Sept. 21, 2009: United Nations International Day of Peace. (Not that you could tell from the Google icon which is marking HGWells’ bday, ahem.)
Ways for kids to ‘imagine all the people…?’
Show them the wings of hope with peace doves soaring high, conveying that the power of youth is global. (My hero, JGI’s Roots & Shoots) Look how much fun the Sprouts of Hope kids had creating their giant dove creations!
Transform the world through teachable moments using one of my all time favorite kids’ resources for social justice at Reach and Teach. (very worthy ‘product marketing’ follow them @TransformWorld on Twitter and read their blog with ’20 actions’ you can easily do for Peace Day!)
Think about the violence in your own personal world…whether it’s shrieking at a family member, body snarking and bullying (including yourself!) relentlessly teasing a sibling or peer…Dial down your own drama and give teens helpful media tools to diminish theirs! Light a candle and create your own ritual to take a vow of one solid day in your OWN house free of conflict and totally at peace. Larger actions?
Save lives right here, right now by taking action at sites like Peace One Day.
Download free educational classroom materials for peace.
Send out a care package to kids in high conflict zones.
Help with medical supply distribution to remote kids using innovative ideas like ColaLife.org! Create an ‘attitude of gratitude’ with pushpins on a world map where children are less fortunate; give voice to their stories.
Make teens aware of dating violence (1 in 3?!) and social media sites that can help. Promote ‘one world’ thinking with a 2020 global view by scattering Earthseeds for peace.
Watch this :30 video below and think about things in YOUR own world you could ‘rewind’ to impart a more peaceful solution. More thoughts?
What will YOU do to bring peace to the planet today?
Why one day matters from Peace One Day.org:
“To some it’s just a single day.
But to us, 21 September is a 24 hour-long platform for life-saving activities around the world and an opportunity for individuals – particularly young people – to become involved in the peace process.
21 September is the UN International Day of Peace, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence: Peace Day.
By 2007, the UN estimated that over 100 million people from all walks of life actively supported Peace Day around the world.
That same year, Peace One Day was instrumental in securing the conditions by which mass polio vaccinations could be carried out in Afghanistan on Peace Day; 1.4 million children were vaccinated in some of the most remote areas of the country. And in 2008, an additional 1.6 million were treated. That’s an estimated 3 million children in Afghanistan alone – on Peace Day.
On Peace Day 2008 in Afghanistan the United Nations Department for Safety and Security, which monitors security related incidents, recorded a 70 per cent reduction in violent incidents on the day itself.”
Go to their site for short films and testimonials “from leading figures and supporters of Peace One Day on the importance of Peace Day, 21 September, and why people from all four corners of the globe must commit to taking action on the day.”
Watch them and then use the site to commit to taking action on Peace Day yourself.
Right here. Right now. I will. Will you?
Even rival advertisers are ‘declaring peace for a day’ (ahem, a handshake after SIX DECADES? Really? Well, you got MY attention)
Share your own ideas/actions in the comments below. Mine? Gonna go put on some music to ‘Give Peace a Chance’ and get in the spirit…Then? Well, stay tuned…
p.s. Special hat tip to @ShapingYouth follower & young ‘world citizen’ @GigiAlford on Twitter who blogs at NewsCrucible I liked her simple bio line, “If you can imagine a better world, then it can exist.” Thanks for the reminder and the smile, Gigi! Peace.)
Related items via Roots & Shoots.org:
“Initiated by “World Without Wars,” the World March for Peace and Nonviolence will begin in New Zealand on October 2, 2009, the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi‘s birth declared the “International Day of Non-Violence” by the United Nations. It will conclude in the Andes Mountains (Punta de Vacas, Aconcagua, Argentina) on January 2, 2010.”
You makes such an important connection between that oh-so-fuzzy path to ‘world peace’ and the more tangible individual path to peace, within oneself, with family, with friends, and with community. So often those of us who support nonviolent political intervention engage in violent emotional intervention with our friends and loved ones. But it’s often so much easier said than done. I’m truly lucky to be involved with a nonprofit that works for that kind of individual peace, particularly with young people: Project Happiness (www.projecthappiness.com). Contact us any time for help with creating and maintaining an ever-elusive inner peace!
Thanks, Abby, I LOVE ProjectHappiness and have been wanting to do a post on it for ages, but keep getting deluged with ‘time sensitive’ (date driven) topics pushing it to the back burner! Let’s connect w/Randy Taran et al and make it happen!
Sky has been such a vibrant champion of all of the Project Happiness efforts there I feel kind of like the ‘too close/right under my nose’ syndrome has kicked in and I’ve inadvertently taken it for granted that I can ‘always do that later’…
Something like Peace Day puts me in the mindset to remind myself of the humanist thought leaders that surround me daily in THIS nonprofit, Shaping Youth! (the NextNow Collaboratory, Program for the Future etc. etc.) so I too am lucky to be involved with such great peeps. Thanks for giving me some mental floss to clean out the fuzzy pathways right here 😉