Nearly everyone says they want world peace. The harder question is what we do when peace asks us to do something difficult. 

Can we listen when we would rather argue? Stay curious when we feel misunderstood? Protect another person’s dignity when we are angry?

Those questions feel especially urgent on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace.

Established by the United Nations in 1981, this day reminds us of a shared commitment to peace across differences. Yet in our increasingly fractured world – socially, politically and environmentally – peace often feels distant, aspirational, even naive.

How two New York teenagers became advocates for peace

This is especially the case for today’s youth. How do we help them believe they can contribute to repairing a world so marked by violence? A few years ago, two New York City teenagers decided they wanted to try.

This summer we had several conversations with Sasan Korangy and Vail Brokaw, both high school seniors, and they told us about their journey to understanding peace, from rising 10th graders discovering the University for Peace in Costa Rica, a country that abolished its standing army in 1949, to cofounding a program that equips young leaders like themselves with practical skills for building peace.

The organization was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1980 as an international institution devoted to peace, tolerance and cooperation.

At the start, Korangy and Brokaw said their questions were big: Why do conflicts emerge and escalate? What does good leadership require? How do people communicate across differences without dehumanizing the other side?

The “big” work kept leading them back to “small” moments: Listening when you have the urge to interrupt. Remaining........

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