Category Archives: Inspiring People

Dreaming Big for December Peace Challenge: Celebrating a World United By Love 8

Bloggers For Peace, Famous Quotes, Gratitude, Inspiring People, Kindness, Love, Peace Challenge • Tags: ,

After last month’s challenge of loving thy enemy, Kozo wants to give you a party.  

So this month’s challenge is to plan a party that will ripple peace to the world. Use everything in your imagination for this peace party. Here are a few ideas:

  • You can hold your party anywhere. Where would you host your peace party? How many people would be at the party?
  • You can invite any guest you want from the past, present, or future. Who will play music at the party? Who will contribute artwork for the party? Who will give speeches?
  • What food can you serve that would bring peace in its consumption?
  • What about a group activity at your party? Would you have everyone at the party participate in one action for peace?
  • Feel free to use images, videos, or music in your post to give others the idea of what your party would be like.
  • What combination of events, people, and place would bring about the most peace at your party? What if you had Bob Dylan perform a duet with Ysuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)? What if you had a panel on compassion featuring Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad, and Mother Teresa? Let your imagination run wild for peace.
  • What would you have at your party that would bring more joy, smiles, love, and peace into the world?

Don’t forget to link to at least one other B4Peace post and add your post to the Linkz collection.

This is my wish for all of you.
A Caring Heart.
A good heart.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. — Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela’s life inspired many including me, so I dedicate this fictional post to his memory and the memory of everyone who has used peaceful means to change the world in a positive direction. I’m also taking creative liberties here and writing about a party after peace is a fact instead of a party to create peace. After all, if you’re going to dream, why not dream big?

Finally the world is at peace. Abusers and abused have all let go of their anger and replaced it with true forgiveness. All children now experience unconditional love and nurturing from the moment of conception allowing them to spread the love and nurturing to everyone they encounter. Religious, ethnic, and economic intolerance have vanished as people now see hearts and souls not just outer trimmings.

It’s time for a virtual world party. Everyone’s invited. Those who do not have Internet can go to public forums in their neighborhoods. Many are also holding mini-gatherings. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Pope Francis, and many other world leaders will address the world via a live broadcast. It’s a two-day holiday, a time for everyone to express their gratitude for a peaceful way of life.

We’re having close friends and family over, but we will also be connecting virtually with those who previously let us down and even with those who previously wounded us. It is time to celebrate change and the rebirth of kindness. We’ll be steaming the live performances of all of the wonderful parties that are taking place live in Sydney, Los Angeles, London, Kabul, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Beijing, Prague, Kuala Lumpur, etc.

Some famous musical artists are even performing new songs they wrote for the events. One of these is a song written and performed by Zhou Bichang of China, and Taylor Swift of America. Yo-Yo Ma will be performing with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in Pyongyang, North Korea. Five years ago who would have thought this was possible?

Every city is serving ethnic foods that represents other parts of the world and many are serving dishes that represent sticking together like Japanese mochi and Cantonese gau (aka nian gao). The world plans to stick together for good this time.

And when the celebrations end, world leaders will continue organizing their communities to address global environmental issues. Most of the huge power companies have already switched to cleaner energy sources. Humanity is finally working together to heal all aspects of the world.

Monthly Peace Challenge: I Have a Dream (I Really Do) 13

Bloggers For Peace, Famous Quotes, Inspiring People, Kindness • Tags: ,
Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream and so do I.
The above is from a post I wrote in December of 2010.

The above is from a post I wrote in December of 2010.

Martin Luther King, Jr. MemorialAugust twenty-eighth was the anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This speech is the inspiration for this month’s peace challenge by Kozo at Everyday Gurus. Here are his instructions:

It has been a little over 50 years since Martin Luther King gave his famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. One of my favorite parts of this speech was when Dr. King visualized what his dreams for America would look like:

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Let’s visualize what a peaceful world will look like. For this month’s peace challenge, I challenge you to publish what your dream of peace looks like.

If you need additional ideas to get you started please click on Kozo’s highlighted link above to go to his site for prompts.

RIP Senator Daniel K. Inouye 4

Abilities & Diversity, Aloha, Gratitude, heroes, Inspiring People, Pearl Harbor, Politics • Tags: ,
©dswalkerauthor.com

©dswalkerauthor.com

Yesterday at 12:01 HST, 5:01 EST the world lost a man of honor and integrity. Senator Daniel Inouye was more than just a senator from Hawaii. He was third in line to the United States presidency. He was a true national hero not just because he lost his arm fighting for our country after Pearl Harbor, during a time when America did not trust anyone of Japanese ancestry. He lived aloha and he taught the world the meaning of the term. He was my hero because he championed civil rights for all.

He recently cosponsored the Student Non-Discrimination Act, S. 555. He sent me a letter when I wrote to him through an on-line petition about the bill back in May noting, “our nation’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths and requires protection from the law.”Senator_Inouye_Letter

He understood the need for disability rights too although I doubt that he ever saw himself as disabled.

Mahalo Senator for all you did to help make the world a better place.

Kindness, Compassion, and Support Are What the World Needs Now 9

Gratitude, heroes, Inspiring People • Tags: ,

November 13, 1012 is World Kindness Day, a day designated to realize the need for more compassion and kindness. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone observed it and really was kind for one full day? Yes, I am a dreamer, but like John Lennon, I am not the only one. I still believe in the goodness of humanity despite evidence to the contrary. I still dream of a kinder world, and that is why I think it is essential that we teach children how to be kind and how to recognize the difference between kindness and meanness. I will be posting some ideas about how to do this at Special-Ism.com on the fourth.

Overwhelmed By Horror

Last week I became overwhelmed with all of the horror stories of children being murdered, of those making the news for their poor choices, etc. By Friday, I was in overload and finding myself overwhelmed with emotions. I decided to avoid the Internet for a few days.

Then Canada had an earthquake, Hawaii had a tsunami warning and the East Coast was hit by Hurricane Sandy. I needed to escape it all, but I also had to verify my family and friends were safe, so I checked Facebook, watched the news, and checked Twitter, but much less than normal. I have family in New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Massachusetts, and my sister-in-law has a younger sister in New York whose husband works at NYU. I am grateful that they all weathered the storm without injury. One family does have water damage to a beach house on Long Island Beach, but it could have been so much worse and I know it was for many. I am praying for all who are affected by the storm.

Where Are the Heroes?

Even though I am sure there must have been stories of heroes during the storm. I only heard of two. One was of a the premature baby born during the storm, who is doing well. The other was of someone bringing a lady’s cats to her at a shelter.  Today, the news media is again reporting stories that break my heart, like fights over gas and a mother’s plead for help that was ignored.

Share Your Stories

I would love to hear the stories about the heroes instead. Are you with me? Do you have stories you want to share? I know I am not the only one who could use some good news. Tweet me with your hero stories.