SELF-ASSESSMENT IS PEACE

Is Political Self-Assessment Peace?

What Is the Importance of Self-Assessing Your Political Life?

To talk about the importance of Self-Assessing one’s political environment, let us cast our minds back to the oldest profession. God Himself is the First Divine and Chief Politician and we are created in the exact image and likeness of God, that alone makes us politicians (Genesis 1:26; Aristotle). Politics started, the moment the idea of creation popped up in God’s mind (the whole Genesis) and God, through His divine political authority, gave man power over all created things: “… and let them have dominion over …” (Genesis 1:26). Politics is very important in our lives as humans and we politicize daily: it can be likened to the blood that flows throughout our bodies daily and every second. A world with a good political system where the various presidents/heads of states are God-fearing is a vital tool for peace (Siebers, 1996; King et al., 2015) and for winning souls for God’s Kingdom.

The nature of politic in a country can determine whether there will be peace in that nation or not (Castellejo, 2016; King et al., 2015). Without peace, no nation can think of development, religious activities, sports, entertainment, and nothing positive can be achieved in a violent nation/environment. Unfortunately, human behavior has turned politic into something else, more than evil! Politics, though a good thing, is gradually losing its’ value because of humans’ attitudes and behaviors. Comments such as “Politics is a Dirty game (Degirmenci, 2017), all politicians are liars (Omid, 2015), all politicians are the same” (Khrushchev, 1963), and so on confirmed this undeniable fact. Are these negative comments about politics in our various countries really true or not?  I do not want to say that whatever your answer might be is not necessary: all we need now is what can we do to renew trusts in our political systems? This is why each and everyone of us needs to constantly monitor and assess our political environment.

My fear is that, if we do not take time; a time will come when politics will be seen as nothing but a modern-day sabotage where the president will be nothing but a leader of saboteurs. Happenings around the world where political violence is claiming innocent lives can attest to this undeniable fact. A study “The Many Faces of Political Violence” published by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies is an example that tells how politics on earth is gradually becoming (Sweijs et al., 2017). It is only through political self-assessment that we can able to avoid this impending cancer. God Himself who created heaven and earth as the chief politician, keeps assessing Himself throughout the creation. Genesis 1:4 says: “And God saw the light, that it was good: …”; this was self-assessment done by Him. In Genesis 1:10, 18, 21, 25 and verse 31 God also assessed His creation. God saw that everything He has made was very good (Genesis 1:31), that is self-assessment too. If the Chief Politician who is the Power of all Powers is continuously assessing Himself, then it tells us how important self-assessment in every aspect of our lives is!

If we create the supportive environment for our politicians to keep engaging themselves in dirty politics for the aim of winning power, instead of critically assessing themselves to better the living conditions of their citizens; at the end we are all going to suffer for our actions and inactions (Visit my Post on my Facebook wall, group, and page; 2.10.2016). Politicians will always want to tell us what we want to hear! Omid, 2015 said: “The reasons politicians often lie is because the public doesn’t want to hear the truth. People want to hear what they want to hear”. So, you see! The environment that we create determines what the politicians will also tell us or practice; we cannot blame them. Where there are competing interest: everyone wants to be the winner and they will do whatever possible to win. When each and everyone of us assess our political environment for the bad and goods; then try to say no to the bad, it can go a long way to contribute significantly to national and international peace. No politician will engage in tribal politics or politics of insults when he/she knows that he/she would not be welcomed.

Without political tolerance, human rights and dignities are nothing but mere mockeries! Political Self-Assessment is important for everything on earth. Political Self-Assessment is important for:

v  Personal, National, and International Peace,

v  Personal, National, and International Democracy,

v  Personal, National, and International Development,

v   Personal, National, and International Religious Activities,

v  Personal, National, and International Educational Development.

References

Castellejo, C. (2016). Political parties and peacebuilding. NOREF Report by Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int-files-resources, 28.10.18, 5:45PM.

Degirmenci, N. (2016). Politics is a Dirty Game! A Case Study of Political Cynicism in Turkey. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science. 4(9). 114.

Khrushchev, N. (1963). Politicians are the same all over. The promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. Comment on the construction of a bridge in Belgrade (22 August 19630. -Retrieved from https://en.m.wikiquotes.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev; 29.10.18, 4:45AM.

King, N., A., S., Milanzi, M., C., Massoi, L., & Kyando, N. (2015). The Role of Political Leaders in Enhancing Peace and Tranquility: Thinking Big. IJMSR. 3(6): 84-90.

Omid, M. (2015). Why do politicians lie? Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_do_politicians_lie on 28th October 2018 at 6:15AM.

Siebers, T. (1996). Politics and Peace. Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture. 3(1): 85-101.

Sweijs, T., Farnham, N., & Rõõs, H. (2017). The Many Faces of Political Violence: A Study that is Part of Seven Research Projects that make the HCSS Strategic Monitor 2016-2017. ISBN/EAN: 978-94-92102-52-2. Retrieved on 28.10.18 at 5:15PM from http://hcss.nl/report/volatility-and-friction-age-disintermediadtion.