Fair waning: I wrote this when I was still in high school. The style of my writing has gone through a lot of changes since then.
“and the gentleness that comes,
not from the absence of violence, but despite
the abundance of it.”
The cost of peace shall be your bravery. Such bravery is no mean feat to be easily performed by the commonest of men, for should one succeeds in displaying such a particular degree of valor, he then ceases to be common. Say, what does it take for a rapacious emperor to awaken from the fervent obsession of barbarous conquests? Solemn murmurings between advisors and king? The sweet persuasion of a lover? Even with both influences, an action taken could only be justified by the consent given by one’s heart and mind. It is exceedingly troublesome, for one to come to the knowledge that all their ambitions are ethically questionable and must be terminated for the sake of humanity. It is utterly improbable for one to express regrets thus eliminate all those bestialities that opposed the idea of peace. Alas, there leaves a sliver of breath between the improbable and the impossible. The most commendable virtue shall not be the sort of prowess displayed on battlegrounds, but that of a somber realization of self impactful enough to stir change. Men must possess the courage to change, to uphold the idea of peace triumphantly upon the unforgiving roar of beasts. It is then we can begin to hope for peace of any kind.
Here I disclose to you the sort of valor one might display in the name of peace by attributing them to characters from several books I have read:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
In this novel of World War II, Liesel’s foster parents had the audacity to commit a crime so grave as to shelter a Jewish man under their roof cradled in the midst of Munich that was prowling with Hitler’s extremists screeching their abhorrence. I believe to execute such kindness - this degree of kindness seems insurmountable to be called so - one has to have what could be called an unsparing chestful of courage to believe in the act of their supposed folly. It is to my way of thinking that the inception of peace spurs on with every decision made against violence. Allow yourself to feel the visceral anguish in the face of hopelessness, let it seep into your every bloodstream, encroaching you to do something, there, it is the alarming yearning for peace awakening under the gruesome pictures of war.
“The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic.”
It is universally acknowledged that the human race, in order to achieve the improbable circumstance of world peace requires more men with hearts and minds liken to this Hans Hubermann. Universal peace begins with the pockets of kindness you are brave enough to offer to each other and it is from there the word grows and flourishes until it ceases to be merely a fictitious word but a reality.
I believe there to be immense honor in championing the concept of peace when the torpid odor of death was all that fills your nostrils and you are the only one left standing in this arduous crusade. There is something to be said in choosing to live, either valiantly or gently, after the dust of gunpowder has long been settled. When there sits a whole new world you have yet to acquaint yourself with when you have to do it all alone. We would not have known the glory of peace, have we not heard of the horrid tales of war spooled by the survivors who decided to stay.
For Hans Hubermann, the cost of peace was his courage to offer countless - feeble or great - acts of kindness; for Liesel, the cost of peace was her courage to persist and to move millions of souls with the story she had to tell.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
One of the principal questions that troubled readers of this acclaimed novel is this: What has called the monster to come walking? Now, it is apparent there would be varied perceptions to the story by each and every one of us, but hear: the monster was called, not by Conor but something inside him, something he did not believe he could have the capacity to hold - courage.
There was a war brewing in Conor. It was abhorrent to even skim the mere lips of the thought: to let slip his ailing mother's grasp for the hope of securing his own sanity, nevertheless, the truth said that was what Conor had wanted. It was also insurmountable love that provoked genuine pleading to the monster in the desperation of saving his mother. How could these two thoughts have existed contemporaneously in a being? Because humans are complicated beasts. Oh yes, what beasts we are. The monster came walking, all to let him see that the only way to not feel haunted by his mother’s looming death, to feel the tranquility of the mind for just one moment, is to accept it. And to accept such a reprehensible fact, it is not difficult to understand Conor had refused to believe it, for it necessitates considerable bravery to do so.
“Conor held tightly onto his mother. And by doing so, he could finally let her go.”
There is a sort of peace that encompasses the soul of a lone entity, it is what we may call, inner peace. There had never been a moment of silence in Conor’s mind since his mother fell ill since he had to shoulder the weight of what the truth would bring. With the monster’s help, Conor gathered enough bravery to tell the truth, and by doing so, he found peace with the beast inside him.
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
Death, some would have greeted this fellow with a serene smile; others, a confused frown - it happened so quickly. In either way, death must be the most exorbitant cost there is to peace, most histrionic in performance too. A match lit, a bullet fired, a missile smacked from the forlorn sky. The valiant shakes the hands of death bravely and sips on peace to wash away the taste of death; the coward chokes upon the devastation of the truth and perishes once more.
“There is a strange lack of dignity in conquest; the dull, uncomplaining endurance of defeat appears more worthy of congratulation.”
It is never a simple task, to endure life and what it might bombard you with, especially after experiencing such morbid years of youth. Vera Mary Brittain not only endured the most exasperated part of her life, but she also took all that she had seen through the years and coupled it with the proper infusion of education she insisted on receiving, became what I would call an impeccable example of female intellect. She was in her own society a successful writer, feminist, and most notably, a pacifist. A pacifist is one who holds the belief that war and violence are unjustifiable. One could never resolve the cause of a disagreement with raised fists and vicious detestation of one another. Amid the wailing of the sick and stricken with grief, Vera Brittain had the nerve to hope for the war to spare her, so she could write about the atrocities - all that war had taken from her and the philosophy that we should never have to put up with war if it wasn’t a fair one.
“No to killing. No to war. No to the endless cycle of revenge. I say no more of it!”
For Vera Brittain, the cost of peace was the courage to stand upon the stage and speak those words. Testament of Youth has reminded the people, especially women, that the loathsome language war brought upon: women’s quieted sobs as their sons are driven away, women’s anguish cry as the expected news of their loved ones is being delivered. Vera was appalled by the truth of war and she was not afraid to shed her own cloak of sorrow and take a stand against the very antonym of peace.
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The cost of peace shall be your bravery. I ask of you the bravery to love in a world inundated with hatred, to remain gentle in nature no matter the bruises you bear, to educate oneself for the sake of living harmoniously. Humbly, I ask of you to believe in peace. Indeed, it is true we are still rather a great distance from absolute peace, but why ever talk of peace when none of us never dare to execute the first step, however inconspicuous it may be? I think it is quite uncomplicated but demanding of intrepidity, what you should give in exchange for peace - a deep breath to settle the riot in your mind, then, a decision to be.