Today is September 21st and the Annual International Day of Peace.
That sounds lovely, and in many ways it is very lovely. Yet, with an increasingly urgent and acute sense we hear peace calling us to a deeper place, and to a higher purpose. Peace is not just the feel-good activities we plan globally for this day, peace is the wrestling with ways to define peace and to insure it for ALL people.
Facing History & Ourselves in Pursuit of Peace
It seems each year the title of the day becomes more ironic and far away. Collective traumas, violence, human rights and justice violations, environmental disasters, and growing hate groups and hate crimes brings us to our knees in pleas for a growing spirit of peace…A way forward to protect ourselves and communities from the terror of violent rhetoric spewing from places of power. What can we do for peace?
We need ALL voices for peace today…
Why neutrality is not Peace
I wish you peace, real and lasting peace that can only be built by facing ourselves, each other, and the businesses, organizations, communities and structures we create together.
Why we must commit today
It is a challenging road to peace, and we are never done building justice and equity that cultivates the soil for peace to grow community by community.
Let us be committed to the education, justice and dialogue that build peace through our minds, hands, and difficult conversations which root-out the barriers to peace in our spheres of influence.
Sophie Scholl
“I may not understand much about politics and I have no ambition to do so, but I do have some feeling for what is right and what is wrong. That has nothing to do with politics or nationality.”
Letter to Fritz Hartnagel, 29 May 1940
What will you do for Peace this year?
#BlackLivesMatter
#community #peace #antiracism #education #culturalintelligence #internationaldayofpeace #volunteering #resilience #equity #deeplistening #restorativepractices #internationalcitiesofpeace #citiesofpeace #peaceandjustice #dayofpeace #wellbeing #humanrights #sustainability #communityconversations
#nodonothingism
#LGBTQjustice #indigenousrights #Immigrantrights #nooneisillegal #stophate
International Day of Peace International Cities of Peace
Parting thoughts from brave Sophie; “The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.” – Sophie Scholl
Danielle Henson The Conversation Peace 2020
The Conversation Peace 