ESSAY
2009 SECOND PLACE

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?
Alexandra Fisher
17 years old, Ohio

                What’s your greatest wish, Miss America?
                Always the same, never a moment’s consideration.  A false thoughtful pause, perhaps, as the beautiful eyes swivel up to the ceiling, pretending to consider the answer, but the answer never changes.
                “World peace.”
                And the audience applauds.  They always do -- never stopping to consider why.  Never asking how. Never wondering, even, if this is really important to themselves.
                It is just a sound bite, a quick answer, an easy way out of a question to which the truthful answer may not have been so honorable.
                The peace industry, however, loves it.  Necklaces.  Bags.  Tattoos, Bracelets.  Clothing.  Hair ties.  Notebooks.  Millions of dollars worth of merchandise, all adorned with the simple circle-and-line sign that is so recognizable.  We wear it, we go to rallies, we claim it.  “Make love, not war.”  Peace, not hate.”  “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
                But why are you saying it?  Because it sounds good?  Because it is a universal concept we can all agree upon?  Because it’s safe?  Because it’s easy?
                In truth, peace is none of those things.
                Ask the mother of the brave soldier who  died fighting for peace - was it safe?
                Ask the refugee who fled from a warring country to seek peace --was it easy?
                Ask the nations which are continuously in conflict with one another - I is universal?
                Ask the Israelite, ask the Russian, ask the Iraqi, ask the American.  We say we want peace, but are we truly willing to do what it takes to obtain it?
                True peace has nothing to do with making sure everyone gets along.  Not a state, not a nation, and not the world.  Peace isn’t about everyone doing the same things and always agreeing.  Peace isn’t about controlling others - it’s about controlling yourself, not hating, not becoming violent, and not hurting others, even if it's justified.
                Peace is about making a conscious decision to control your own actions.  You can torture, kill, and terrorize others, but YOU are the only one YOU can truly control.  The only way you can create peace is to worry about yourself, not everyone else.
                So a bunch of thugs beat up your brother.  Do you beat them up.?  Is that the honorable thing to do.  Is it the just thing to do?  Maybe.  But is it the peaceful thing to do?  No.
                Peace isn’t always easy - and it isn’t always right.  Peace is not raising your hand against the person who wronged you, your family or your friends.  Peace is letting it go.
                At the end of the day, all you can control is yourself.  That’s where peace begins - and that’s the only place it begins.  What’s your greatest wish, Miss America?