The question that we must ask is whether we are making progress toward the goal of universal peace. Or are we caught up on a treadmill of history, turning forever on the axle of mindless aggression and self-destruction?
Interpretation
This quote prompts us to reflect on our advancement towards global peace versus being stuck in cycles of conflict.
F.W. De Klerk's quote challenges us to consider our current trajectory regarding universal peace. It emphasizes the importance of evaluating whether our efforts are genuinely contributing to achieving peace or if we are merely repeating destructive patterns without progression. The metaphor of a 'treadmill of history' suggests that society may be trapped in a loop of aggression and self-destruction, pointing to the need for conscious efforts towards positive change.
In practice
In a discussion about world affairs, you might use this quote to emphasize the need for peaceful solutions.
I played an integral part in helpings formulating that new vision... that we must abandon apartheid and accept one united South Africa with equal rights for all, with all forms of discrimination to be scrapped from the statute book.
Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would yield every honor which has been accorded by war.
No one has done more to prevent conflict - no one has made a greater sacrifice for the cause for Peace - than you, America's proud missile submarine family. You stand tall among our heroes of the Cold War.
The powerful have invoked God at their side in this war, so that we will accept their power and our weakness as something that has been established by divine plan. But there is no god behind this war other than the god of money, nor any right other than the desire for death and destruction... Today there is a “NO” which shall weaken the powerful and strengthen the weak: the “NO” to war.
I feel that we don't have the luxury of asking whether or not the Palestinians and Israelis can achieve peace. I think we have to just ask the question of when and how.
Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.
Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.
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