A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.
Interpretation
Prioritizing dialogue and barriers over violent conflict is essential for maintaining peace.
This quote by John F. Kennedy emphasizes the importance of non-violent solutions to conflicts. A wall symbolizes a boundary that can prevent conflict or war, suggesting that it is preferable to have divisions that keep peace rather than engaging in destructive warfare that results in loss and suffering. It reflects the belief that it is better to have separation and negotiation than to escalate disagreements into violent confrontations.
In practice
In a speech about conflict resolution, one might quote Kennedy to emphasize the value of peace over war.
The great battleground for the defense and expansion of freedom today is the whole southern half of the globe... the lands of the rising peoples. Their revolution is the greatest in human history. They seek an end to injustice, tyranny and exploitation. More than an end, they seek a beginning.
I had always enjoyed the title of Commander-in-Chief until I was informed ... that the only forces that cannot be transferred from Washington without my express permission are the members of the Marine Corps Band. Those are the only forces I have. I want it announced that we propose to hold the White House against all odds at least for some time to come.
I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children - not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women - not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.
Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.
It is not only war that can stop war but men of goodwill, conscious of their mission can deal with such deadly enemy.
Security is the absolute precondition for sustainable recovery from conflict; without it, people cannot rebuild their country or return to school or work.
It must be a peace without victory
In remembering the appalling suffering of war on both sides, we recognise how precious is the peace we have built in Europe since 1945.
The quest for a war-free world has a basic purpose: survival. But if in the process we learn how to achieve it by love rather than by fear, by kindness rather than by compulsion; if in the process we learn to combine the essential with the enjoyable, the expedient with the benevolent, the practical with the beautiful, this will be an extra incentive to embark on this great task.
Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It's about attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our own hearts that don't exist in any objective reality, but that we carry with us generation after generation. And I know, because America, we, too, have had to work hard over the decades, slowly, gradually, sometimes painfully, in fits and starts, to keep perfecting our union.
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