Building a Peaceful World

We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary

to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely

on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation

of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music,

a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.

Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power

struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can

win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius

for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the

nations of the world.

In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have

a will - and determination - to mount such a peace offensive, we

will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our

imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment.


-- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)