This book was funny. Only it wasn't a comedy. It was serious. Which makes it really pathetic. When I picked it up I was skeptical, but I thought, hey, even if the goal isn't achievable, at least maybe it will have some good ideas in it.
But no.
No. It does not have some good ideas.
It does have very funny ideas peppered through-out. Like "get some friends to join you".
One of the most provocative bumper stickers I've ever seen says "World peace begins at home". And that makes me think of domestic violence. There will be no world peace until all domestic violence and sexual abuse has ended. Whew, that goal is overwhelming enough to think about. How about school bullying- like the kind that caused Phoebe Prince to commit suicide? How about FGM? Hate crimes? Then you add to that list all the specific tribal and governmental wars going on; the genocide in Rwanda, etc; you've got yourself a pretty daunting list of "non-peace" to deal with in five years. The only way to tackle a goal like that is to take each issue one by one and come up with a plan for end in five years. Say... negotiate with some leaders, assassinate the ones who will not negotiate, numerous peace accords, and the one suggestion the book does make: financial sanctions. Is that list and time-line realistic? No, it's laughable.
As a Christian, I can't help but reflect on the Biblical prophesies concerning peace, which claim that Israel and Palestine will not achieve peace until the end of time. It says that there will be a 1000 years of peace, but that's only after the second coming of the Messiah. So, unless the Messiah is coming in 2014, I do not foresee World Peace.
I admire the book for suggesting that there are specific things we can do to achieve world peace. That is a fresh outlook to the subject. But it's completely unrealistic and unhelpful. I would have respected it if the authors took each "non-peace" conflict currently going on and wrote a chapter on how to solve that particular problem and included a tip on what you can do about it. Tips like:
* Don't buy blood diamonds
* Only pay for items a price which would allow for living-wages for the workers who produced said item
* Volunteer at an orphanage in Romania
* Know a good hit-man? Call this 800 number to recommend him, we will need him to take out (fill in the blank) dictator.