200 years on the road to the peace

Cristian Muñoz. Filósofo. 
Punta Arenas. Chile.


Miguel de Cervantes School, based in Punto Arenas, Chile, is about to celebrate its 25th birthday. All those who have been involved in its evolution understand that life is a set of strengths and weaknesses, achievements and mistakes, that, when put together, allow us to see the point of all the personal sacrifice that has to be made in order to make dreams into reality. Anyone who has formed part of a family, maintained friendships, created a group, supported a community, etc. will have experienced this, because they know that in the end, they feel a sense of spiritual wellbeing when they look back at their life, despite all the negative situations they have had to deal with along the way.

The Bicentenary is thus a happy day for the Cervantians, because it represents a diverse community that has been working towards the dream of forming a nation with more solidarity and brotherhood for 200 years. Overall the achievements outweigh the limitations on this pilgrimage.

As Chileans we cannot underestimate the importance of having a neighbour with which we share one of the longest stretches of binational territory (more than five thousand kilometres). Argentina and Chile are a universal example of the right way to solve border problems, given that in 200 years we have not resorted to war in order to resolve our border conflicts. Geographical location and historical context has meant that our school has had to live through the difficult situation of the Beagle Channel border conflict. This encouraged our educational institution to carry out actions to promote peace.

One of the actions we have carried out to promote peace that we would like to mention is a mural that incorporated phrases such as: “Chile and Argentina, two countries brought together by peace¨; “200 years on the road to peace”, etc.

This year the intention of our motto “Respect creation to create peace” is to invite people to take a look at the sustainability of our development as a republic over the last 200 years. Nations should generate debates on ecology and the environment and their connection to peace. Chile attempted to do this at the last science fair in the context of the debate on bio combustibles, however more still needs to be done.

Today education has a duty to promote, reflect and act on peace right across the curriculum. It must generate learning experiences in all the subjects and issues. Our school committed itself to this task in 2008 when it affiliated itself to the Letter of Peace and over time this commitment has been consolidated. For this reason our 200th birthday present to our country must be to be constantly concerned about peace.