If I Were King of the Entire World for One Day— Author:Gouya Roshan

If I Were King of the Entire World for One Day

Some people dream of becoming king so they can command others. But if I were King of the entire world for just one day, the first thing I would do would not be to build new palaces or issue thousands of decrees. Instead, I would place mirrors before every person in power so that, before looking at the people, they would first look at themselves.

Because the world's greatest problem is not the lack of laws—it is the lack of conscience.

History has known thousands of kings, presidents, emperors, and rulers. They all came with promises of justice, yet many left behind the smell of blood. Crowns changed, flags changed, the names of states changed, but the tears of mothers remained the same, and the graves of children remained the same graves.

If I were King of the world, my first decree would be the abolition of privilege.

No human being should be considered superior to another because of wealth, power, race, religion, nationality, or family name. Justice is only justice when it makes no distinction between the strong and the weak; otherwise, it is not justice—it is commerce.

My second decree would be to put all wars on trial.

Not only the soldiers, but also those who sat behind marble desks, dipped their pens into the ink of politics, and signed documents that buried hundreds of thousands of human beings beneath the earth.

How strange...

In today's world, if one person kills another, they are called a murderer. But if hundreds of thousands are killed with a single signature, it is called a "political decision."

If I were King of the world, I would reclaim beautiful words from the mouths of liars.

Freedom. Democracy. Human rights. Peace.

These words have been so polluted by politics that, at times, hearing them hurts more than hearing the sound of bullets.

I would never allow any country to write the name of God on its flag while its hands are stained with the blood of innocent people. God is a partner to no crime.

Whoever commits oppression in God's name has betrayed that very God before betraying humanity.

If I were King of the world, I would redefine wealth.

A wealthy person would not be someone who possesses billions of dollars, but someone who has made sure that even one fewer human being goes to sleep hungry.

A poor person would not be someone without money. The truly poor are those who have sold their conscience.

Then I would say to all the media of the world:

From today onward, truth is more valuable than profit.

Because a civilization that sells the truth in the news will one day sell justice as well.

After that, I would go to the schools.

Not to inaugurate new buildings, but to tear down the old walls that the powerful have built inside people's minds.

I would not tell children whom they should love or whom they should hate.

I would teach them how to ask questions.

Because dictators do not fear the armies of the people; they fear minds that ask questions.

If I were King of the world, I would pass one more unusual law:

Every politician, every religious leader, every judge, every military commander, and every wealthy person must spend one month each year living like the poorest member of society—without bodyguards, without wealth, without title, and without name.

Whoever has never touched suffering has no right to decide the suffering of others.

But my final decree would be the hardest of all.

I would erase every border of hatred.

Not the borders between countries, but the borders people have built within their hearts.

The border between "us" and "them."

The border between religions.

The border between East and West.

The border between Black and White.

Because most of the world's wars are born in the human mind long before they begin upon the earth.

And before that day came to an end, I would issue one final decree.

This time, not for the people—but for myself.

I would write:

"From tomorrow onward, no human being shall have the right to be King of the world."

Because on that very day I would have realized that humanity's greatest danger is not the absence of power, but the concentration of power in the hands of a single individual.

No human being—no matter how just, how wise, or how pure—is great enough to hold the destiny of billions in their hands.

Power corrupts slowly.

First the tongue.

Then the conscience.

Then the truth.

And finally, the human being.

History is the graveyard of those who once believed they were the saviors of the world.

They came with promises of justice, but when they heard the applause of the people, they gradually forgot the voice of their own conscience.

I would not be an exception to that rule.

If I ever became King of the world, I would fear myself more than I would fear my enemies.

I would fear the day I became convinced that I was always right.

The day I saw criticism as an enemy.

The day people obeyed instead of thinking.

On that day, even if there were no political prisoners, the whole world would become one enormous prison.

So I would place the crown upon the ground and disappear among the people.

Because my dream has never been for the world to have a just ruler.

My dream is for the world to have just people.

The day humanity values truth more than profit, justice more than prejudice, and conscience more than power, no throne will have any value.

Therefore, the problem is not that the world has lacked a good king.

The real problem is that humanity has spent centuries searching for a savior while refusing to begin its own salvation.