Peace is a never ending process... It cannot ignore our

The words of Óscar Arias—“Peace is a never ending process… It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together.”—carry the solemn weight of truth, spoken by one who labored in the fires of conflict and sought to bring healing to nations. They remind us that peace is not a destination to be reached once and for all, nor a prize to be hung upon the wall of history. It is a living thing, fragile and demanding, requiring constant care, vigilance, and sacrifice. Like a garden, it must be tended daily, or else weeds of hatred and division quickly return.

The first wisdom in Arias’s words is that peace is a never ending process. Too often, men imagine peace as a treaty signed, a battle ended, or a war declared finished. But such moments are but pauses in the greater struggle. The ancients knew this well: the Pax Romana, though celebrated, was no eternal peace, but a balance that required constant effort to sustain. To believe peace is permanent is to grow complacent; to know it is endless is to remain vigilant, humble, and ready to work.

Yet Arias also warns us: peace cannot ignore our differences. For true harmony is not built by pretending that divisions do not exist. To bury conflict under silence is to sow seeds of future violence. Differences of race, of faith, of nation, of class—these cannot be erased with words alone. They must be faced, understood, and woven into the tapestry of a greater unity. Only then does peace have roots strong enough to endure the storms.

At the same time, peace cannot overlook our common interests. For amidst differences, there are always shared needs—food, shelter, safety, dignity, love. When nations, communities, or even families remember that beneath all else they are human together, then the walls of division begin to crumble. History proves this truth: after the horrors of the Second World War, once-bitter enemies in Europe chose to focus on their shared hunger for security and prosperity, building unions of trade and cooperation. In recognizing their common interests, they turned enemies into allies, and their continent into a place of greater stability.

Consider Arias himself, the Costa Rican leader who helped end wars in Central America. Surrounded by nations torn by strife, he knew peace would not come by force alone. He sought not to deny differences, but to acknowledge them while reminding all parties of what they shared: the desire for life, freedom, and dignity. His efforts led to accords that brought healing where only bloodshed had reigned. His life is a testament to his own words—that peace requires us not to retreat into isolation, but to work and live together.

The lesson for us is clear: peace begins not in distant treaties, but in daily life. In your family, your community, your workplace—peace is sustained by choosing patience over anger, dialogue over silence, forgiveness over resentment. To build peace is not only to end quarrels, but to recognize both the differences that divide and the common bonds that unite. If you neglect either, peace will falter; if you honor both, peace will flourish.

Practically, this means seeking understanding before judgment, listening before speaking, and striving to discover common ground with those unlike yourself. It means cultivating habits of cooperation: working together even when it is easier to turn away, offering respect even when it is not returned. These small daily acts, multiplied across lives and generations, form the unseen foundation of the never ending process Arias describes.

So let his words echo as an eternal reminder: “Peace is a never ending process.” It is not the absence of struggle, but the art of living together in spite of struggle. It asks us to honor our differences without being divided by them, and to treasure our common interests without forgetting them. If we rise to this task, then though the work is never finished, the fruits of it will bless our children and their children after them.