Though there are a number of ways that today is being marked around the world, few people are actually aware of the fact that today is the United Nations International Day of Peace.
Briefly, this is how the day came into being:
In 1981, a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly was sponsored by Costa Rica to have the third Tuesday in September recognized as an International Day of Peace dedicated to focusing on the ideals and themes of peace. In 2001, a new resolution was passed, sponsored by the United Kingdom, and prompted by the founder of Peace One Day Jeremy Gilley, to give the day a fixed date, and the date chosen was September 21. In 2005, Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a worldwide observance of a 24-hour ceasefire and a day of nonviolence to mark this special day. Every subsequent year as well, to mark this day, the Secretary General of the UN will ring the Peace Bell at UN headquarters in Manhattan, a bell made from coins donated from children from every continent. An inscription on the side reads “Long live absolute world peace.”
Ok, so that is a bit about today, and we can only hope that as today progresses, there are people around the world putting down their weapons at least for a day, to help affirm that there is a dream of peace in some places in the world. We are fortunate that we live at a time of instant communication and that we are able to actually tell combatants to lay down their arms on any certain day. What we can only hope for is their adherence to this young tradition.
I was in Kenya in May and was fortunate to be able to help found an organization there called the Youth Ambassadors for Peace. At the moment there are approximately 25 youths involved, and they are from three different tribes, the Kisiis, Kalejins, and Luos. These were three tribes heavily affected by the civil conflict that gripped Kenya at the beginning of 2008, and this project was the first time these tribes were brought together for a peace building project. Today they came together in a central village called Sondu to celebrate the UN’s International Day of Peace, and they spent time highlighting what is unique about each tribe, trying to increase awareness and tolerance in the various communities. I have recently heard that despite some rainy weather the day was quite successful, going late into the night, and they are extremely pleased with the progress they have made.
The point: anyone can make a difference. Often we are told to petition governments, write letters to politicians, picket outside of offices and organizations, and we expect to get them to pay attention and act. Regardless of how often this may or may not work, we must never forget the potential ability of a single person. All over the world there are groups of people who are desperate for peace. They have come together either through the efforts of a single person, or through a collective will, but they nevertheless have come together to improve the world in which they live. Today we must look not only to governments and corporations who certainly have the ability to change the world, but also to regular people, tribes in Africa, high school clubs throughout the West, grassroots movements in Europe, whose goal it is to create peace. Without these people, there is no need for peace, as they are the ones for whom we are trying to build a better world, and it is for this reason that today, International Peace Day, we must all be reminded that we are each, in our own individual way, able to make a distinct difference.
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