Ambition Is the Greatest Enemy of Peace

“Some say the world will end in ice,

Some say in fire

From what I know of desire,

I hold to those who favour fire.

But if our beautiful blue-green planet were

To perish twice,

I think I know enough of ambition.

To trigger war is also great and would also

Suffice.”



Man is essentially an ambition being. His acquisitiveness, pride ambition and selfishness drive on in his pursuit of

personal gains. History has remained testimony to the fact that many wars were waged to satisfy the ambition of the kings and emperors. History, epics, legend and literature have recorded how lofty ambitions of men have distributed the peace of the people around them. From the Stone Age, the age of cybernetics. The wheel of a bullock cart is today replaced by the giant wheels of an airplane. Today, man has an understanding of his environment, his universe. Today, his horizons extend further than ever before; today man has delved deep into life’s ocean. Yet a question whirls in my mind; “is he truly happy?” Does progress due to ambition really makes one sublimely happy and peaceful? Happy and peaceful in the true sense of the world.

                                         

The fourteen-day Mahabharata war was fought because of the ambitious hope of their throne. According to Ramayana, Queen Kaikeyi had ambitious plan to install her son, Bharata, on the throne. This led Ram to forsake his throne for his throne for his younger brother and undertake fourteen years of exile.



In Macbeth, Duncan is killed by Macbeth in an attempt to take over the former empire and later suffers from trauma of the guilt. Brutus murdered Caesar in Julius Caesar and admitted to his countrymen that he had carried it out because of his ambition.



“If the dark nights of sorrow make thy light glow,

Lit it be so.

If death can bring near thy kingdom of bliss, let it be so.”...