knee deep in static

Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.

— Hafsat Abiola

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

— Eleanor Roosevelt

A few years ago, I was still at secondary school at the time, I was watching tv late one night.

It’s something I used to do a lot before I went to university – stay up till crazy o’clock and still go to school the next day, fresh as a daisy.

I was channel hopping, because back then we had dial-up internet that was charged per minute and I couldn’t go on for too long at a time. Luckily for me, it was back in the days of usenet and I could download, go offline, respond to a bunch of posts, go online and send them all.

But I was channel hopping and I caught the end of a documentary called “Peace One Day” on BBC2. I must have only seen about half of it, but the whole idea – of a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, a day of peace – really grabbed me and I never forgot seeing it. A day of peace where humanitarian organisations could dish out aid, immunise people, give medical help…do things that normally could not be done because of conflict.

It’s a great idea.

But it shouldn’t just be an idea.

Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.

— Buddha

An idea cannot really be great unless someone acts to try and put that idea into practice.

Jeremy Gilley, the founder of Peace One Day, decided to do something about it back in 1998. And he did do something. The UN recognised a fixed global day of peace – to be on 21st September – on 7th September 2001.

That was still not enough.

Peace, to have meaning for many who have only known suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health and education, as well as freedom and human dignity.

— Ralph Johnson Bunche

Since then he and the Peace One Day organisation have been working to raise awareness of Peace Day. Slowly, as more and more people hear about this, things are being done.

The opportunities made by a day of ceasefire are being grabbed hold of. Last year, on this day, there was a day of ceasefire in Afghanistan. Children were given polio vaccinations. People had a break from conflict.

Just one day, but if we can manage one day, then managing another day is so much easier. If we can do it once, we can do it again. And again. And again. Until every day is a day of peace.

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.

— The Dalai Lama

Do something today for peace. It could be opening a door for someone. Letting another car turn. Helping someone across the road. Smiling at someone. Giving a stranger your last Rolo. It doesn’t need to be big or world-changing.

Just one small action to bring a bit of peace to your immediate vicinity. It’s not hard. One thing.

But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.

— John F. Kennedy

http://www.peaceoneday.org/

http://internationaldayofpeace.org

http://www.warchild.org.uk

“Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.” – Hyman Rickover

Peace One Day is an organisation initially set up to get a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, a “Peace Day”, recognised.

They decided that the best way to go about it would be to get the UN to do something and subsequently found that the UN already had one of these Peace Days, only… nothing really got done on this day. So stuff happened and eventually they got it ratified as this day of global ceasefire and non-violence and got it a fixed day rather than a vague third-tuesday-in-September,-but-maybe-we’ll-celebrate-early affair.

ANYWAY. They did it. And a documentary was made about it and broadcast on tv. Quite late at night. Which was when I caught the last two thirds of it when it was first broadcast, as I was uncharacteristically watching tv downstairs, late at night, rather than browsing the net in my room. I was fascinated, not just because it’s a really well-made and well-constructed documentary or because Jeremy Gilley is an infectiously driven dreamer-hero of the story, but because it’s a damn good idea.

A day of actual peace. Where children can be immunised without health workers fearing that they will be hurt. Where aid can be delivered to places that need it but are usually too difficult to get to. Where one person does not kill another person.

Because to achieve world peace, you have to start somewhere. And why not start with just one day.

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” – Thomas Edison

Over the last few years, I have been able to celebrate this global day of peace more, well, vocally I guess. Being a student, I always had plenty of time to get something sorted out. This year however, while I did manage to do something to strive towards peace, I didn’t have the time to be vocal about it or remind every body I knew that it was coming.

The tragedy of no longer being a student and having days full of… slacking between lectures. Stupid work.

Anyway, to remedy this, I have decided I am going to start early. In fact I am going to start planning now. This way I’ll have plenty of time between work, church, the two courses I am doing and whatever else life throws at me to get something done.

And hopefully, it’ll be nice and big and vocal and spread the world and encourage people who don’t know about Peace One Day or the day of global ceasefire and non-violence or all the good that gets done and CAN be done on such a day to celebrate it and DO something.

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” – The Buddha

Peace One Day is a nice idea. However, if it is only an idea, it is worthless. An idea this vital, this important must be put into action. It is not enough to think about it and do nothing. Do something, even if all it is it telling someone else about it.

Lives depend on it.