Fifteen Minutes

Olga Brajnović

12 years ago

You have 15 minutes to address the whole world live (on television or radio — choose your format). What would you say?

I have a stage panic. So I would probably make a TV program with footage of everything but me.

The first image would be a map of the wars and conflicts of the world. I would enumerate each one of them (the ones making breaking news and the ones forgotten) and explain how long is lasting and the death toll. Then show images of the surviving victims and people trying to help them. Then I would show images of the boats of immigrants trying to reach Europe or Australia, explain the problem of the refugees flying from war zones or poverty, the asylum seekers, the modern slavery and again show images of people trying to help them. I would quote Pope Francis when he said addressing to the FAO:

“A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.”

Then I would show images of the “World Powers” maybe represented by Presidents or Prime Ministers gathering in some G-8 Summit, a footage of the UN Security Council, the NATO Headquarters…, and explain why there are no agreements in key issues. They are too busy keeping or increasing their own geopolitical and economic power.

I would like to say that peace is possible if there is a will for it and for restoring justice. Because peace cannot last without justice. The recently deceased Nelson Mandela wrote:

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

He is right. But is also true that is too easy to spread hate. Wars spread hate for generations but they cannot last forever. People have to learn to make peace. They did it before many times. The world need more peace makers and less World Powers’ rivalries.

Daily Prompt: Fifteen Minutes.
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