DO YOU BELIEVE WORLD PEACE IS POSSIBLE?Do you believe world peace is possible? If so, you are among 25% of society. What is peace to you? When asked that question in a group half defined it as a feeling (safe, secure, comfortable) and the other half defined it as action (no violence, bombs, guns). Have you thought about what peace is to you?
Rotary believes world peace is possible and has taken concrete actions in that direction for over 100 years. In fact Rotary International has taken another great step forward to build peace by hiring Summer Lewis, a graduate of Rotary’s Peace Fellow Program. She will serve as liaison between Rotary and the Institute For Economics and Peace (IEP). IEP is a global think-tank dedicated to providing research and tools to help shift the paradigm of peace by making it a tangible and concrete measure of human well-being and progress. A key element of IEP’s research is the identification of the drivers of peaceful societies, represented in the Positive Peace Framework. This allows Rotarians to quantify what works and where efforts are needed to create Paul Harris’s life-long goal (and, hopefully, all of yours) of world peace.
To assist in this endeavor D5450 has an expanded Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee to help guide and train all Rotarians who are interested in bringing peace to the world. We have a speaker’s bureau that will come to your club with an inspiring program to create a background of possibilities. Along with advancing Rotary’s 4-Way Test Program’s with new materials, we also have the Peaceful School’s Program. When we come to your club, we bring information on Rotary’s new Peace Academy, the Action Group for Peace, Global Peace index, plus many concrete actions your club can do to begin the process of Peace Now. You will also learn how you are responsible for YOUR PIECE OF PEACE in your everyday life.
Each month the committee will post an article in the District Newsletter that has new information, techniques, and ideas on how to bring peace to yourselves, your community, and the world. Peace is possible! What part of Peace is your piece?
For additional information or to schedule a club presentation contact Jim Halderman at dghalderman2011@comcast.net or phone: 303-564-3315.