The SEIU-West Workers of Colour Multicultural Mentorship Committee (WoCMMC) recently held a World Peace Day Contest. Congratulations to our winners: Airese, Shelley and Dorothy and thanks to everyone that submitted their answers. We loved them so much, we just had to share!

What does world peace look like to you?

• World peace to me is the opposite of what's happening in the world right now. 
• World peace to me means a place where people feel safe to go about their daily activities without harm, judgment, hatred, or fear for the safety of their lives.
• World peace is loving all mankind, no matter the colour of skin. Reaching out to all to help one another. Everyone is respected. Everyone is worthy of love. Live with peace in your heart and peace will be in your everyday actions towards others. Peace in the world is the only way that the world will continue to show us remarkable things. Putting aside all differences and being human.
• Everyone getting along. 
• Where everyone can speak their opinions without the fear of violence or backlash, wars end, and we all learn to live together, not separated. Instead of bullying, we have communication and community together, not separated.
• It means making the world a better place by treating everyone equally and avoiding racism and discrimination. As people of colour, we matter. Systemic racism needs to stop even here in Canada.
• It means basic happiness with all necessities, healthy lifestyles, no crimes and love for one another.  It's escape of mind, peace and tranquility, to treasure every happy moment in life and be surrounded by people who care about you and to care about others. 
• World peace mean to me is very important because we can be all happy.
• No war, no disaster!
• World peace is definitely a big dream of a lot of people, but the reality is that there can never be peace without some sort of conflict. What that means to me is instead of conflicts being war, famine, genocide, mass shootings etc. it could be an exchange of ideas and collaboration between all nations and people. Instead of fighting with weapons and death, it would become more like a civil argument. If there is no conflict at all, the world would become like a ticking time bomb and could potentially explode into mass conflict at any time. One heart, one goal.
• Everyone living together as a community and celebrating festivals together, sharing food and knowledge for the betterment of society in terms of health and education. No wars, only peace.
• Friendly workplace.
• Togetherness. 
• It's a state where everybody lives in harmony without conflict, violence or war.
• Respectful and friendly workplace/world.
• World peace to me would mean harmony, non-violence and compassion.
• World peace is a complex concept referring to a global state of harmony, free from war, violence and suffering, characterized by justice equality and cooperation among people and nations.
• Kindness to others and acceptance for everyone's own individuality. Love and support everyone.
• World peace means respecting each other's rights. No violence or war for all.
• Forgiveness and understanding. If we have those two things, I believe that the world would get along better. We would have a different point of view of the other side and the struggles that people have. With that knowledge, we would be willing to help and navigate with people.
• We will have a world of peace when we can treat each person as they are our brothers and sisters. This means letting go of our "camps."
• Accepting people as they are without judgment. We are all created equal.
• World peace means equality and no prejudice against anyone, regardless of difference. 
• People coming together and preaching everyone is equal. No fighting, end wars and all the senseless violence that is happening in our world right now. We don't have to agree with each other, but we can learn to love our differences.
• Global society free from conflict and violence, mutual respect and understanding for each other. 
• No one trying to force assimilation, no more people using power to strip dignity from those whom they don't understand, and compassion/empathy.
• Where we would be able to live in harmony and be able to shake our brother and sisters' hands, no matter what nationality, race, creed or colour they are. So that we are not scared to go out in the world without having our people in the schools being shot at, world leaders being shot at or even walking down the streets being scared. Helping the homeless find a solution with a place to be at. 
• When everyone can just be. There is no hatred, no slurs, no racism, no sadness. Where everyone just gets along and everyday is a good day. There is no need for protests and standing up, everyone is already equal.
• Peace is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Earth.
• A world filled with happiness, no racism, freedom, love. 
• Where everyone would get along and accept people for who they are, not by what they believe. 
• World Peace mean to me is equality to each one of us, respect in all aspect of life, and happiness throughout the world.
• World peace means that nations live without war or widespread violence. It means that conflicts are managed through cooperation and dialogue. It means respect for human rights and no violence or injustice for people. World peace would mean safety for individuals and the freedom to live a good life. 
• A time when there's no money to be made from a war. A place where skin colour or origin isn't a part of any conversation. The need for politicians no longer exists.
• I would hope that there would be peace among all the countries we work against and finally get along to better each and every person.
• World peace, can there ever be such a thing? I can only imagine what it would be like. 
• Today it means respect for everyone. There are no bullies trying to take over other people and their countries by military or economic force. Also where freedom of speech is truly allowed for all. 
• It means that there would be no war, no violence, no hungry children, no child abuse and families would be together.
• World peace to me is respecting and understanding everyone's differences. World peace to me is being kind always to people.

What needs to happen for world peace to exist?

• People need to become more tolerant of others' views. 
• Equality.
• To know that it doesn't matter what your political beliefs are, what race or religion you have, we as the working class need to be united. 
• Learning about others, teaching people to understand others, love your fellow human, do not hate. Do not have violence towards another and promote love, not war. 
• We need to learn to communicate and end all the violence. Maybe we need to go back to a time where there wasn't social media for people to feed off negativity, or start posting more loving and compassionate posts. Media could focus on more uplifting, positive issues instead of always negative, depressing issues. Everyone needs to smile at every person they encounter.
• 1. Treating everyone equally and with respect. 2. Sensitization of masses about the side effects of racism. 3. Parents being role models to their kids. What parents say in the presence of their kids can turn them into bullies or racists but the opposite is true.  4. Being emphatic. 
• People need to be kind and appreciative, with no hate or anger. Trying to understand where all come from and show the love and care for others. 
• To understand each other. 
• People need to learn how to appreciate life!
• People need to stop pretending that they are better than one another, and work on educating themselves on people's stories, rather than just outside judgments. This would cause empathy instead of stereotypes. 
• Understanding of differences, recognition of abilities and talents, assimilation of thoughts and ideas and celebrations of all successes.
• Bullying needs to stop.
• If there is friendly workplace, it's not heavy to work.
• Help one another.
• By tolerating and understanding one another.
• Be kind and understanding of each other with different cultures.
• Understanding between everyone.
• To address the root causes of conflict like inequality and injustice, promoting understanding and empathy through education and dialogue.
• For world leaders to make a pact to stop violence and work together to make life better for everyone around the world, not just their own country or people.  Must have understanding and acceptance of each other's differences.
• I think if people became more open-minded to other people's views, without letting those views cloud their own views. Social media is a complicated thing these days and is consuming a lot of people. Staying off the internet and connecting with nature could be a benefit to some. I love taking a week to go backcountry camping/canoeing to reset my mind. I have no internet and it is needed.
• Living in harmony and peacefully.
• People need to let go of selfish desires and think about how the world can be better with their own help and not always looking out for oneself.
• We need to believe and act like we belong to each other. Even, and maybe especially, the people that we see as "other." We all belong to each other, the drug addict, the CEO and even the politician.
• An end to violence in both words and deeds.
• To me on a personal level, I believe we must start with ending wars, encouraging gender equality, and learning about and hearing the voices of those in marginalized communities across the globe.
• Stop the senseless violence and arguing; media needs to be accountable for delivering only part of what's going on, and religion should not be in politics.
• Education and human rights.  Economics and resource equity.  Individual actions.
• Women run the world :) Mass extinction, start over, and see if history repeats itself. To be honest, it would be remarkable if it could happen, but the ability for any leader to care about others before themselves is the only way to take a step forward.
• Our leaders need not to fight with each other, but to come together and find a solution. Stop the wars that are happening already. Create peace in their nations first before anything. 
• A whole lot of attitude change.
• World peace should start from oneself.  Respect and understand oneself so you'll be able to give that to others too.
• Various religious and secular organizations have the stated aim of achieving world peace through addressing human rights, technology, education, engineering, medicine, or diplomacy.
• End racism, end discrimination, end war, end hatred.
• Understanding of each other of cultural differences for world peace to exist.
• We must cultivate it by learning about different people and accepting that being different is not threatening. Peace must be practiced and rebuilt as necessary.
• That all the Premiers and Prime Ministers and Presidents try and sort out their differences to get along.
• Tolerance, understanding, respect and compassion for each other would be a start. 
• People need to accept each other. 
• A complete change in attitudes with world leaders.
• Bullies not to be in power. Elected officials need to do their jobs by not letting power go unchecked. 
• World peace starts with how individuals treat each other daily. Acts of kindness, fair communication, and standing up for those who cannot defend themselves would make the difference.  They say it takes a village to raise a child. So, it will many individuals living their life with equality justice and kindness to their fellow person.