The Key in My Heart

By Gill Wang

From the 25th to the 28th of September, I had the opportunity to travel to New York to participate in the World Leader Summit of Love and Peace co-hosted by the Federation of World Peace and Love (FOWPAL) and the Permanent Mission of Bahrain to the UN. I have been a volunteer of FOWPAL since middle school and I am currently a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities.

This summit held on September 26th and 27th was of great importance, as it was a celebration of the United Nations’ designation of April 5th as the International Day of Conscience. Conscience, the inner voice, the key to good deeds and good words, needs to be awakened in everyone’s heart. Each and every person has a conscience, but many of us have ours locked deep within our hearts, clouding our moral judgments. As the title of the UN resolution “Promoting the Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience” suggests, it is only with conscience and love can a world of peace be achieved.

The president of FOWPAL Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze shared that each individual needs to follow the three do’s: “1. Love others and love ourselves. 2. Do our best in everything. 3. Have a clear conscience.” It is also essential that we follow the three don’ts: “1. Don't misunderstand others or misunderstand ourselves. 2. Don't be angry with others or ourselves. 3. Don't resent others or ourselves.” Although these do’s and don’ts appear to be apparent and straightforward, in the world we live in today where conflicts and negative events occur every day, following these guidelines might seem like an intractable task. We are easily distracted; we might lose our moral compass, act selfishly or feel frustrated. But with conscience, we can differentiate right from wrong and good from bad.

Ambassadors of various nations as well as leaders and founders of many organizations and universities joined us at the summit. It was amazing to see although we came from different cultural backgrounds, we all spoke the universal language of love and peace. The purposes of the International Day of Conscience resonated with many of the guests. One of which is to give us an opportunity to self-reflect. I wholeheartedly agree. Especially in an environment where my peers were frantically studying and working towards becoming doctors, lawyers or engineers, it was easy for us to temporarily lose touch with our inner selves. We might violate the do’s and don’ts because we did not clearly listen to our conscience and determine what was right and what was wrong. Thus, the hallmark of the International Day of Conscience is to serve as a time for us to truly listen to the voice from within.