A Quest For World Peace: Heal The World by Michael Jackson

Sometimes, I ponder deeply about the world and why we have made it quite unbearable for us to live in. I see and hear news about the world deteriorating at a rather fast pace all by the fashion of our hands and minds. Wars, disease outbreak, racism, femicide, massacre, global climate crisis and so many unspeakable damages caused by we, the people who live in it. Everyday, I witness the terrors of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. I read the headlines every morning and 95% of it is bad news_news about manslaughter, war, femicide, kidnapt or something of that sort. And I know that some of us has been victims directly or indirectly of these inhumanities, no matter how hard we try to deny it. We have either been passively or actively affected by the slow deterioration of the world. Our world is sick and damaged and it is left to us, to be the potential healers of it.

Michael Jackson, an iconic artiste, sang and released Heal The World in 1991. In this song Michael pleads and compels all of us as individuals to change and heal the world for the better. But first, we have to start from within. We have to make the personal choice to be better people, to seek peace within ourselves before we can embark on preaching the gospel of peace. Sometimes, we blame authorities, the world's leaders for the state of the world but I think it starts from the grassroots. The responsibility of working for peace doesn't just lie with our leaders. The duty falls to each and every one of us.

If each of us make the decision to develop positive qualities like kindness, compassion, empathy and also maintain it, maybe we can make a gradual change. Extending a hand of kindness to our fellow neighbor might lead to him or her extending kindness to another person. Somehow, it becomes a cycle. Our differences (tribal, political, race, colour, country) shouldn't be a cause for war or violence but a tool to promote unity in diversity. Heal The World tells us that when a disagreement is budding, we should look first to seeking discourse and negotiations, instead of resorting to violence. Violence is not often the recourse to peace. More often than not, violence makes things worse than they usually are with both parties losing in one way or the other. For so long, we have seen or heard nations going to war against each other, causing bloodlet and massacre. These wars leaves permanent scars on the world and innocents tends to suffer for it. And at what costs?

Of course, it's very hard for us to imagine a world devoid of violence. It seems unrealistic to envision a peaceful world. But Heal The World inspires the possibilities, the essence of that world. All we need to do is embrace the message of peace and take baby steps towards that goal. When we want to achieve something, we must apply compassion in the pursuit of those goals. Individually, we should each uphold human dignity and responsibility and promote empathy and kindness amongst ourselves. We should make a better space and a better place; if not for us, then for the next generations to come. I love this song because it is an inspired message in the search of peace. It is now more relevant than ever before. I listen to it in hopes that one day, the world will gradually heal and maybe we can live and love happily.

Thanks for reading.✨