Articles by Mark

Annual Report to the Board of Directors
Dr. Franklin Richard Schneider, CEO
For May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2011

Each year has its special uniqueness and challenges as well as successes and the past year was no exception. The reporting year began with a Board of Directors meeting on May 1, 2010. I returned to India August 19, and stayed until February, the maximum allowable with my visa. I flew from Los Angeles to Chicago and then took the 16 hour flight to New Delhi. Then I went on to Hyderabad where I was greeted by a host of happy and excited students.

It was a busy and rewarding year for our students. G. Upendar finished his advanced accounting course and his degree. Fast forward, he was hired by Bank of America-India.  He was selected from a field of 60 applicants. He was married on March 11, another first for our program. Veeranagulu completed his Master’s degree in advanced manufacturing design. Jacob Dilip completed his Master’s degree in computer application. Venu completed his Business Commerce degree in computers and will go on to a Master’s. Unagesh completed his MBA and has great plans for his future. Gopi, our youngest, completed Tenth Level at the top of his class and will go to on university in June. He wants to be an optometrist.

The rest of our students are doing exceptionally well. Ravi will begin his second degree year at Wesley and finish a six month program at L’Oreal in Mumbai, Ramakrishna will begin his fourth degree year in electronics communication engineering, Ch Nagesh will begin his fourth degree year in computer science engineering, Sravani will begin her second year in computer science engineering, Dileep will begin his third degree year in pharmacy, M. Naresh will begin his second year for his MBA, Ghouse will begin his third year for a master in computer application, Ch Naresh will begin his third year in electronics computer engineering, P. Ravi will begin his third degree year in law, Venu will begin his first graduate year in computer applications.  Four others are now deciding on the next step in their education. There will be more graduates in the coming year. Several will be job hunting and career developing.

The highlight of the year was convening the Consortium; Embracing Peace Education: Empowering the Individual, Institutions and Communities, November 6-9 at Martin Luther University in Shillong, northeast India. I was ably and extraordinarily assisted by my co-convener, Dr. Leban Serto, who is Director of the peace studies program there. We had spent a year putting the Consortium together. We had attendance from all over India and several countries from as far away as South Africa.  The Consortium was fully funded by private and governmental agencies.  A permanent Consortium resulted with the joining of 12 organizations and groups.

David and Venu accompanied me to the Consortium and actively participated. David conducted his first workshop as a full partner with me. It was an invaluable experience for all.  You may read a report by the Global Campaign for Peace Education at www.peace-ed-campaign.org/newsletter/archives/78.html. It is issue 78 for December 2010.

We had a major apartment move even though it was just across the hall from our former apartment. It still made for a big effort. It was a wonderful upgrade to move to a completely updated and refurbished apartment to our specifications and at lower rent. Seven to nine students continue to live at the apartment to create a family setting and to save a substantial amount of money which would otherwise have to go to hostel fees.

The school year was interrupted repeatedly with strikes and stoppages. The issue for the agitation is to support the division of the state into two separate states. Exams were cancelled and rescheduled and many days of instruction were lost. Transportation was frequently halted. It was strange to see a city of 13 million brought to a standstill. There was great suffering as day laborers do not eat if they do not work. The issue is still not resolved and strikes continue sporadically.

January 3 was the 11th Memorial Anniversary for Ruth in Mucherla. The students, with David’s leadership, planned and carried out the commemoration. I stayed in Hyderabad as we were in the midst of another strike and buses and trains were halted. Those of us left in Hyderabad had a private but very touching memorial on our own.

In January, I spent three days visiting schools in Vijayawada and Kakinda in Andhra Pradesh. The later meant a ten hour train trip to Hyderabad. I had been asked to review academic programs in a school for slum children and a large public school but privately funded on the coast. I try to do outreach when asked and I can fit it in to my schedule.

New scholarship payment rule changes came into effect May 1. The new policy is a significant step toward enabling our students toward greater independence and personal responsibility.  The student and family will now help finance personal expenses and pay a share of the hostel fees. IGE pays for one half of graduate education expenses. The fact is that economic conditions have improved for most families.  Exceptions will be made as needed for those who have no support system. Independence and self sufficiency are not just goals but a direct product of the education we have given each of our students. Students agree to help pay back once their education is complete and they have jobs. Some are paying back and others will shortly join them as they complete their education and secure jobs.

David took over as Director of the Indian Student Scholarship program on a daily basis before I left India in February. P. Ravi was appointed the assistant and also as the funds monitor. David is finishing his MBA and has an additional course added by the university to meet international standards. P. Ravi is completing his second year of law school. They make a great team and we are in good hands with a team we trained and nurtured for many years.

David, P. Ravi and five of the “brothers” incorporated Granny’s Memorial Welfare Foundation. The legal work is done and it is an existing corporation. They are searching for some funding to undertake their first project. The ownership of the Ruth A. Schneider Memorial and land given to me for the memorial is being transferred to the foundation. It is wonderful and inspiring to see their excitement and enthusiasm in undertaking their first big independent step. All five members of the foundation knew and loved Granny and now want to carry her Nine Rules for Living forward in a lasting way.

It was a difficult year financially due to worldwide recession and Indian inflation that topped 15%.  We must rethink our strategies and reach out for more sponsors.

In January I began my 20th year in India. Together we have made an extraordinary difference in the lives of more than 200 young people and touched and influenced many more. We have made a real difference in many villages. In the report to the United Nations for continuation of our ECOSOC status, we documented we had touched and improved the lives of at least 6,000 people in the two years covered by our latest report. The full report is available on the internet. This effort is one of our finest achievements.

I would never have believed that I would be in India to see five and six year olds grow up before my eyes and now are graduating with Master’s degrees. Each graduate lifts the entire family socially and economically. Our young people are a great credit to themselves, to their families, and to those of us who have sponsored and nurtured them. They are, indeed, the future leadership of India. They have developed the values, the character, the necessary skills, and the determination to succeed and make a real difference in creating a better world and a more equal society.

Our work is not yet done. In some cases, we are needed as much as ever. We have helped build a solid future for those who have broken many caste and social barriers. They are strong in spirit and strong in character and strong in goodwill. We must continue to stand behind them and provide the resources and support that they still need. Let us go forward and finish our chosen task and our chosen responsibility. Together we can insure that our students can reach their full potential and go on to productive, healthy and beneficial lives that will create the positive and creative changes that are needed in India and in the world. For some, we are still their full support system as they have no other. The challenge and opportunity is to enable them to expand and develop additional support systems through their careers and relationships.  On the cusp of 20 years of tireless, devoted and loving effort we have succeeded beyond my greatest hopes and dreams. Together let us finish the task.

Additional information and background is available on our website.

Respectfully submitted,

Franklin Richard Schneider

Keynote address delivered by Dr. Richard Schneider as Convener of the International Consortium on Embracing Peace Education at Martin Luther University in Shillong (Northeast) India on November 6, 2010

This is the first day of the rest of our lives:
Let us create a blueprint for peace through education.

Your Excellency… Martin Luther Christian University hosts, distinguished and esteemed guests, participants from India and abroad, students, and peace workers, we invite you to join us on the exciting journey that we are about to undertake together.

As the Convener, with my Co-convener beside me, we warmly welcome you to the International Peace Education Consortium.

I want to personally thank each of you for coming to this beautiful place to participate in this one-of-a-kind event.

We, together, stand at a remarkable time in the human and planetary drama of our Earth and in our relationship to one another. We are seeing old ways and systems fall away but which have not yet been fully supplanted with adequate replacements.  We are on the cusp of an exciting adventure to embrace and address the peace and education possibilities of our time. We are co-creators here to discover how we can work together in the best way. It is a wonderful time to be alive as we have the future ahead and can mold and shape our new vision in the best way for our children and for ourselves if we have the will, values, determination and energy.

We must yet reassess and correct some of our learned premises about each other and the world.  We still have some of the mantras of the past that are no longer relevant and do not fit today’s world views. Our consciousness exists in our inner being.

There is also the outer way where we project our thoughts and values through our institutions and programs. An alignment is accomplished through education by the examination and redefinition of our belief and value systems.

We must free ourselves from the restrictiveness of our past beliefs. We must remove the blinders that we have become accustomed to and that we are often not even aware of.

War, or any other violent behavior, is not genetically programmed into human nature. Warfare has changed so radically that we know war is a product of culture. Biology does not condemn humanity to aggression. The same species that invented war is equally capable of inventing peace.

What about all the differences that seem to exist?  There seem to be so many. There are differences among people, nations, and values. We must embrace the fact that differences are part of the very core of the solution if we will grasp the opportunity for growth. When we work with differences and find the relationship of the difference to the whole we can begin to understand another’s view without accepting it.

When I personally met the Dalai Lama in Costa Rica some years ago, he said to me “War is obsolete, you know. Of course, the mind can rationalize fighting back but the heart, the heart would never understand. Then you would be divided in yourself, the heart and mind, and the war would be inside of you.”

Mahatma Gandhi said: “Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.”  “If we are to have real peace, we must begin with the children.”   “Listen to your inner voice…and become the change you wish to see.”

What place does education have in this world view? Education is a very strong force in shaping values and in bringing together traditions and innovation. Education, to be effective and useful in today’s world, must be democratic, sustainable, holistic, and experiential.  Additionally, we must respect and draw on the resources of cultural and individuals, groups and organizations to discover each of their special talents and potential contributions.

Rabindranath Tagore said “Don’t limit a child to your own learning for he was born in another time”. He also said “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence”. And finally “You can’t cross the sea by merely standing and staring at the water”.  It is action that is called for, creative and dynamic movement forward, and the implementation of our ideals into concrete action. We cannot afford to stand and stare at the water.

Rodrigo Carazo, former President of Costa Rica and co-founder of the United Nations University for Peace, and a long time dear and trusted friend, said “If you want peace you must educate for peace”.  Costa Rica is the only country in the world to abolish its army by public vote and then use the money to build schools. Even today Costa Rica stands as the model and example of what can be done for peace education.

Dr. Robert Muller, Rodrigo’s co-founder of the United nations University for Peace, spent 38 years in highest level positions at the United Nations, died just a few weeks ago at age 87. Dr. Muller said: “Peacemakers perform the most advanced cosmic function.  They are the ultimate instruments and fulfillment of the divine nature.  This is why in all religions they are considered the highest, the most beloved, the saints, the immortals.”

I especially like what he said to me some years ago as we were sitting together on his Bench of Dreams in Costa Rica, “Do not let grass grow on the path to happiness. Use that path as often as you can.” Robert became known as “The Prophet of Peace” as well as “The Father of Global Education”.

There is a somewhat dated saying which was true for a very long time: think globally, act locally. The fact is in today’s world we must turn this to mean that we must think and act both globally and locally at the same time.  The interconnectedness is everywhere. The fact is that what we do here and what we do when we return from where we came with our actions, choices and decisions will have an impact far beyond what we can reason. Albert Einstein said “The splitting of the atom has changed everything but our way of thinking. We need a whole new way of thinking if we are to survive.”    “A human being is part of the whole, called by us the ‘Universe’.  He experiences himself (herself). His thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest- a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. Our task is to be free from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty”.

In today’s world we simply must think globally and internationally and integrate these values as part of our daily life. We must all become global citizens in thought and action as our interdependence is evident in all we do. There are very few faraway places any more. Instant communication and travel have made the planet small. The interdependency of cultures, national identity and ideological belief systems must be reviewed and revised. For too long, we have allowed belief forms to divide and separate us in the most divisive of ways.

The reasoning that we have dominion over the Earth is both antiquated and wrong. As long as we must think we have dominion over the earth or each other, we will only have separation and division. This is one of our great weaknesses that must be corrected if we are to have sustainable and peaceful human relationships.

We must develop true partnerships with each other and with the Planet. We do not own the Planet any more than we own our children as our property. Both are on loan to us for the purpose of developing our consciousness in this workshop of life. These are gifts for our own growth and development as caring, giving and happy individuals determined to become part of a better world for all.

The German poet and novelist Wolfgang Van Goethe once said “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world”. We spend our days waiting for the ideal path to appear in front of us, but we forget that paths are made by walking, not waiting. A Buddhist proverb says: “If we are facing in the right direction all we have to do is keep on walking”.

Democracy needs education, and education needs democracy.  If we want a healthy democracy, we must have citizen involvement; and to get it we need to start with our children.  A community certainly uses resources, organizes and regulates itself, maintains balances among competing interests, and must co-exist with the rest of the community.  If democracy is the natural state of all living things, then democracy in the classroom- not unrestricted freedom, but freedom with responsibility- is the only healthy way to educate.

We must support the improvement of the justice system especially at the local and state level.  We must encourage the democratic process wherever it is found and strengthen it where it is weak. We must aggressively tackle the issue of corruption and deceit at every level and smooth the playing field for every segment of society.   In our daily lives, we can think and feel peace within ourselves. We can treat each other with kindness and consideration, and we can live according to our own highest ideals and values.

What is our intent for the next three days?  First, we come together as colleagues and friends to share our positive experiences and to generate new ideas and forms.

We are here to collectively examine existing models for peace in our time. We are here to explore with each other how to extend these models into operational frameworks across culture, language, and beliefs.  Models without action are simply like air without moisture, a meal without food.Secondly, we come together to build new models and think through how to implement and distribute those new models into working forms. Buckmeister Fuller, one of the great futurist thinkers in the last century, observed that we don’t create real change by fighting existing structures, but by building new structures that are more attractive and functional. Then the old structures die of simple neglect.

We must create a new system which will have a bold new mission – helping families and communities raise and educate healthy, capable young people. It will be a locus of child advocacy and its loyalty would be the well-being of children, families, communities, and the planet, rather than to administration, curriculum or political correctness. The systems would be an integral part of the community, not a separate entity.

Throughout, we need to re-envision who our learners are. In times of drastic change – which will be with us the rest of our lives – “students” will be everyone. We must all gain, enhance and maintain new skills and cooperative, peaceful efforts if we are to succeed in living the lives and creating the future we hope for. We must discard the notion that education is a one way street from teacher or professor to student.  This will not be an easy task, even though it will be essential to create the new thinking required of each of us.

Third, for those who wish to go further, we will launch a permanent democratic forum that will create its own energy and direction through an active working body of dedicated individuals and organizations that will be recognized through IGE’s ECOSOC status at the United Nations.

With this forum we can create and develop strategies and cooperative projects in close consultation and partnerships with each other.

We are at a stage of human history where vision, compassion, communication and creativity are far more important than traditional literacy. Re-envisioning what learning is about and redesigning our school systems will provide the single most powerful avenue available to help us navigate an uncertain future. We then help create the kind of future our children and grandchildren deserve.

There are many practical things we can do in our daily lives and with each other to further our intentions of peace. We must re-evaluate and overcome the dangers and consequences of aggressive and intolerant nationalism.  This does not mean giving up our culture. In fact, giving up the negatives and concentrating on the positives in nationalism strengthens our very cultural identification and values. We must search for and strengthen social harmony and stand up against discrimination of every kind. Discrimination in all its forms must go.

Dr. Robert Muller said: “The word foreigner should be abolished from the languages of the world.  We are all Earth inhabitants, not foreigners.  Young people sometimes call foreigners ‘internationals’.  That is already a progress.”

We stand on the cusp of a new worldview which is already underway. This view must be formed, taught and learned by all of us; parents, teachers, families, and the community. We simply cannot wait any longer. Our planet cries out in environmental desperation, our hearts cry out for the sick, destitute and hungry, the tortured and lost, the refugees, and for ourselves.

We become part of the solution or we remain part of the problem. Now we must determine, each of us, individually and collectively, to educate ourselves and others for the world we want and deserve.

A new sense of moral and spiritual values needs to be at the center of our transformation.  Right now we are at drift in a sea of conflicting opinions and valueless choices, and we are about to drown in that sea unless we awaken to a new sense of value and responsibility.

The task before us, you and me, is awesome in scope and complexity.  We are up to the task if we believe that we are. It is not just for survival but rather for the restoration and improvement of a peaceful humanity and the planet. Education can chart the way from the past, to the present and into the future. Together we will build a better world with an educated and committed citizenry in concert with our living earth.  Work is already underway, here and elsewhere, so let us go forward hand in hand, heart to heart.  We ask you become full participating partners in this common effort.

Let us take this pledge and give it to our children as a gift:  “I am a Peace Builder; I pledge to build peace.  I pledge to give up put-downs, to right wrongs, to seek wise people, to help those in need, and to heal differences.  I pledge to build peace at home, at school and in my community, every single day.”

Presented at the PGDPS, MLCU, Shillong, August 2009 by Richard Schneider

THE UPSIDE DOWN WORLD

There is much talk in the name of peace
But there is much, much action toward war;
There seems great effort to solve conflict
But there is violence and hatred everywhere;
There is a wave of positive energy, direction
But there are barriers of anger, hostility,
Surely the time has come for real change
In the hearts, minds, actions of humankind.
It seems that we have built walls of mistrust
Rather than bridges of truth, understanding;
Most really do want the world to be different,
But in their own image of what different is,
Often ego and self –interest do trample right
And bigotry and prejudice darken the way.
We speak even eloquently of ridding hunger
Then squabble about overproduction, surplus,
The time has come to be true to ourselves
And true to all human kind of every place.
Lets quit speaking in forked tongue of past
And speak in the universal language of love.
Not a word of pollyana and sugar sweets
But for constructive work, honest efforts.
Strength is measured in refugee going home,
Forests saved, wars ended and books written.
You and I can make the difference with voice
And commitment, dedication and willingness.
A world that is upside down must be arighted
Because we believe it can be done and do it.

Dr Rodrigo Carazo, former president of Costa Rica and co-founder of the United Nations University for Peace and very dear and beloved friend has said “ If you want peace you must educate for peace” He is still a powerful voice in building an atmosphere and attitude to foster understanding and cooperation with other nations as well as individuals.

Most citizens of this Earth are programmed into small geographic segments of the world, into harmful values and narrow ideals and interests of which they remain prisoners for the rest of their lives.

To quote Dr Robert Mueller, who spent thirty eight years at the United Nations and then as Chancellor of the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica where I worked beside him for a long time said “ Prophets and religious leaders are mediators between individual consciousness and cosmic consciousness. Right education should help them in their tasks”. He created and designed what has become known as the World Core Curriculum philosophy. It goes from the micro to the macro and has four harmonies; Our planetary Home and Place in the Universe, The Human Family, Our Place in Time and the Miracle of Individual Human Life through spiritual, mental, emotional and physical.

The concern becomes one when individuals and groups stop doing their own thinking and  rely on thinking and dogma that they have been taught. They have not learned to discern the differences and nuances of thought. In fact, what has to happen is  we all  must sometimes put aside our new brain thinking of logic and reasoning and also use our old brain thinking using our senses. You may be surprised to know that you have been taught there are five senses, when in fact it has been discovered that there are atleast fifty three senses and perhaps even more. Unfortunately, most have been dissected from our sensory nature by the time we begin school.

We will not solve the problems of peace by either logic or concrete thinking alone but rather letting our senses incorporate our perceptions in nature and the world around us. It is true that we cannot live by bread alone. It is also true that we cannot live by thought alone. We must develop our sensory capacities by a new connection with our own nature and nature around us.

Peace is not the absence of war  but the basic element of nature itself which we have distorted and hidden even from ourselves. We imagine we are peaceful even when are boiling inside . We live in judgement of others and their beliefs and are quick to discern that if we right then the other person or the other side must be wrong. This leads to an immediate conflict even within ourselves. We fail to accept that there is a dark side in all of us and in nature that we must embrace that dark side if we are to achieve a balanced and peaceful nature. Do we imagine or interpret what other people are saying or are we simply hearing our own interpretation of what we hear. There is a saying “ I know you think you heard what  I said but what you don’t know is that what you think I said is not what I said but your interpretation of it”.

It is important to center ourselves on what and who we are and what we are doing on this earth and in this universe. It is important to see ourselves in the relation to another and to our planet.

WHO, WHAT AM I ?

I am 400 rupees worth of chemicals
I am molecules in motion
I am a “a rag, a bone , a hank of hair”,
I am member of the global human family.
I am a child of the universe

I AM MORE THAN A BODY

I have an intellect
I have emotions and feelings
I can learn from the past and store the knowledge of my parents and their parents and their grandparents.

I have the power to glimpse of the science and mathematics and literature
I am able to communicate with my fellow humans and the earth
I have personality which is uniquely me.

I AM A CHILD OF GOD

I am loved.
I am worth.
I am interdependent.
I am a whole being
I am needed,

I AM A PERSON

I love,
I desire.
I dream
I search for strength beyond my own- and in searching , discover

IN GOD, I FIND MY BEING AND KNOW BECAUSE GOD IS- I AM.

Our humanity is based on love. Love and peace are interchangeable.

The process of peace is LOVE.

LOVE FOR OURSELVES
LOVE FOR OTHERS
LOVE FOR OUR PLANET.

We either find ourselves in the Cosmic Plan by our free will or we remain estranged from ourselves and others and from God.

So the question and answers to what and who am I lead naturally to the question what and who are WE?

We are a community committed  to a cosmically ordained spiritual value system.

We are individuals souls who have agreed that our collective efforts are greater than our individual efforts. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We have further agreed to join our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energies.

We have agreed that our source is God-that God is a universal Principal. Thus , god is within us as well as outside. God is the Great and I AM- the Cosmic Force and the Beauty of the universe.

We have agreed  that the most powerful force is human thought- and that the greatest and most powerful energy is LOVE.

We believe that the thoughts of LOVE transformed is human thought- and that the greatest and most powerful energy is LOVE.

We believe that the thought of LOVE transformed into human action and process can and will transform the world.

We are gathered together for a remarkable and fantastic journey:
The journey to the crystal clearness of transforming purpose-
The journey to unconditional LOVE and UNDERSTANDING-
The journey to oneness with ourselves, each other and the Universe-
The journey to the oneness with God.

The journey is our ultimate purpose in this life and its true meaning.
This journey is our chosen destiny-freely accepted-freely embraced- freely undertaken.

We freely accept LOVE from the Universe and we freely return LOVE to the Universe. This is our gift to ourselves, to each other and to the planet.

U Thant, former Secretary General of the United Nations, who began his career as a teacher said: “ What was my approach to all problems? It was the human approach. I attached the utmost importance to the human element in all problems; political economic, social, racial, colonial or other. Some of you are aware of my philosophy regarding the human community and situation. In my view there are certain categories and priorities in values. I believe that an ideal man or an ideal woman is endowed with four virtues, four qualities : physical qualities , mental qualities, moral qualities and above all spiritual qualities. Still I would rate moral qualities higher than intellectual qualities over physical qualities. I would attach greater importance to the mental or intellectual qualities over physical qualities. Still I would rate spiritual qualities the highest. It is far from my intention to downgrade or denigrate the physical and intellectual aspects of life. I am  in no sense an anti-intellectual, but the stress of education in the schools of the highly developed societies is primarily on the development of the intellect or on physical excellence, without taking into account the moral and spiritual aspects of life. To me the moral and spiritual aspects of life are far more important than the physical and intellectual aspects. That is why I have tried to develop, without perfection alas, those moral virtues and spiritual qualities like modesty, humility, love, compassion the philosophy of live and let live , the desire to understand the other person’s point of view, which constitue the keys to all great religions…”.

U Thant believed that peace on Earth could be achieved only through proper education of the younger generations and that spirituality deserved the highest place in such eduction. May the current concern for proper global education allow for spirituality, love and compassion to be given generous room in all the world’s education systems. It is in our highest interests to do so, so if we want to stem war, violence, crime and unhappiness from endangering the peace, civilization and progress already achieved in our march toward optimum fulfilment of the miracle of life.

May all humans heed these wise words of U Thant , one of the first global teachers and spiritual masters of the nascent world community.

It is easy to be pessimistic about the world today, much too easy. In fact , there are visible signs of positive change and enormous leaps forward. For example, two terrible and destructive world wars were waged in Europe killing millions and destroys much and yet less than sixty years later these countries are bound together in a single  political union called the European Union. Another example, is the destructive hatred between the Japan and United States. Yet today they are bound together as two of the world powerful nations in the world bound by political, social and financial conditions. If these things can happen then other miracles and solutions can be found if there is will and willingness.

As Bruce Lipton says,” Because we are machines made out of protein, by definition we are made in the image of the environment. That environment being the universe or too many, God”.

So simply put , peace is an attitude, and interchangeable with love, and as basic to our human condition as our soul and our heart.

Is this going to be an easy task? It certainly is not. We are on the brink of environmental and nuclear catastrophe. It will take enormous effort and high risk. It will take sustained work. It will take global citizens. It will take cooperation beyond anything yet attempted. It will take compromise beyond our imagination.

There are practical matters on a global scale; we must greatly increase the influence and role of the United Nations, we must expand and enlarge the Security Council of the United Nations, we must create a Parliament of citizens at the United Nations, we must give up discrimination both economic and social. It is not a matter of winning others to our side but rather to find the ground that we can all stand on together.

There are many practical thins we can do in our daily lives and with each other to further our intentions of peace. We must give up much of what we call nationalism and become global citizens, we must search for social harmony and stand up against discrimination of any kind, we must support the improvement of the justice systems especially at the local and state level, we must encourage the democratic process. Wherever  it is found and to improve it where it is not found, and in our daily lives we can think and feel peace within ourselves, we can treat each other with kindness and consideration , and we can live according to our own ideals and values.

Give up nationalism does not mean giving up our culture. In fact, giving up nationalism strengthen our cultural identification and values. Discrimination , however in any form , must go.

I do not come with any panaceas. Nor do I think on plan in directions fits all. Every situation is unique, every personality different with differing views , strengthen and indeed even weaknesses. But what I am saying  we must think it can be done, and that co-operaton and engagement with the right attitude is the way. Can we really succeed? In my opinion we have no choice, we either make  steps forward, however small or we perish.

Let us join together and let us embrace our chosen  destiny, freely undertaken, with enthusiasm, and with profound respect for life and each other. It is an individual journey for each of us in many ways, but it must finally be a collective journey if we are to succeed. We then will not have to search for peace, we will have it.

***
Compiled by : Leban Serto
Coordinator, Peace Studies
MLCU, Shillong