Happy World Day of Peace 2020: Mario Sebok's reflections on Peace & Justice by Prof. Stefano Zamagni

1 Jan 2020 · 4 min

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4:02

In a video recorded on January 1, 2020 for World Peace Day, Mario Sebok (presented as Mario Seabock) shares a lesson he learned from Professor Stefano Zamagni. He recounts a parable about a father’s will that divides 11 studios among three children according to the fractions 1/2, 1/4, and 1/6, which leads to fractional allocations and a stalemate. A friend temporarily donates an extra studio, raising the total to 12, allowing the division to be rounded to whole numbers (6, 3, 2) that still sum to the original 11. The friend then receives his studio back, and the siblings reconcile. Sebok draws the moral that “there is no peace without justice,” citing Saint John Paul II’s teaching that justice requires charity, forgiveness, and mercy. He urges listeners to apply this insight in their own lives by forgiving past grievances, framing forgiveness as a personal resurrection of the dead. The monologue closes with hopeful wishes for a new decade filled with peace, love, and hope.

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Hello everybody, I'm Mario Seabock and today is 1st of January 2020, World Peace Day. And to celebrate this day, I wanted to share with you a lesson I had from teacher Stefano Zamani regarding peace and I believe it might be interesting for all of you. There was this man that had 3 children, and when he passed away, he left on his will his criteria for his inheritance. First child was supposed to receive half of his estate, second child a quarter of his estate, and the third child a sixth of his estate. Obviously, he had reasons for doing this sharing. And the moment they assigned this, revised the estate, he had 11 studios. Now the problem with sharing the 11 studios on this criteria is that you get 5.5 studios for the first child, 2.75 for the second, 1.83. Now this first child said, well, let's round it up for 6. And no way, the second child said, you already got 5. We are only 2.7, so we round it up for me for 3. And the first one, no, no, I should get 2. And this fight went on and on, and they were getting into a stalemate, and the family gathering Christmas, New Year's wasn't happening anymore until a friend of them found out and offered 1 studio to add up to their studio. So there were 12 studios. This way the criteria would be 6 studios for the first, 3 studios for the second, and 2 studios for the third child. Well, this actually added up to 11 studios, and the friend that donated his own studio to make part of that got his studio back and the friendship and eternal gratefulness of all the other True. 3 siblings. And, well, what conclusion can we draw from that? Well, there's no peace without justice. There was a quarrel between the brothers, between what was fair and what was right according to the criteria set forth on the will. But as John Paul II, Saint John Paul II says, there's no justice without charity, forgiveness, and mercy. If it wasn't for the mercy of his friends to donate one studio for their stalemate to go forward and settle in peace, there would be no peace. So I hope that in your practical life today you can use this because, for instance, if you have somebody that you hold a grudge against, a person is dead. Literally, for you at least. Now, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have the resurrection of the dead, make somebody that died, dead, come back to life? Well, it's really on your hands. You can do that if you forgive this person today. I invite you to do that. as I will try to do myself. Happy new decade. May it be of peace, love, and hope. Happy new decade.