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Prompt: Share your thoughts after reading the article 'Striving for a Peaceful World'
Sample essay: Sharing my thoughts after reading the article 'Striving for a Peaceful World'
Sample essay: Expressing My Thoughts After Reading 'Striving for a Peaceful World'
After the end of the Second World War (1945), the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, Japan collapsed before the might of the Allied forces including Britain, Russia, the United States... History entered a new phase with numerous crucial issues concerning the survival of humanity. Among them, the arms race between superpowers and the looming threat of nuclear war pose the most terrifying danger.
García Márquez, the renowned Colombian writer (Nobel Prize laureate in literature), penned an essay titled 'Striving for a Peaceful World' to express his profound concern about the nuclear threat. Through sharp reasoning and concrete evidence, eloquent and persuasive, he accomplished a profoundly humane task of awakening humanity to the looming danger of nuclear war, akin to the Damocles' sword in Greek mythology, capable of annihilating all life on earth in an instant.
Beginning the article, the author presents a staggering figure that has the power to deeply shock even those with the coldest of hearts, indifferent to this burning current affair:
Where are we now? Today, on 8-8-1986, over 50,000 nuclear warheads are scattered across the planet. Simply put, it means each person, including children, is sitting atop a 4-ton barrel of explosives: everything that explodes there will turn everything into nothing, not just once but twelve times, wiping out all traces of life on Earth.
To assert the absurdity, the inhumanity of nuclear war, the author employs thorough analogies and makes even the most abstract concepts tangible to everyone, regardless of cultural background, skin color, or language. The areas Marx-Kett touches upon are universally relevant and broadly encompassing, such as education, healthcare, food, and most importantly, human life and all living beings. The arguments he presents in the article are based on the content of texts and international conventions revolving around the vital issues of the era:
In 1981, UNICEF outlined a program to address urgent issues for the 500 million poorest children in the world. This program aimed to provide health care, primary education, improve sanitation conditions, and provide food and water. But it all proved to be an unattainable dream, costing $100 billion. However, this amount is just about equivalent to the expenses incurred for 100 B-1B bomber aircraft and less than 7,000 intercontinental missiles.
And here's an example in the field of healthcare: The cost of 10 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers... is enough to fund a disease prevention program over 14 years and would protect over 1 billion people from malaria and save more than 14 million children, just for Africa alone.
The writer's emotions are vividly expressed in the passage discussing famine, malnutrition, and illiteracy among the people of impoverished nations. Reading these lines, those with a conscience cannot help but feel sorrow and compassion for them and indignation towards actions that infringe upon human rights:
An example in the field of food aid: according to FAO estimates, in 1985, nearly 575 million people worldwide were malnourished. The average cost per caloric intake for these individuals is less than the cost of 149 MX missiles... Just 27 MX missiles would be enough to pay for the necessary agricultural inputs for poor countries to provide food for the next four years.
An example in the field of education: only two nuclear-powered submarines would suffice to eradicate illiteracy worldwide.
These figures indeed speak volumes and deeply move people's hearts! Marx-Kett condemns nuclear war by emphasizing the stark contrast between the cost of sustaining and developing life and the cost of destroying life on the planet. Anyone who reads these lines must seriously reflect and draw practical significance from the writer's purposeful and clear comparisons.
According to Marx-Kett, Earth is the only place with the miracle of life in the solar system. From there, he concludes: Arms race is irrational. In other words, it is a reckless act of belligerents, contrary to the desire for peace of all humanity.
The nuclear arms race between superpowers continually defies human reason and even defies natural reason: Since the emergence of life on Earth, it has taken 380 million years for butterflies to fly, and another 180 million years for roses to bloom, merely for adornment. It has also endured four geological eras before humans could sing better than birds and die for love. In this golden age of science, human intelligence has nothing to be proud of for inventing a device, just a push of a button, to reverse the great and costly process of millions of years back to its starting point.
A deep understanding across multiple fields combined with sincere feelings and profound concern for humanity and life have propelled writer G. Marx-Kett to write passionately stirring words. Before the conference, he earnestly called for humanity to unite, raise a unified voice against nuclear war, demand a world without weapons and a life of peace and justice. He believes that the presence of everyone at this conference is not in vain.
Writer G. Marx-Kett, with works and writings containing profound humanitarian significance, has made a significant contribution to the peace movement worldwide. Therefore, he is worthy of the prestigious Nobel Prize he has been awarded.
