Whole World Baby

It is finally nearing midnight on International Peace Day 2009. Another year passes and still 2,500,000 people of Darfur are displaced as the effects of a genocide that has claimed 400,000 lives ripples out. I have been on a 1000 calorie fast in honor of this day and the heroic struggle of all those in the refugee camps. Countless others have been on a much longer and much more difficult fast as they take a stand for those effected by genocide. I am still nursing and tried to do a water fast only all day but found myself faint and agitated.

These are not good adjectives for the mother of a toddler. It was one day AND I had a choice. I remembered all the beautiful mothers and children I’d met in the refugee camps three years ago who still have no choice about their caloric intake. I felt grateful and ashamed all at once. I salute all those at Stop Genocide Now who carry an enormous work load on a daily basis year after year for no compensation other than the knowing it is the right thing to do. I salute them because they keep the torch of hope burning for our friends in Darfur when others of us falter because we can’t seem to juggle life, work and family while staying as active as we once were. I salute them because they remind us that it is One World which is in all our hands and that we can still do something even if it’s not as much as we think we should.

I have spent the better part of this year, the last four really writing and producing a documentary about peace and nonviolence.  We have a committed team of volunteers dedicated to creating lasting change in the world.

Our mission is to redefine what peace means in today’s world. Where peace once stood for the absence of conflict we are suggesting it really means the presence of the tools to deal with conflict. Conflict is a part of life and we need to teach our children that simple truth. It’s time we stop fearing, loathing and hiding from conflict and instead learn to deal with it in constructive ways .

Change is Gonna Come

I wish they called this day International Nonviolent Conflict Resolution Day; it feels much more possible. Click Here to view the trailer for Change Is Gonna Come directed by Tasha Oldham.