Before interpersonal peace can be achieved, the prerequisite is intrapersonal peace. You have to be at peace with yourself before being ready to be at peace with someone else.
Most cases of breach of peace stem out from an increase in disruption within an individual. This individual's peace is also connected with contentment.
A man without ambition is a living corpse but in pursuing whatever ambition, we need to have a sharp boundary between what promotes peace with others and what hinders the peace of the society, the former should always be pursued with great zeal.
When I graduated from college with a degree a few years ago, I was underemployed for about three years. Throughout those years, I wasn't at peace with myself. So many questions were running through my mind. I felt that having been sponsored to that level by my mother and siblings, it was time to stand on my own and create a path to my own future. I found it difficult because I could not even rent an apartment for myself and this, to me, is the first step towards breaking the bond of dependence. I was staying with my brother who was having a laundry shop. I was trying to be strong with the help of encouragement coming from my family and friends. I was holding on trying to have faith in a better day ahead when COVID-19 struck. I lost my job and my brother could not open his shop to make any income. We were barely surviving from the goodwill of people around us.
At the peak of this, I nearly considered going into crime but my training right from childhood negates such. There was an increase in reported crime rate in my community then. Many of the culprits were arrested and when investigated, it was realized that majority of them were first timers in criminality and this was not unconnected to massive loss of jobs due to lockdowns. They could not cope with the emerging reality and they took to crime.
I have seen paraded robbers, kidnappers, ritualists confessed to being initiated into such acts due to lack of jobs. But on further scrutiny, they were not just conformable with managing the low income jobs at their disposals. This made them not to be at peace with themselves.
This could be extended to a whole community, state or country. The attempt to dominate one another politically or control one another's resources has remained top of the reasons for global turmoil. A country will first of all be eluded with internal peace before depriving others of peace out of fear of uncertainty.
Two things are involved in achieving both intrapersonal peace and interpersonal peace.
The first is respect for others. You go about your activities on how to grow and develop yourself without allowing such to hurt or inconvenience your next neighbour. That's respect. Don't do unto others what you would not like them to do unto you.
Secondly, in whatever situation you are, be content with it while you strive to better yourself.
This goes beyond an individual. The world would be a better place if communities, states and countries are content with what they possess in terms of power and political influence while they continue to build on their strengths without hurting others. We need peace in the world.
I wish to complete my personal story before I conclude this piece. After scaling through hardships, fighting against depression and other intrapersonal wars during COVID 19 lockdown, I got a relatively good job two months after the lift on the lockdown. If I had taken to crime, I would have not just been talking about disruption of my own peace but others that I would have inflicted pains upon.
Try as much as possible to change an ugly situation to a better one but make peace with yourself if the change is beyond your control.
A peaceful world is possible. Make peace with yourself and respect the person next to you. May the world overcome the numerous challenges ravaging different countries.