"Be The Change"

Top Ten Things to Think About If You Want to Change the World

Mahatma Gandhi believed that we must be the change we want to see in the world. This was well demonstrated when he helped India gain its independence.

Gandhi was a revolutionary man, but he accomplished India's emergence as a nation without starting a revolution. In fact, he advocated no violence.

One of the most powerful countries in the world yielded to the commitment of one man and the dream of millions.

What change can we effect? What's the difference we want to make in the world?

Gandhi said, "In a gentle way you can shake the world." Here are some things to think about how to do just that …

1. Know that all significant change throughout history has occurred not because of nations, armies, governments and certainly not committees. They happened as a result of the courage and commitment of individuals. People like Joan of Ark, Albert Einstein, Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison and Rosa Parks. They might not have done it alone, but they were, without question, the change makers.

2. Believe that you have a unique purpose and potential in the world. It's not so much something to create as to be discovered. And it's up to you to discover it. Believe that you can and will make a difference.

3. Recognize that everything you do, every step you take, every sentence you write, every word you speak-or DON'T speak--counts. Nothing is trivial. The world may be big, but there are no small things. Everything matters.

4. To be the change you want to see in the world, you don't have to be loud. You don't have to be eloquent. You don't have to be elected. You don't even have to be particularly smart or well educated. You do, however, have to be committed.

5. Take personal responsibility. Never think "it's not my job". It's a cop-out to say, "What can I do, I'm only one person." You don't need everyone's cooperation or anyone's permission to make changes. Remember this little gem, "If it's to be, it's up to me."

6. Don't get caught up in the how of things. If you're clear on what you want to change and why you want to change it, the how will come. Many significant things have been left undone because someone let the problem solving interfere with the decision-making.

7. Don't wait for things to be right in order to begin. Change is messy. Things will never be just right. Follow Teddy Roosevelt's timeless advice, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

8. The genesis for change is awareness. We cannot change what we don't acknowledge. Most of the time, we aren't aware of what's wrong or what's not working. We don't see what could be. By becoming more aware, we begin the process of change.

9. Take to heart these words from Albert Einstein--arguably one of the smartest change masters who ever lived: "All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge."

10. In order for things to change, YOU have to change. We can't change others; we can only change ourselves. However, when WE change, it changes everything. And in doing so, we truly can be the change we want to see in the world.

The following is inscribed on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abby (1100 A.D.) …

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country.

But it, too, seemed immovable.

As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.

And now, as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family.

From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country, and who knows, I may have even changed the world.

Since my 10-point list above was inspired by Gandhi's belief, it seems appropriate to end with another of his quotes:

"Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger and we will make not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large."

"Peace Is Just Within Ourselves"

True Peace

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.

"Stop War,War Just Plant Hatred"

Shock and Awe
AMfor everyone

World War Two was ended by dropping of nuclear bombs in the cities of Japan. It was so devastating that it totally destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It leaves a lifetime scars that reminds us all of the destruction that we have made and able to make to sacrifice mankind for everlasting peace. The mushroom-like clouds seen after the dropping of the bombs reminds us all that the evil power inside us was unleashed and will stay with us forever. Shock and awe!

War in the Gulf was initiated and ended by using high-tech gadgetry of weapons of mass destruction. Missiles lighted up the sky of Middle East that signified the supremacy of United States when it comes to modern warfare. And no one dared to stop. And almost everyone was in shock. What has happened? Again our world was in the brink of extinction. Extinction from our very own doings. Shock and awe!

It was a fine day of September eleventh 2001 in New York City. The megapolis woke up from the usual sleepless night. It was indeed a perfect day to the usual routines of the Big Apple. All of a sudden a misguided airplane crashed into the World Trade Center building. An accident indeed in the first analysis but another plane hit the second building. And indeed no accident was happening. They were not misguided planes. On the contrary they were perfectly guided planes to destroy and brake into its knee the symbol of Americas's wealth. And the two buildings collapsed. Its colossal concrete and steel smashed into what we know today as Ground Zero. And together with it, thousands of innocents lives were wasted for the gratification of the enemies of democracy and the United States. Shock and awe!

No matter what the situation is, we are always devastated by the news of unexpected tragedies in our life. Whether is of global concern or of personal one we are not ready to face the reality at once. Our psychological defense mechanism is shattered and paralyzed when our relationship with our loved ones has ended.

Our sanity is outbalanced when we realized that our long-cared friendship ended painfully. We cannot accept the truth that we are somehow fooled and betrayed by our trusted friends. But life indeed has given us another precious gift; The gift of healing.

Through times our mind will learn to forget the dark moments when the world seemed to end, when our problems are so great to bear. Through times we tend to smile again amidst the pain and agony. And we learn to forgive. We learn to appreciate that those problems are just hurdles of life to conquer. And in the end we will realize that the world is indeed beautiful. It is beautiful even though evil lurks in every corner of our enemy's heart.

Life is beautiful even though others will stop at nothing to destroy us.

Our life and the world are not only beautiful but the only one we have and will cherish for the rest of our existence.

And we will not be in shock and awe. We will be cheerful and glorious. Not in danger but in peace.

"We Need Change"

A Cycle
AM for everyone

The prices of the prime commodities in the market today are skyrocketing. It is on of the many effects of the global increase of the price of crude oil that is hitting every nation of the world. Indeed it has many consequences. Rich and poor countries will suffer dramatically but the greater effect will be felt by those third-world nations including the Philippines. And worst of all, it is directly hitting the biggest economy of the world; the United States.

And an economic recession is under way along with the rest of the world. An economic downfall of the US will mean a bad economy for whole world since US is the biggest trading partners of all the countries and its mighty dollars dictate the currency and stock markets of the world.

And the gap of the haves and have-nots will be widened once again because of this phenomenon. Some economic analyst said it will not last longer because of the so-called economic cycle where one nation really undergoes a series of ups and downs of its economic growth. And eventually it will stabilize the goodness of all. There are many factors that will determined whether the present economic slowdown will hit hard or last longer depending on the policies and will of the people of a certain nation.



In our case, the worsening increase of basic commodities like the rice and other foods directly hit our poor citizenry. The very basic needs of the people can no longer be bought in a lesser price as before. The minimum wage earner will no longer afford even a decent meal since his salary is not enough for his family’s needs. And it will worsen if our lawmakers will do nothing which will alter the trend in the price in the market today.

And if we will took deeper for the cause of it all, it will boil down to one thing; corruption. And we don’t care since it is but a natural phenomenon for the Filipino. We are indeed corrupt and will be corrupt for the longest time. This is a negative pronouncement but it is the truth and the reforms needed are not yet in our generation I guess.

Even though there are so many militants group today, they are not capable of overthrowing the government since they are in one way or the other are corrupt also. I have seen many political idealists in my younger years but in the end they are swallowed by the same money that they are trying to remove before. How many militant groups who are once for the poor but now they are the one who are in Congress doing nothing for the poor?

They are once an aggressive agent of reforms but now they are in a situation when they cannot separate their personal interest to those interests of the masses. They are once in Mendiola but now they are in Congress doing nothing. Well they are doing well in press where they are claiming to oust PGMA but what the hell they are being bought by the same person they are trying to remove.

And in the final analysis, we the people are always the losers. Even the next generation will not be exempted to the effects of the happenings of today. They will suffer the consequences as we are suffering the consequences of the mistakes of the past generations. A cycle that will eventually keep on turning unless we do something about it. An act that will destroy all the idealisms and myths about the real situation of our nations. A revolution within!

GLOBAL PEACE MOVEMENT

Developing a new Grass-roots Public Movement

The idea of world peace is not new. Utopian and liberal thinkers have been pondering such issues for a long time, but it is only today that we have the means to achieve them. The globalization phenomenon, rapid changes in the international communications technology, and the drastic expansion of the Internet has provided us a window of opportunity, as never before.

We can, and even do, network for global causes. The primary example is the global environmentalist movement of our own age which happens to be a remarkable movement in its own right. But the global peace movement has not yet caught up to its potential. Given the necessary scope of global citizen action, how can it achieve peace? This brings us to the perplexing question of what is fundamentally required to bring it about.

There are many reasons for the turmoil in our age, with feelings of alienation the foremost passion fueling this violence. A fundamental shift in the world at large would be needed to achieve world peace. We must change ourselves in drastic ways for that to happen. We must all recognize that the greatest sentiment fueling the extremist phenomenon is alienation with modernity, crass materialism.

A powerful sense of injustice, which includes social injustice also, is fueling resentment against Western culture and civilization, especially in the Muslim world and other parts of the developing world. The Muslim world is in a crisis of unimaginable proportions. Corruption, injustice, misrule, and lack of visionary leadership are wreaking havoc on these societies, and things are not that much better in other Asian, African, and Latin American societies. Capitalism and western hegemony have their downsides, so to speak.

We cannot have world peace without justice for the deprived, the hapless, and the poorest of the poor and the wronged. Here we are talking of politics and not just varieties shades of economic deprivation. In the Islamic world present injustices are breeding resentment, alienation, frustration and radicalism. In some societies, like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Somalia, and Bangladesh all of the above are now present. However, the glaring issue for Muslims is political. Their political perceptions are what primarily fuel radicalism in a way that history has never witnessed before.

The globalization phenomenon is making it easier for radicalism to spread all over the world. Muslims, especially the romanticizing youth, are enraged as never before. They resent Western cowardice, duplicity, wrongful deployment of military force and the patronage of callous and corrupt governments ruling over them. The troubles are conveniently exported also as Muslims get politicized on the issues of Muslim helplessness, a lack of institutional mechanisms to voice their protests, and the culpability of their own leadership to Western powers. Muslim political issues have galvanized a strong minority to action and violent protest.

For example, injustices meted to Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, southern Thailand, China, Iraq and erstwhile USSR are the primary causes of Islamic radicalism.

It is a common perception that poverty breeds radicalism. It does not. Injustice does. Therefore, justice is the key to peace.

Perceptions shape reality in complex ways. For example, the West (read United States and NATO) have been spreading vast amounts of treasure, military force, and police action in the Muslim world to stop militancy, yet it is growing at an alarming rate. The Global War on Terror has an undue emphasis on the use of force to the detriment of other available nonviolent options.

There is not much push for solving intractable problems likely to cause anti-Western resentment in Muslim masses. There is an intellectual failure here. The Western powers are missing the forest for the trees. This myopic vision cannot work.

The simple fact is that without tolerance there can be no peace. Peace must first start inside each of us in order for us to create peace in the world. We see a total lack of tolerance towards other belief patterns, ideas and ways of life. It must be considered fundamental that without mutual tolerance there can be no peace.

We also have to network globally to achieve world peace one region at a time, meaning that one must primarily focus on his own region. Action begins most easily here, obviously.
For example, in the greater Middle East peace is indeed problematic.

The question is why. We have been convinced that peace in the Middle East is beyond the governments in power in both the West and the Middle East itself. A very strong public pressure is needed to nudge the world’s political leadership to quick action. Unfortunately, the global peace movement is now largely dormant. Therefore, an attempt has to be made to do something about it.

The people must take it upon themselves to move in a networked fashion, in which thousands of local peace groups are meshed into a global alliance. As a loose network of shared ideas, this does not need a structure, and information is enough. The key is public involvement. Ordinary citizens must resolve to take the matter into their own hands.

First, they have to realize the gravity of the situation. Enough is enough. We need to knock some sense into the minds of the world’s leaders and especially the leadership of the Western world. The public must galvanize and rise to force the elected leadership to change course from needless military action to launch a strong global peace agenda. How, and where, do we begin?

The key is education. There is simply no alternative. The mindset of real politics needs to be changed. Certainly, this is no easy task. But where there is a will there is a way. Ordinary citizens need to rise up and grasp the opportunities that are available today. The cry for action beckons to all of us.

A worldwide education is needed to instill new values based on toleration of others, compassion for others, and foremost we must all begin to believe in humanity. The bane of the dominant modern Western civilization is a new level of selfishness, callousness, indifference and seclusion never seen before. Tragically, this is producing self-denial and ostrich-thinking.

Western civilization cannot be stable, peaceful, and prosperous when its neighbors are living in hell. That cannot, and will not, happen. It is time we all realized the gravity of the situation. Although things are bad in many other parts of the world, it is the Muslim world that needs immediate attention as it is breeding the worst type of radicalism seen anytime in history. Things are bad in the Muslim world. There is no sense in denying it. In other parts of Africa and Latin America, and even Asia, things are not that good either.

We must begin to realize that immediate action is needed. The slogan of the environmental movement, think globally and act locally, is very apt for this situation. Muslim resentment has roots in sentiments of injustice. Let us begin to give justice where it is due. Strong public pressure on state administrations can yet save the day. The key is to network to achieve global peace. This is possible today. Given the infrastructure, we can do it.

Everyone must try to make a contribution in bringing peace in their own region. Another aspect is to change the individual and make him or her more conducive to the peace message. We must shed our garb of progress, and materialism for simplicity, sharing with others, compassion for the weak, and primarily love for all.

Love is the prerequisite of peace.

The essence of the global movement has to be love for humanity.

We must instill new values in our youth that calls for massive retooling of our educational institutions, especially higher education.

It must be considered fundamental that a new beginning can be made. Surely we all wish the world was a better place, but maybe one good heart at a time can change all the bad in the present world.

It is for all the people to act on their beliefs.

There is no other choice.

"Be Friendly No Matter What Race or Ethnicity,Friendships Has No Bounderies"

"Friendship Makes Our Lives Easier"

Its great to be able to meet people from all over the world. I love making new friends and learning more about their cultures and beliefs. I feel that if more people talked to each other throughout the the world we would be able to understand more and have better feelings towards our fellow countries.



We all may have our differences but we are all human and live under the same sky and breathe the same air. And we all have the same maker. And I know we have different beliefs in who that is. But I really hope to make many new friends. Peace and Love to all and God Bless You Always.

"To have a Meaningful Life"

10 Ways to Bring Peace to the World

By Susan Skog

As Martin Luther King, Jr. illustrated with his life, the entire world is lifted up by one individual choosing peace. One person can create something that ignites all of our collective hopes, energies, and dreams. What if you could do that too? What if you are destined to be your generation's peacemaker? "We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization," King said. Here are 10 real ways you can cultivate deep in yourself the loving peace you want to see in the core of the world.

Wherever You Stand, Make It Camp David

"The only way we can make peace is for each of us to be the peace we want to see." -- Susan Collin Marks

It's up to us. We can't wait for someone more powerful or wiser to deliver peace. We are the wise and powerful ones who choose peace in every thought and action. King showed us that even the simplest acts tilt the world toward peace. When his house was burned during the civil rights movement, he raced home not knowing if his wife and young daughter were safe. And he knew whatever he did could affect the anger brewing in the country. He stepped onto his porch and said, "Remember, this is what God said, 'We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love your enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them.'" Global peace is a personal choice, hour by hour. Ask yourself, "Am I going to add to the fighting in the world? Or offer up something greater?"

Nurture Peace in Yourself

"The first step is to come home to ourselves. You don't need to become a Buddha. You need to become yourself." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

It's hard to stay peaceful if we're overwhelmed by life. Find some peace, calm, and stability in your inner world so you can be kinder in your outer world. Do whatever soothes you, daily. Spend time in nature, meditate, sing, dance, play, chill on the couch. Do yoga, read by the fire, eat good chocolate while watching an entire sunset. Disconnect from conflict and just breathe for a while. Center yourself and tap into the peace you already carry within.

Heal a Piece of Your Anger

"Peace is as much about getting the bombs out of our own hearts as out of the Pentagon budget."
It's normal to get angry. But as peacemakers, our challenge is to channel that frustration into something greater. Think of your anger as rocket fuel that can launch your dreams--not scald people around you. View it as a surge of energy to create what you really want and need. Practice breathing deeply, disarming yourself and asking, "Why am I so angry? What do I really want?" If we can transform our anger into a higher dream, as King did, we take a stand for peace. We step away from the vise of anger and step into the lives we really want.

Focus on the Positive

"Plant yourself in the middle of what you love most--the thing within you that is most alive." -- Yael Lachman

"Dream. Dream. Dream. Be idealistic. Dream the world can be a better place." -- Archbishop Desmund


Believe that peace can happen anytime, anyplace. Love the idea of living in harmony more than the idea of living in chaos. Spend time each day visualizing how your own life will be different when peace grows in all your relationships. Imagine your community cooperative and thriving. Imagine our country no longer warring with others. See our homes bathed in peace and prosperity. Feel the joy of that! Believe that a peaceful world is our destiny.

Serve a Piece of the World

"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The world is asking for your light. Find a way to give back and make a difference. Help someone else. You and I make all the difference in whether the world grows more chaotic or more peaceful. "You don't need a college degree to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve," King said. "You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." Serve the world with your peaceful heart, with your peaceful soul. Make it big. Make it so.