Barely breathing with nerves on edge to hear the faintest sound and staring eyes trying to penetrate the darkness; my constant companion fear and I have but one goal, to be safe. Today I am 5 years old and my life was shattered when my parents were killed last week. I will do anything to feel safe again.
How did you feel after reading the last paragraph? Did you want to stop reading and change the dial? Did it reach you with a small glimpse of the impact violence has on our lives?
When fear is generated from a personal embrace with violence. It triggers our survival instincts at it's rawest. Then it truly becomes survival of the fittest; kill or be killed. Violence begets violence and it's biggest supporters are apathy and silence.
I wonder how the Law of Attraction handles this question. If we think about violence and truly understand its impact on everyone's lives are we going to attract it into our lives. I don't believe so. Action starts from seeing it and deciding to do something about it. The intention is everything.
I can hear it now. But I am only one person. What can I do?
I would tell you to say that to Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Buddha, and Albert Einstein to name but a few. One person can make a difference and mankind has a rich history of proof.
I am going to talk about two people that are trying to make a difference and are people just like you and I.
First I will talk about Steli whom I have become friends with through his Supercool School blog. Steli after the Virginia Tech shootings created a site to honor the victims by having bloggers posting a banner on their site on April 30, 2007. It was like he had waved the red flag at the bull. He got a lot of flak as well as support for the idea. I will on the 30th put the banner on my site and it is to honor all victims of violence where ever they may be. If I get a lot of flak for that then I welcome it. At least it is not silence and apathy.
The second person I will talk about has taken a different approach. Her name is Mimi Lenox and has set up a Blogblast for Peace to be triggered on June 6, 2007 where all bloggers who wish to participate create their own peace globe as I have done in my sidebar and post on June 6,2007. A post on peace is optional but I will be making a post that day in support of the idea. Globes and banners can be obtained from her site.
It is up to each of us to recognize the problem and take action.
At first it was a single voice singing into the silence. Then from the shadows another voice joined to be a duet. Slowly voices joined one by one until it was heard around the world. Not realistic you might say. Maybe so but I want to be one of the voices singing out to pierce the darkness of fear and violence.
How about you?
8 conversations:
Awesome post. Humbling. The first paragraph grabbed my attention as did this sentence, "Violence begets violence and its biggest supporters are apathy and silence."
Well spoken. Thanks for promoting Peace Globes. They are showing up everywhere.
I don't want to be a voice of silence either. The last BlogBlast proved there are hundreds of bloggers who feel the same way. Let's make that thousands this time, shall we?
Thanks Mimi just supporting your endeavor
It's so much easier to destroy than t create.
It takes guts to speak up...I'm with you on your endeavor.
Peace!
Thank you random magus and welcome
Excellent as usual Peter. In America most of us are supposed to keep our mouths shut...I think the term is "politically correct" which we are drowning in. Anyway, for those who take a stand, I say BRAVO!
Time to mail another Birthday card to Shane Bernier. I mail one every Monday :)
Thanks comedy+ I have sent my caed
Obviously I am way late in chiming in on this post but I've just recently had the chance to start reading some of your blog. Of all the posts I've read so far, this was the one that I really wanted to comment on as I thought it was just so well put.
Though silence is a wonderful tribute, it can also be construed as apathy and apathy is the last thing that we want or need in this world. It's too easy to be a voice of silence, too easy to let someone else "deal with it" when we all need to join in the chorus and be heard. The more voices there are the louder the sound and the harder it is for those who can instigate change to simply ignore what's wrong.
I look forward to seeing how many "voices" join together on June 6th and am glad that you have chosen to be one of them.
I have a feeling you will be joining us Linda. Welcome we can make a difference
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