Last weekend, I walked through the streets of Toronto with a 12-foot puppet named Amal. Amal represents a 10-year-old Syrian girl who has lost her mother and is looking for a new home. It was wonderful to be part of the crowd that welcomed her with songs, food and love, and to share that sense of community with fellow Torontonians and newcomers.
This video shares the joy of the event, with songs...
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This post is from Moses from Nigeria, who shared this story on the Peace Wall.
What does peace mean to you?
It means a lot and I have always wished to live in peace in my life. But it's unfortunate I couldn't have the chance to be in peace with myself because of life choices here in Nigeria.
Are you living it?
No. I have always wanted to be a military officer serving people...
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Do you ever wonder if the hope for “peace on earth, good will towards all” will ever be fulfilled?
Me too. There are good reasons to be discouraged, some of which are visualized in the video, below. But there are also signs of hope. For each crisis, there are committed people working towards peace, restoration and healing. That’s why it’s appropriate that during advent, the time leading up to...
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We are blessed! We were given a proven peace and conflict resolution curriculum, Are We Together?, by its creator, the late global peace educator, Marg Huber. Marg developed the peace curriculum in Uganda, with war orphans who were members of the African Children's Choir. First, they introduced the curriculum to their own secondary schools. As word got out and schools changed for the better, over...
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Today, at 10 AM in Israel, the country stood still for two minutes to pay their respects to the six million Jews who were murdered by Nazis during World War II. Around the world, others stood in solidarity with them. And in Poland, thousands of people marched silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau to remember the victims of the Holocaust who died there, by participating in the annual March of the...
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My sister told me to look up a remarkable woman, Jane Marczewski, yesterday. I listened to her songs and wisdom all night. Her joyful vulnerability, as much as her beautiful ballad, "It's OK," won the hearts of the judges and audience of America's Got Talent in the summer of 2021.
If you, like me, weren’t following her story, it is well worth hearing. Jane’s stage name, Nightbirde, came to her...
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Friends, as I write this, I am dismayed at the outbreak of war between Russia and the Ukraine. It is shocking to see the extent and impact of the conflict in just one week. In the Ukraine, bombs are falling, people are dying, refugees are fleeing. In Russia, protests are being suppressed as the ruble turns to rubble. No one can fly out of either country, even as hundreds of thousands queue to...
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If the Apostle Paul was alive today, I imagine he might phrase 1 Corinthians 13 a bit like this.
If I get more retweets and likes than anyone, but my words lack love, it would be better if I never posted.
If I can predict the pandemic curve, sell millions of masks, and even create the best vaccine, but profit from others’ pain instead of prevent it, my net worth is the inverse of my human worth....
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It’s a sobering day. Twenty years ago, on September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four planes and crashed them into a field in Pennsylvania, the Pentagon in Virginia, and the World Trade Center in New York. The Twin Towers were completely destroyed, and with them, thousands of lives, and life as we knew it. The effects are still being felt today.
I remember where I was that day, as you...
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If you happen to be feeling discombobulated in these times, you are not alone! A sense of disorganization or mini-trauma creeps in when we cannot do what we always do. One of the leading trauma experts, Bessel vanderKolk, defines trauma as being in a situation that we are helpless to change, and which seems endless (hmmm, that sounds familiar!). I have learned much from Bessel in terms of how to...
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