergoing such an agonizing fate. Thus, they’ll be a part of countless others who eagerly support peaceful actions in their adulthood. These supporters of harmony can potentially influence their surroundings, triggering a vital widespread of concord.
Gandhi displayed extreme shrewdness when developing a theory suggesting that fashioning a peaceful world starts with children. Planet Earth was forced to endure countless millenniums of warfare. Isn’t it time to change that? We must guide our future adults to avoid blundering into the superfluous utilization of violence.