One cannot be at peace if he/she is not free. There are several ways to get peace, but internal peace is achieved when one attains internal satisfaction and happiness.
Happiness can be attained temporarily from materialistic things we own, but this kind of happiness and peace does not last long if one thinks deeply. It gets somewhere lost, and we feel empty and empty people only influence others to fill their own emptiness; they cover up their own inabilities by manipulating the emotion of others. In simple words, they are at unrest. But if one finds ways to break free from materialism and move in life with that mindset, he finds himself surrounded by a calm, reliable, kind, authentic and peaceful environment.
When I asked a few of my students what does peace meant to them? The answers I received left me awestruck, one of the students said that I feel at peace when I am heard. Another one said when I am accepted, I feel peace. One child said when I am allowed to express myself, I feel peaceful inside. I was moved by the answers as they beautifully captured the essence of being free in terms of expressions and acceptance and connected that with peace- internal, eternal peace.
For a teacher, it is essential to set the right examples in front of the class to make them understand that freedom is not only being able to do what we want to do but to remember that true freedom creates peace for everyone. I was once sitting with our Principal when a few of the students came to the principal’s office; they were sent there by their class teacher as three of them were not finding their notebooks and wanted to issue fresh copies from the stationery store. Very confidently, they walked into the principal’s office and said, “ma’am, we can’t find our notebooks, please allow us to issue new ones; our parents will pay for it”. To this, the principal said, “ok, I will allow, but before that, you have to do an assignment for me; you can use the internet for that. Please find out how many trees are cut to make one notebook and how many trees are cut to create stationery material every year”. Such a simple incident, but it left a mark on me. The next day, I specially went to find out the result of that exercise. The students found few very relevant facts and understood how each of them is impacting the environment at their level; they searched for their lost notebooks and understood that money may buy extra notebooks but can’t buy a whole tree. This incident made me learn how irrelevant freedom is if it is not taken with responsibility and does not create peace.
जन्म लेती वहां शांति है,
स्वतंत्रता जहाँ की देवी हो l
इन दोनों के बिना ये दुनिया,
बिन जल, मछली जैसी हो l
हम हैं दूत महाशांति के,
न कटु रस्मों का बंधन है l
स्वतंत्रता है मातृ हमारी,
उस पग नित नित वंदन है l
Proud to be Educators From Medley DGS- Anubhuti Sharma, Chandralekha Negi, Kirti Bisht, Mamta Kandpal, Neelam Waldia, Rudrani Ray and Sugandha Ahluwalia
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