What could we do to create a world with less violence?

I totally understand that what I'm about to say is hopelessly naive and reflects a world view that seems to be so far from the truth of what is possible as to be almost comical. But it's my view anyway.

In order to create a world with less violence, we need to get people to understand that we're all just people and we're all in this whole mess together. While there's cultural differences between different areas of the world, in the end we've all still got the same emotions, the same biological makeup, the same potentials, the same problems. Every human on the planet wants to find a way to survive and be happy. We all value family. (Speaking generally here, and ignore any psychological illnesses that is)

Which is why I don't think there's a justifiable reason for war. It's all because one guy wants that little bit of land those other people are sitting on over there. Or they want something the other people have. And it's justified because the people "over there" are different than us over here. So they must be evil. And nobody ever takes the time to really get to know the people they're demonizing because then they couldn't demonize them. Because they would realize that they're not really that different after all.

The artificial division of the world into separate countries and the development of the nationalism that comes along with that is one of the biggest problems facing the human race right now. And I really hope that at some point, as a whole, we can transcend our perceived differences. But I think we'll probably blow ourselves up long before that would ever be possible.

So, I think that's about enough depressing blog posting for one day.

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