Did you know that the man who invented dynamite is also the same man who introduced the Nobel Peace Prize? In 1867, Alfred Noble, a Swedish chemist and businessman, patented dynamite; 29 years later, his will stated that his fortune was to be used for prizes in several fields, among those, literature and peace. Fast forward to the present; On October 7^th, 2016 the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for, according to the Nobel Foundation, “his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.” The costly war has taken the lives of at least 220,000 and has displaced nearly 6 million people, and, although his most recent effort for peace with the Colombian rebels was voted down, his determination for peace in Colombia certainly did not go unnoticed.

A famous American musician, Bob Dylan, once said, “When you feel in your gut what you are and then dramatically pursue it—don’t back down and give up—then you’re going to mystify a lot folks.” Bob Dylan certainly mystified many people throughout his fifty years of music and writing. In fact, on October 13^th, the Nobel Foundation announced Bob Dylan as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. During his music career, Dylan poetically appealed to the ears of millions of people around the world, he was a trailblazer in the music writing field and is truly deserving of this award. Not only is Bob Dylan deserving of the honor but President Santos is as well. Although both are very different, they have one similarity: they both seek to unify people, one through peace and the other through music.