The Olympic Flame
Submitted by peacemaker - March 30, 2008 | Add a Comment
The Olympic Flame, the iconic symbol of the International Games, will be brought from Athens to Beijing on March 31st, and will then begin the most ambitious round-the-world torch relay in Olympic history. The Torch will be passed from runner to runner on a 130-day trip that will cross all five continents and even scale the summit of Mount Everest, before it arrives at the National Stadium in Beijing for the August 8th opening ceremony.
Imagine if the Olympic Flame were truly a Torch of Peace, setting people’s hearts aflame in every country it passes through, inspiring them to reach out to family, friends, neighbors, even strangers, in ongoing Acts of Peace!
Imagine if everyone who saw the Torch really felt its heat, its message of hope, and then did something about igniting Peace -- without waiting for politicians to make deals, or armies to fight it out -- by starting immediately with the circle of people right around them. Imagine if all over the world, we lit our own flames of Peace directly from the Olympic Torch.
What if the five colorful Olympic Rings, that symbolize five continents of the world, were truly open circles -- like the three half rings on the logo of this website – so that the Bird of Peace could fly straight through the rings of anger, hatred, and revenge that separate families, neighborhoods, tribes, states, religions, and nations?
What if everyone who stood in line to see the Olympic Torch pass by, then turned around and committed an Act of Peace toward the person right next to them – or someone in need at home, in school, at work, at play? Imagine if all of us could catch the peace fire in our hearts – and become vibrant men and women and children of peace? Not tomorrow or the next day: but right NOW! What would change? Very Little? Or a lot?
We know Peace is not a magical thing. It takes daily work and commitment and courage. Sometimes, in the name of Peace, we will even have to protest against injustice, racism, and political repression, in all its forms. We will have to stand strong (or kneel down), and sacrifice bravely for what we believe in. Otherwise we don’t really believe in it. Peaceful resistance can also be an Act of Peace. It demands that we become stronger in mind and heart than injustice itself – in our willingness to face off against the enemies of Peace. But always, we must look for the most peaceful means of resistance, lest we become as violent in our peace-making as others are in hate-mongering. It’s a fine, fine balance.
Let’s think about it. Let’s not just watch the Olympic Torch be passed from runner to runner in country after country on TV, amid protesters on all sides. Let’s allow the Torch to ignite a flame in each one of us, deep within our hearts. Let’s ask questions about how a more peaceful approach to any given situation could really make a real difference in our lives. And then let’s personally commit in word and deed to passing on the Flame in a living way, through our daily Acts of Peace.
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
Wellsprings of Peace
Submitted by peacemaker - February 28, 2008 | Add a Comment
Rujul Zaparde is a typical 13 year old, living in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Except for what he's doing. He's committing Acts of Peace far beyond what we adults usually try to do...even at our best. And they're already making a big, big splash. A year ago, Rujul traveled to his father's village - Paras, India - for the first time in his life. He knew his mother's former city, Mumbai (formerly Bombay.) But that was nothing like Paras, which is very, very poor. Mud and tin-roofed houses, no electricity, no running water, cows and buffaloes roaming the streets -- everyone steaming in 120 degree heat. Women walk two miles each day along dry, dusty roads to get water from the nearest well, wait in long lines, and then have to carry as much water as they can manage in clay jugs on top of their heads all the way back home. Every day. And this is all the water they have to cook with, bathe in, AND give to the animals on the farms where they labor. The villagers are themselves landless.
Rujul had never seen poverty like this, 7,840 miles from his Plainsboro home. According to a recent New Jersey Times article, he compared it to his life in New Jersey and just "couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like living there", where his uncle and grandfather still live. The stark differences really got to him. And then he DID try to imagine how he could "change that..."
He came back home to Plainsboro, and with his friend, Kevin Petrovic, both eighth graders at Princeton Day School in Princeton Township, set to work: they washed cars, had bake sales of pizzas and cakes, held sports tournaments with fifteen other friends -- all to raise money. It took the two boys a full year, but they managed to raise $1,000 to build the first tube well in the village. They even filed tax-exempt forms with the IRS to register as a not-for-profit, so they could become a legal charity and continue raising funds for more wells. They built a website, too: www.drinkingwaterforindia.org , full of pictures, news stories, information, and a way to donate.
This past December, Rujul and his parents returned to Paras. They hired workers who brought massive machinery that was able to incinerate rock down to 250 feet in search of water. The village elders chose the exact spot, said prayers, and the machinery started the big dig. Rujul was treated as a guest of honor -- old women kissed his feet in the traditional sign of respect -- but he was scared. What if they didn't find water? "Should I just sit in the car?" he asked his father...
Some 300 villagers watched and prayed for four hours. Then, at 70 feet, the soil suddenly became damp, muddy, wet, wetter...and when everyone realized they had "hit water", the crowd lifted Rujul up into the air in their happiness. Rujul gave the first jug of water to a village woman. Everyone drank from the new well. Fresh, clean water never tasted so sweet.
"It felt good," says Rujul. "We were working towards it for such a long time. It really felt good that we could achieve something." And back in New Jersey, his friend Kevin agrees: "They can actually feel it -- the water coming out. We've actually built the well there. That drives us to raise more money so we can build even more wells and change the lives of even more people."
Rujul just wrote me that they've already raised funds for two more wells that should be up in a month's time. "We've also started the Drinking Water for India Club at our school, where we have brought together a group of 15 students fundraising for the charity and raising awareness about the water crisis in India. We are also in the process of starting chapters of this club at other area schools. I don't think much has happened other than that."
No, not much. Just ongoing Acts of Peace that are dramatically transforming hundreds, eventually thousands, of people's lives -- every time they take a drink of water. Over 80 million people in India are without clean, drinkable water. Rujul may not even realize the full impact of what he's doing, as he and his friends build (according to his logo) "One Well at a Time." We never know where our Acts of Peace may lead. We just do what seems necessary in the moment.
I first heard about Rujul, not from the news media that have gobbled it up, but during a phonecall from one of my closest friends, Barbara Osburn, a dedicated teacher, who has known him for two years. She was the FIRST teacher to introduce our KIDS' TAP program -- journaling three Acts of Peace a day -- into her classroom last Spring. And she's contributed greatly to our Teachers' TAP guidelines as well. She is so proud of what Rujul has already accomplished!
Three Acts of Peace a Day...like three drinks of fresh water a day...will add up to over One Thousand a year. For every man, woman and child in our global village. Funny how fast Peace travels...just like running water...bubbling up from the ground. Changing peoples' lives.
At the site of the new well in Paras, there's a hand-painted sign: Well #001. For Rujul and his friends, it's just the beginning.
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
Peace in a Bottle
Submitted by peacemaker - January 30, 2008 | Add a Comment
Taha Nawa is a fourteen-year-old Sunni boy living in Fallujah. He lost his father and uncle to sectarian violence. Has he turned inward to thoughts of hate and revenge? Is he volunteering to be a suicide bomber? No, he’s drawing beautiful, colorful pictures of a united, peaceful
According to a recent CNN report, Taha and thirty of his friends – a veritable Army of Peace – draw pictures of peace and write messages on them in their schoolyard. Then they roll the pages up tightly, place them in old plastic bottles, twist on the tops. When each teenager has completed four bottles, they all walk – arm in arm – down the embankment of Fallujah that used to be a dangerous war zone. They cross onto the bridge that was only recently decked with burnt bodies. And then, from the middle of the bridge, this little band of brothers throws their bottles over the edge – 120 at a time – into the
Taha and his brothers return and continue to draw and color and write what Peace would look like – in the hope that someone along the great
So let’s think of Taha the next time we commit an Act of Peace…or jot it down in our notebooks. We may not draw pictures and place our journals in bottles and send them downstream. But we sure can choose to be in unison with kids around the world like Taha who believe that, one by one, our Acts of Peace will make a difference. And though it may take time, our Acts of Peace will eventually get picked up by others – noticed, received, shared, appreciated, imitated. Then Peace will start flowing like a river…
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
The Power of Peace
Submitted by peacemaker - December 29, 2007 | Add a Comment
Osama bin Laden – or one of his mouthpieces – again demands ''blood for blood, destruction for destruction.'' Benazir Bhutto and dozens of others are killed by a suicide bomber intent on the destruction of the democratic process in Pakistan. And Pakistani people riot in anger, destroying cars, banks, police stations, setting fire to anything and everything. Over and over again the cycle plays out, ever more deadly, ever more despairing: “blood for blood, destruction for destruction.” Is this any way to effect a cause or solve a problem, however horrific? “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” Have we learned nothing?
Yet we know there is another way. There is the Power of Peace that is greater than all the suicide bombers and madmen bent on perpetuating violence and suffering and death. There is the Power of People who come together committed to finding solutions to the enormous problems and radical disagreements of cultures, religions and politics. There is the Power of Persistence that is committed to effecting a workable compromise instead of another war, by allowing both sides to benefit, and refusing to give in until the violence stops…
We are that Peace, that Power, that Persistence. If we choose to be. Every deliberate Act of Peace we make – hour by hour, day by day – thwarts the voices of violence and revenge, the “blood for blood, destruction for destruction” mentality, in a real way. Every time we refuse to respond to anger with anger … to meet violence with more violence … to answer an unkind word with another unkind word … we become part of the solution, instead of part of the problem. We become Peacemakers. We take up the banner of “Peace at all cost!” and dare to carry it with the daily commitment of our lives.
It isn’t easy. Sometimes we do explode. But then, we can realize how our anger accomplishes nothing in the end. We can think of another way to express our hurt or pain or frustration. We can also ask forgiveness. We can also try to heal the rift created by us or by another … on the family or local level, just as we expect our leaders to do on the international level. And in so doing, we activate the Power of Peace in the world, big time. We set resonances in motion that reverberate around the globe.
As we come to the end of the old year and the beginning of the new, let us re-commit to three intentional Acts of Peace a day. To writing them down in a notebook to keep track of our efforts. To seeing them add up to One Thousand Acts of Peace in 2008. Imagine if everyone did this? We could start a peaceful revolution right from our own homes, workplaces and schools … a great movement of humanity toward Peace that no dictator or terrorist could stop. If only we dare.
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
Peace of the Puzzle
Submitted by peacemaker - December 20, 2007 | Add a Comment
It’s the holiday season. Everyone is short on time, space, energy, patience, and temper. It takes an hour to cross a ten minute bridge, half an hour standing in line to check out at the grocery store, even online takes longer – your server’s down and order processing is backlogged. So much for speedy technology.
You thought this year would be different. You planned ahead, made lists, even shopped early. Or didn’t. Either way, it’s always a last-minute rush with unforeseen circumstances that stretch your nerves to the breaking point. Three cars were broken into in our neighborhood two nights ago. Windows smashed, computers and cell phones taken. And now, instead of last-minute trips to the mall, the owners have to get their windows replaced before they all freeze to death. Happy holidays!
Ever think what an opportunity this season is? Just when you and everyone else has given up on getting through the holidays with any kind thoughts about Peace on Earth, good will to one’s fellow human beings, here’s this outrageous new website reminding you: Three Acts of Peace a day can change your world. And we’re not talking about heroic deeds of any kind. Just simple, thoughtful Acts of Peace done with the intention of making someone else’s life a little more peace-filled -- especially when you feel you haven’t got anything left to give.
It works like magic. Try it and see. Next time you’re ready to go ballistic, lose it totally, throw a tantrum, or chuck the holiday spirit for a stiff drink…look around you. Really look around you. Who else is on the brink of war besides you? The grumpy guy standing next to you? The old woman struggling with too many packages and two hungry kids ahead of you? Your shut-in Aunt in
The fact is, Peace is not hard to come by. It’s free and available for the asking, giving, taking. It just needs an active, vital place in your life. Regularly. And once you start thinking about committing one, two, three Acts of Peace a day, you start to keep a lookout for opportunities. Peace becomes a way of life. You get to like it. It makes you feel better – about yourself and frankly, about other people. You start noticing other people’s Acts of Peace toward you and toward others, as well. And that makes the world look a whole lot brighter. More festive. More like a holiday!
Put the missing Peace into the puzzle of your life…by giving it away to others.
Three times a day. Every day. The whole picture will begin to look different.
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
Wildfires Spreading Peace
Submitted by peacemaker - October 23, 2007 | Add a Comment
In the midst of the hundreds of thousands of acres of burning and fear and worry and homelessness, volunteers at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, are spreading their own wildfires – of PEACE! They’re giving welcoming hugs to thousands upon thousands of evacuees, walking on stilts and making twisted balloon animals to entertain the children, giving free tutoring lessons for kids who can’t go to school, offering free massages, acupuncture treatments, and spiritual counselling, friendly reassurance...and hope. They’re also unpacking and dispensing mountains of food for Food Banks that just keep growing and growing and growing. There’s even kosher food available and of course, aspirin and antacids for all. Catholic Charities have set up their own tent as have insurance companies. In other areas, food, blankets, pup tents and baby formula are being offered.
If anyone ever wonders: “What IS an Act of Peace?” just consider the response of ordinary people reaching out to bring some peace and comfort and friendship – free of charge – to others in a crisis like this. Volunteers are actually being turned away, there are so many of them. They say that volunteer teachers outnumber kids three to one. Donated food and water are being stored in tents in the parking lot. There’s so much food, it’s like the multiplication of loaves and fishes – the more people eat, the more is left over!
What a different scenario from the debacle at the Stadium after Hurricane Katrina when there was neither enough food or water or medical help or sanitary conditions or emotional and financial support. Not that there weren’t plenty of volunteers and goodwill agents in New Orleans. But the difference seems to be in the level of preparedness and even more, in the tone of leadership from Governor Schwarzenegger – and his personal willingness to take action and be in charge of making the calls for help himself, rather than waiting on FEMA or another government agency to give the orders. And the people of San Diego – and all across the State and beyond -- have responded stupendously. Just shows that it doesn’t matter who organizes a food bank – city, state, federal, private institution, local business, a few individuals – all it really takes is PEOPLE WHO CARE about doing Acts of Peace…or Love…or just plain old-fashioned Compassion for their neighbors in crisis.
The big question is: why does it take the State’s worst firestorm in history to activate this kind of outpouring of generosity to those in dire need? Couldn’t we keep the cooling waters of Acts of Peace flowing freely to all those around us – in our own neighborhoods -- even when the wildfires are brought under control?
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
The Monks of Myanmar
Submitted by peacemaker - September 26, 2007 | Add a Comment
The Monks of Myanmar. We have watched it build over the past month: barefoot monks in maroon and saffron-colored robes with shaven heads, begging bowls turned upside down in protest, marching through the streets of Yangon, in Myanmar (formerly Burma.) They have walked in peace, chanting…bearing witness to their cause of democracy and free speech in a country living under extreme repression and economic hardship.
At times, these monks used bullhorns to exhort onlookers to join them. Hundreds of thousands of civilians did join these protest marches against the military junta that has ruled the country since 1988. Today, a foreign diplomat said, “It was ‘an amazing scene’ as a column of about 8,000 to 10,000 people flooded past his embassy following a group of about 800 monks.”
Now the inevitable has happened – the junta called a curfew and forbade gatherings of more than five people at a time. The monks and protestors defied the restrictions, the military cracked down. It is a familiar scene: troops in riot gear out in full force, tear gas, shootings, beatings, reported deaths, trucks carrying off monks and protestors to prison. Government soldiers have even surrounded the monasteries, preventing thousands of monks from marching.
Earlier uprisings in 1988 were brutally crushed by the mighty hand of the military junta, killing an estimated 3,000 people. For the past nineteen years, the citizens of Myanmar have been intimidated, arrested, tortured, and killed in an effort to quash all political opposition. The Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for twelve of the last eighteen years. The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu have repeatedly spoken out against the junta and in support of their fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
It is the ultimate test of personal conviction: The unarmed versus the armed. The weak outnumbered by the strong. The peaceful being beaten and gunned down by those who make war. And still they march, these monks of Myanmar in their maroon and saffron-colored robes, ready to lay down their lives for Peace.
The whole world is watching. The United Nations is meeting today. China is very concerned that the disruptions will reflect badly on its 2008 Olympic plans, since it has close ties to and heavy investment in Myanmar. China needs that country’s raw materials, especially timber, minerals and natural gas. China, perhaps remembering the world outrage against its own crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, is reluctant to defend the junta publicly. And the Chinese diplomatic envoy is reported to have said that Beijing wanted Myanmar to move toward “a democracy process that is appropriate for the country.” Interesting how Peace – and democracy -- can become economically expedient.
The Myanmar military call themselves The State Peace and Development council. The word “Peace” can be equally adopted by tyrants as well as civil rights protestors. But we know what the face of the “real thing” looks like: barefoot monks in maroon and saffron-colored robes with shaven heads, begging bowls turned upside down in protest, marching through the streets, ready to lay down their lives for Peace.
Makes one wonder yet again: What would I be willing to do for freedom of speech, for democracy, for the right to march, for Peace…if it came to a showdown? I’m not at all sure I would have the monks’ courage. But I keep trying to build it – by three Acts of Peace a day. Maybe just by doing what I can, rather than what I can’t, I walk in tandem with those monks and protestors. And maybe the habit of Peace will take root in me, so that someday I won’t know any other way to react to violence…except peacefully.
Peace never comes easily. In Myanmar, in Iraq, in the Sudan, anywhere. But we can all try -- one step at a time -- to walk side by side in support of the monks in their maroon and saffron-colored robes...wherever we are. And send them our Acts of Peace every day.
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
Real Peace is not Passive
Submitted by peacemaker - September 8, 2007 | Add a Comment
Peace doesn’t get much good press. It doesn’t make big headlines; “PEACE BREAKS OUT!” No ad would dare promote a new film as: “No violence, No anger, No guns, No rape, No war…Just a love story about Peace.”
Yeah, Peace gets a bum rap. Peaceful non-aggression still sounds wimpy, weak-kneed, spineless, definitely not the preferred approach for the macho guy or competitive woman. Yet how many times have the strongest world leaders been men and women of Peace – from Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King to Mother Teresa of Calcutta?
We’re often told we’ll be healthier -- even happier -- if we learn to be more peaceful. Or that we need some kind of peaceful stability at the center of our lives if we’re to grow and thrive as human beings, much less hold onto our sanity.
But how can we begin to make Peace a priority – when most of us haven’t a clue what Peace feels like, or how to acquire it?
First, I think, we have to get over this idea that Peace is somehow soft, mellow, spineless, tranquil, quiet, dreamy, non-active. That’s passive peace: call it pleasure, relaxation, contentment, feeling good, giving in, giving up, whatever. This kind of peace may simply mean a temporary lack of conflict or crisis in our lives. But we all know it won’t last. It can blow up at one thoughtless remark, one angry look, one personal rejection, one rude gesture.
Real Peace is anything but passive. And it’s not dependent on how we feel today, or who does what – good or bad -- to us. Real Peace is a personal commitment to a particular mode of thinking about life. It’s highly engaged, involved, dedicated, determined.
Real Peace is a personal choice about specific ways of acting and re-acting in any and all circumstances. It’s always on the offensive, always trying to defuse conflict, create a negotiating tactic, explore alternative approaches to solving a problem or rebuilding a relationship. This kind of Active Peace takes constant practice…like training for the Olympics. It means daily doing for others before they do for you; thinking what others might need to make them happy before you think about what makes you happy; pausing to consider if the price of another argument is worth the loss of even one moment’s Peace. Most of all, it inspires constant creativity that expands the mind and opens the heart and produces results that will astound us.
As I said, Peace is anything but wimpy. Too bad it doesn’t get enough credit for being the ACTION ADVENTURE Story it really is!
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.
Shock and Awe
Submitted by peacemaker - August 26, 2007 | Add a Comment
Peace is a lot like the weather: everybody complains about it, but nobody does anything about it. Now don’t get defensive. Just think a minute. When was the last time you gave up your long-awaited parking space at the supermarket to a total stranger as a simple Act of Peace -- with a wave of the hand and a smile? Or didn’t make a rude gesture or mutter a choice word to the guy in the 4x4 who tailgated you all the way up the hill at night with his headlights blinding your rearviews, then zipped around you on the curve and cut you off in style? Most recently – yesterday – did you call that person who really needs to hear from you, even though you just didn’t have (or didn’t want to make) the time? And did you take out the garbage without complaining?Fact is…we can blister all we want about those guys (male and female) in our governments who louse up the world with wars and rumors of wars, and then turn right around and knife each other at the office, on the street, or around the kitchen table. We nurse grudges for years (like tribal feuds), spread nasty rumors (to rile up the enemy), or deliver blistering one-liners (like inept politicians), that -- in another country -- could start a war. It’s gotten cool to be rude; savvy to be cutthroat; clever to be cruel. It doesn’t take much – either to make peace or to make war. I suggest a global campaign of SHOCK AND AWE: Acts of Peace that blow people’s expectations right out of the water. When someone snaps at you – give him (or her) a smile and ask how you can help. That’ll produce instant shock. The next time you want to criticize a co-worker, how about taking the blame yourself and cleaning up the mess? That’ll be awesome. When you have an argument, let ‘em have it with both Peace barrels: be willing to compromise and even apologize for your anger – before the other guy does (or doesn’t.) That’ll sure disarm the opposition. And I dare you to give a compliment to your direct competition. And mean it. It could be cosmic.If we all stop complaining about the state of The World and start taking a little more responsibility for how our world looks ten feet away from us in each direction, we could finally do something about Peace instead of just complaining that it never seems to arrive. At the very least, we might begin to feel less helpless in the face of so much TV and real-life violence – and start to take calculated Peace Risks. One shock at a time. Go ahead: Show ‘em what the Face of Peace looks like!
Notice:Our blog writers welcome your comments. Please be respectful, thoughtful, and considerate in your responses - and aware that this site is regularly visited by kids of all ages, as well as adults (of all ages.) We will not allow profanity, obscenity, or verbal abuse. And please -- no personal or political agendas! Whatever you want to suggest that is creative and constructive -- and that will add another layer to the discussion -- will be most appreciated. Consider your comment an Act of Peace.
A valid email address is required to have your comment posted (but your email address will not appear.) Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment appearing. There is no need to resubmit your comment.