Knowledge and Peace :: essays research papers

Knowledge is one of the most important factorsin maintaining a peaceful and free society.Knowledge allows a society to plan for thefuture, while development from past mistakes. many an(prenominal)great nations project fallen into war and chaosbecause they did not utilize the wisdom gainedfrom the past. Many societies problems werepreventable, if people had used the lessons attheir government activity and placed emphasis on solvingtheir problems through the use of their intellects,rather than their weapons. A great example ofthis is the Roman Empire, which allowed manyof its problems to grow and fester, beforeattempting to fail them. The Roman Empirewas a powerful, seemingly invincible, civilization.capital of Italy thrived in glory for many years, a modelcivilization admired by all, until it started to fallapart. Many historians argue the factual reasonsfor Romes d throwfall. Some say it was abominationothers say crooked government was the cause.Still others say it was the foc us on delightand luxuries. All of these problems could havebeen avoided and peace would have beenmaintained. Yet, the Romans did not believe thattheir empire could fall and chose to ignore theirproblems, believing they would go away on theirown. Obviously, that did not materialize and, as aresult, the Roman Empire fell.In America today we have all of these problems.Are we termination to be next to fall? Or, have wegained knowledge and wisdom enough bystudying the errors of other nations past historyto maintain peace in our own time? In Rome, crime made it unsafe to travel, to sellgoods, or to go to the market. The Romans ranthe risk of being robbed, traveling from place toplace. Today, in America, we run the risk ofbeing mugged just going to the store. In somecities its not safe to go out at night. Stores arealways being robbed, vandalized, or destroyed.There is even a come to committed approximatelyevery twenty seconds. Crime is just as much, ifnot more, of a problem now in Ame rica then gage during the fall of Rome. We have theknowledge of Romes past failures, yet wecontinue on the same path. If the United Statesof America does not use Romes failure as aguide of what to avoid, the results could bedisastrous. Toward the end of Rome, the government was,for the most part, in chaos. Every time thecurrent Emperor died, there was a civil war todecide who would be the next ruler of Rome.The politicians no longer cared about Rome.They became self-centered, and used all theirpower to better their own lives. Luckily, things inAmerica are not yet that bad.