From the pens of many, a richness of ideas for peace. Last September The Christian Science Monitor invited its readers to enter a contest--Peace 2010. The invitation was to write an essay from the point of view of someone in the year 2010, telling how a lasting peace had been established among the nations of the world. By looking back from the year 2010, we hoped to show how a better world could evolve from a succession of events, not from a single conference. We also hoped to aid that process by engaging the thinking of intelligent persons on the side of a positive process. We chose four eminent outrside judges to pick the three winners, whose essays ran the first three days this week on this page. they chose essays which, from their point of view, are both realistic and at least partially feasible scenarios for peace. Today and tomorrow we are publishing two additional articles, along with excerpts from essays which further round out the approaches to peace most often suggested by the entrants.

WARS are ended either by creative ideas or exhaustion, sometimes both. Wars are prevented by creative ideas and foresighted action. Peaceful relations between nations and groups within nations -- relations that are so fruitful that no one even conceives of strife or war -- are also the result of imaginative thinking. A rich outpouring of such ideas for building peaceful relations flowed from the more than 1,200 scenarios submitted in response to the Monitor's Peace 2010 competition. As one essayist wrote, ``for every potential war one can find dozens of solid ideas for avoiding it. There are always more constructive solutions for an impasse than destructive ones.''

Many of the essays which caught the judges' eyes but not their final votes contained examples of such creative ideas. Some would lose flavor if plucked from the explanatory context of their authors' writing. But a few examples will nonetheless give some hint of the scope and ingenuity displayed:

The superpowers (or United Nations) sponsor a joint Mars colonization mission or other space venture. (J. Tayloe Washburn, Seattle, Wash.; Rick Herrick, Pembroke, N.C.)

Jewish-American and Arab-American leaders sponsor joint projects on the West Bank of the Jordan, leading to Arab-Isareli peace negotiations. (Edmonde A. Haddad, Los Angeles, Calif.)

The US and USSR staff a joint crisis control center and become accustomed to working together to prevent both conventional and nuclear collision. (Prof. Nabil M. Kaylani, Rochester, N.Y.; James H. Andrews, Warson Woods, Mo.)

Technicians develop a translation phone that allows people everywhere to converse despite language differences. (Tony Balis, Boston, Mass.) No technology is needed in another scenario where a hybrid Inglish language becomes the world tongue. (Bruce Caron, Santa Barbara, Calif.)

Japan and an economically rejuvenated China help put the two Koreas on the road to reunification through increased trade links. This example inspires the two Germanys and the rest of East and West Europe, reducing friction points between the superpowers. Others see China as the main catalyst for economic reform in the USSR and third world (Morley G. Whillans, Galiano, British Columbia; Loring Puffer, Concord, N.H.; Barbara K. Rossiter, New York, N.Y.)

A US president allocates $2 billion from the nuclear arms budget for East-West and North-South family exchanges and professional exchanges. (Patricia Overby, Fullerton, Calif.; effective variations Paul S. Basile, Geneva, Switzerland, and many other essayists.)

Powerful multinational businesses increasingly back arms control, development projects, and efforts to end economic protectionism -- a matter of self-interest as well as vision. (Frederick J. Glasser, Alexandria, Va.; Laura Bernice Barker, Wichita Falls, Texas)

The White House diverts at least 10 percent of the defense budget to public works, mass transit, environmental improvement, and the fight against organized crime. (James Werner, San Diego, Calif.)

Spread of a more spiritual outlook involves citizens in healing racial and religious conflict, raising standards of living, and improving environments. (David A. Barker, Escher, Surrey, England) Protestant and Catholic mothers in Northern Ireland join to set an example that is mirrored in other strife-torn areas. (Gordon R. Clarke, Milwaukee, Wis.) The spirit of brotherhood overcomes suspicion and allows peoples to learn from each other's successes -- with the impact of China's reemergence on others providing a prime example. (William Corson, Hendersonville, N.C.)

An idea such as people-to-people exchanges appeared in many essays, with interesting variations: a US-Soviet exchange of sophomore college students (Jerome Pressman, Lexington, Mass., whose letter appears tomorrow); an exchange of political leaders' children as hostages (who develop lifelong foster-family ties with their hosts) (Dr. Stephen E. Silver, New London, Conn.) or in some cases marry (E. Grey Dimond, Kansas City, Mo.); exchanges of teachers, top politicians, journalists, doctors, generals, and diplomats (Brig. Michael Harbottle, London, England; Nancy J. Perry, New York, N.Y.); and expansion of sister-city exchanges (Andrew Nicholson, London, England).

Sometimes the catalyst for action by leaders or populations is a literally earthshaking event. Many essayists use a plot similar to that in Gov. Richard D. Lamm's winning entry (see centerspread, April 23) and postulate a nuclear war or accident sobering mankind into controlling war. A lucid description of a US-Soviet controntation leading to cooperation comes from Dietrich Fischer, Robbinsville, Mo. And a magnificently written entry (Robert Hunt Sprinkle, Dallas, Texas) finds a Soviet-US naval battle in the Norwegian Sea sobering the superpowers into cooperative efforts to build world peace. Others see the branches of the human race uniting in the face of puzzling signals from outer space -- and then jointly tackling arms control, crisis management, and economic improvement together. Still others envision a global environmental crisis (Rudolf Jackli, Zug, Switzerland) or world debt crisis as the stimulus to constructive action.

There are many variations on the theme of joint enterprise: a Florida schoolgirl's letter to the President provides the impetus for a joint US-Soviet space station program (Paul D. Brown, Mississauga Ontario). Developed nations join in a concerted program to halt and then roll back deserts (Prof. Nabil M. Kaylani). National leaders join to explain their outlook and goals via earth-girdling satellite TV.

Varied plans are put forward for strengthening United Nations and World Court use. The UN assistant secretary-general for the commemoration of the world organization's 40th anniversary details a meticulous year-by-year calendar of steps creating a more peaceful and fruitful world (Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.).

Numerous essays produce a woman US president doing better than her male predecessors at negotiating with Soviet leaders -- notably tough-minded President Midge Decter in a thorough scenario scripted by John K. Andrews Jr. of Golden, Colo., vice-president of the Shavano Institute for National Leadership. President Elizabeth Dole puts in a cameo appearance in Governor Lamm's essay. And one particularly dramatic encounter has the woman from the Oval Office using political savvy, sincerity, and a succulent venison entree to conclude a successful summit with a young Soviet general secretary (David E. Carey, Asheville, N.C.).

Several essays that intrigued the judges in what might be called the ``finals'' of the contest cannot be so easily summarized by extracting a core idea. Substantial excerpts from three of these are printed in separate boxes on this page and on Page 22. Our intent is to give readers a further idea of the varied routes entrants took to peace by the year 2010. --3--{et