Given the tragic history of Okinawa, when the eight wise men of the world meet there it would be particularly appropriate if they turned their minds, in this International Year of the Culture of Peace, to the subject of ridding the world of war and genocide.
Confronted with a world that cannot be changed, reasonable people adapt and accommodate. But the turning points of history and progress in human civilization have come from those who set out to change the world. This is a story about a group of unreasonable people who met recently to set up the steering committee of a group called GlobalAction to Prevent War: An International Coalition to Stop Armed Conflict and Genocide.
War is as pervasive as the wish for peace is universal. Some of the most charismatic and influential personalities in history -- Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi -- have preached the renunciation of force and the need to eliminate it from human relationships.