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Ways to Promote Peace
Choose your own way…
No matter who got your vote for President, the challenge to create more peace is still before us. At Peace Connections, we hear again & again from individuals who feel powerless to make a difference, who cite reasons to give up hope. The struggle is real, but the opportunities are ever present.
At our recent fundraising events, Taste of Newton & Bethel College Fall Festival, we thought it might be fun this year to sell Ben & Jerry's Peace Pops (ice cream bars). During the process of placing the order, we came across the a listing of "50 Ways to Promote Peace" on their website. The list gave many thoughtful ideas for promoting peace on a regular basis, as well as, included links to other peace-making sites. Check out this fun website at www.benjerry.com. Under "Our Company" you will find their list of the 50 Ways. Hope is seen in an ice cream business choosing to actively promote daily peace creation!
To go with the sale of our Ben & Jerry's Peace Pops, Peace Connections adapted the "50 Ways to Promote Peace" to fit on a poster and created slips to be drawn by the ice cream bar purchaser & others passing by our booth. On each slip was a simple suggestion of one way to create more peace each day, such as, driving with peace & tolerance, getting to know your neighbors, and learning another language. Hope is doing one small thing for peace in your life every day.
Kim Funk of Tabor Mennonite church created the Boulders of Violence, Pebbles of Peace scale (as pictured) for their summer intergenerational class at their church. The scale shows how it takes many pebbles of peace to outweigh one boulder of violence - but it can be done, little by little. Kim also made an "In a Pickle Jar" which includes a variety of challenging scenarios on paper pickle shapes. The idea is to draw a pickle problem out and see you if you can come up with a non-violent way to deal with it. A great way to spark some wonderful discussion! Hope is a someone creating new & fun visual ways to help promote peace in their community! (Kim's ideas were adapted form Creating Circles of Peace Teacher Resource Book.)
Sometimes violence can seem overwhelming, especially as we watch local news stories, continue to hear how many died today in Iraq, or become frustrated with the decisions made by our political leaders. The challenge before us though is not to give up hope, to take that small step for peace in our own lives as often as we can. You too can make a difference. Choose your way today!
All of the following can be borrowed from Peace Connections: