What is the cost of peace?
“What exactly is the cost of peace?” asked Winston in a rhetoric tone. This was followed by a
whole minute of painful ear numbing silence, following which the conference room erupted
into discussions, like a volcano declared inactive with a desperate attempt to revive itself.
Everybody in the room thought in every possible way; be it logical or illogical, to answer
Winston’s question.
All efforts however went in vain as Winston continued in his usual anxious tone trying to
provoke the group “Well I’m afraid, the answer is a little out of budget.” As Winston started to
return to his seat, another voice thundered “Winston, what on earth are you talking about?” It
was Ray Colton, one of the higher positioned members of the United Nations. “What I meant to
ask is, how far will humanity actually go to achieve peace?” Winston replied in an uneven tone.
This was truly a controversial topic, and frustrated Ray to no extent.
Ray is a big, pale skinned guy, who looked to be in his late 40s. Ray is a very persistent character
who absolutely despised being wrong. Winston was the complete opposite. He was a scrawny
and short man, who looked to be in his early 30s, who was a thinker and always looked at
things from different angles. It was only natural, that they both hated the presence of each
other, and today was just another day in the office for them.
While everyone was brainstorming, Winston got ready to ask another equally rattling question,
when a third voice prompted “It really depends on what you mean by peace, Winston. What I
think may or may not be different from what you think of peace.” This was Julie Lyons, another
one of the higher ups of the UN, but for different reasons from Ray. This was the answer
Winston was looking for, and congratulated Julie for it.
A few minutes after the conference ended, Ray walked up to Winston with a puzzled look on his
face and asked “Do you ask these questions to embarrass me?” in his same monotone tone.