Editor’s note: This poem and essay about peace were written in our new Pashto language workshops and translated to publish in English, pending plans for a Pashto blog.
If a peaceful feeling
grows in your body,
you can build your life and
a world with love.
It is important to have peace in our lives
Sitting under the shadow of peace,
we find happiness and success.
What is Peace?
Peace brings happiness in our lives. Without it, any country faces crime, war, and difficulties. War brings a bad message with it—a message of destruction and dead ends.
Peace has a very important role. Without it, the life of every one of us is empty and ends with unhappiness.
Peace is a gift from almighty God. We must work for peace in our country.
Because of the war, we Afghans have experienced too much conflict and difficulties in our lives. We need peace. Almighty God has said in the Holy Quran that: ”It is Muslims who bring peace in their homes.”
Peace will help us build our country and progress. I feel sorry for my Afghanistan that we have never had a peaceful life. I think it is because of ignorance and lack of education. We must work hard to remove ignorance. We can only build our country by the power of the pen and knowledge.
I ask all my Afghan brothers to work together for peace and be united.
By Safa
Translation by Pari; photo by Jonathon Colman.
Beautiful,it has a very good messages for all Afghan.
A beautiful message for all of us. Peace is a gift we should all work towards. Thank you for writing this strong essay.
From your poem, I see the author’s desire for peace. At the same time, the poem also shows that people have the bad experience because of wars. Everyone wants to make peace instead of endless fights. Personally, I feel disappointed to see that the wars still happen in our society. Maybe, the end of the war will be the bright future of peace.
In our time, peace is what we need the most. A great message for everyone.
This was an inspiring piece. Thank you for your strength and courage to always keep fighting for a better world.
Peace is something every single one of us should strive for. We need more people like Safa, more people who believe in peace
This poetry deserves to be shouted from every rooftop in the world. Peace, above all else, is the glue that keeps humanity banded together. Thank you so much, Safa.
It is a great poem that expresses the author’s wish to have peace. The poem and the essay point the significance of peace and the way the author thinks how to get peace. I agree with the author that peace brings happiness to our lives. From the poem, I can know that people from Afghanistan suffer a lot from warfares, and peace is important for those people who have not experienced harmonious society. I also agree with the author that education can help Afghans build a peaceful country. Afghanistan will finally get peace, and I hope Afghans can experience less conflict and difficulties in their lives.
Safa,
It is a really beautiful poem. I can see your desire for peace because peace is so important for people to live a happy life. With peace, Afghanistan can build a completely different society where men and women are equal and receive the same rights, people’s safety are secured and life quality improves with everyone’s effort. It is possible to bring a bright future to Afghanistan with peace. To achieve peace, education is necessary to make people think like individuals, which will help them in putting the reconstruction of their community in practice. I hope Afghans can fight against ignorance and build a peaceful society.
Dear Safa
Your words of peace speak out to me as parts of the middle east are involved in armed conflict at the moment. I too, wish that the wars would end and everyone could coexist in happiness. Unfortunately, humans are not perfect and total piece will not be present in this world. Some type of conflict will always be present in this world no matter how evolved the human race becomes. The real question is whether humans can facilitate more civilized conflicts like the use of verbal communication rather than physical actions. Your poem creates a feeling of hope, sadness and truth. Peace no doubt brings happiness to everyone around us. Your idea that education will bring peace is very true. The more we humans are educated on how other cultures work, the easier it will be for us to understand one each other and come to peaceful conclusions. When different cultures understand each other, countries like Afghanistan will rise out of the ashes and rebuild itself. Education will allow us to think more carefully about what we say and do when interacting with others. If this can be achieved, the majority of armed conflicts would have the potential to become terminated. I hope that the people of Afghanistan can start to educate the world on their culture and establish peaceful negotiations with those who do not have a strong liking towards their country. Your dream of Afghanistan becoming a peaceful territory is standing right in front of us and all we must do is grab it by educating one another. Education is a powerful tool and if sharpened correctly, it can fatally wound an ongoing conflict.
Dear Safa, your poem really moves me, and it shows how the peace in the world is the only way for humanity to unite together, not violence. In a very concise yet descriptive way, you show us how peace is in all of our hearts, and that it can really be achieved, no matter what the task or situation at hand. Like the poem says, it is possible that we all sit under a shadow of safety, and that very shadow protects us from violence and terrorism. Peace always brings together lives, rather than tearing them apart. I hope you are well.
Dear Safa, I hope you are well.Your poem really moves me, and it shows how the peace in the world is the only way for humanity to unite together, not violence.What’s more, I can feel your strong desire towards peace. Like you have said “Peace brings happiness in our lives. Without it, any country faces crime, war, and difficulties. War brings a bad message with it—a message of destruction and dead ends.” Afghan has sufered too much wars and death. The same as you, I really hope that peace will come to this land and stayed here for ever. You said that the lack of education leads to the wars. I agree with your idea. Education is the base of everything, ecvonomy, culture, health, political and peaace. It is a powerful tool and if sharpened correctly, it can fatally wound an ongoing conflict. The new Afghan government and other governments should help set up a equal, wide-ranged, advenced education system as soon as possible.
Your poem really gave me courage and I pray for peace to come to Afghanistan soon. Everyone deserves to have peace in their life.
Safa,
What a great poem! I definitely can see your anger and your struggle for all of us to come together and find happiness with being peaceful. You have triggered a motion for me to demand peace. It is important for all of us to try and create peace in this world. If we want to stop the war in Afghanistan, it all starts with us. We must be the difference we want to see in the world! I pray that this all ends soon and we can be united as brothers and sisters. Our time starts now, let us begin to demand peace!!!!
PEACE=HAPPINESS
Safa,
First off I would like to say that this is a beautiful work of art! I can definitely see the pain and anger along with your struggle to demand happiness in this cruel world. You have triggered a motion in me to demand peace. I pray that this all ends soon and we can live in happiness and peace. If we do not have peace then we are not happy. Let us go out there and demand the happiness we deserve. But remember, we have to be the change that we want to see in the world. It all starts with us!
PEACE=HAPPINESS!!!