Short- and Long-Term Committment To Peace

     People activists around the world are working towards a more peaceful world, where there are no conflicts between anyone nation.  I have a short- and long-term committment in whiich I will try to promote peace in whichever way I can.  
    For my short-term committment to peace, I will continue my college education in music while getting involved in the community by volunteering for different activities from different organizations like the animal shelter or volunteer in the music department, band in particular, in any El Paso high school.
    For my long-term committment for peace, I will teach people about peace through music and education.  When I get my degree, I will look for a job as a band director, hopefully at a middle school so I can teach music to the young people in a way that will be very lyrical, peaceful, and musical, but also very exciting as well.  Hopefully the amount of musicality that my middle school students will have will probably urge some of the residents to act out in a peaceful manner.       

Inner Peace

     What is inner peace?  I believe that inner peace is when someone is at peace with themselves.  For me, inner peace comes from being relaxed.  There are many ways that a person can be relaxed.  One way in which I can be relaxed is by hanging out with my family because I never know what might happen to them in the future and I want to spend as much time with them as possible.  Whenever our schedules are not filledf with stuff to do, we plan a family night where we would spend time with one another by playing a game or doing something else. We would play either a card game like UNO or Skippo or Apples To Apples, or a board game like Monopoly. If we did notplay a game, we would just watch either a TV show or a movie together.  This way, I could relax and have fun while bonding with my family.
      Not only will I hang out with my family, but also with my friends and we would go to the movies.  We would go see movies that are funny, cool, and exciting.  My friends are not family, but sometimes they can do the same things.  For example, my friends are there whenever I need them for support or to just hang out and have fun.  Friends, in general, are two or more people who share the some if not all of the same interests as you, who care about the same people as you, and may have some of the same views or beliefs as you. My family can also be my friends because they are there whenever I need their help.  Whenever I'm with my family and friends, I'm relaxed and happy; and therefore, at peace. 

Stand Up! Don't Stand for Homophobic Bullying video

This video was about standing up against bullying; and in particular, bullying people who are homosexual.  The people in Ireland in this video uses a nonviolent method to stand up for a gay guy who is being bullied by other kids.  Bullying in general, no matter who it is, is not right and should not be done at all.  If it does happen, then the best way fight against it is by standing up to them and not being afraid to do so.  Most people experience bullying at some point in their lives; but if we stand up and say, "Hey, that's not right", then bullying will not become a problem in the world.  Bullying happens mostly among ones peers and the victum will feel helpless.  If we can stop bullying, then people will have higher self esteem and not be afraid of someone  who's bigger than them.  There are many nonviolent methods that people can utilize to fight against bullying.  The main one is just standing up to bullies, and it has a better effect if more and more people take part in standing up against bullying.   

MEMO

To: Dr. Lynn Gilden

From: Victoria Allcock

Date: February 14, 2011

RE:  Central Asia Institute

Families in Afghanistan and Pakistan are living in poverty as well as without health-care. The number of educated people in this region is even smaller. Not only do the people in the region live with unfortunate conditions such as these, but also there are not many organizations that are working in these areas of the world.  The number of educated people in a nation helps to bring new ideas that would aid in the stimulation of that country’s economy and also to improve the citizen’s health.  Females in these particular countries feel like they cannot make a difference in their society because they are illiterate.  The reason is because their families can only afford to send maybe one person to school, and that person would be one of the male family members.  Not only is this a problem for female citizens, but for every child in these areas as well. For all people living in this region, even clean water to drink was hard to find until Mr. Greg Mortenson arrived in Pakistan in 1993. 

The Central Asia Institute is a non-profit organization that was established by a Swiss physicist, Dr. Jean Hoerni in 1996. Mr. Greg Mortenson, an American, is the co-founder and Executive Director of the organization.  This organization has been helping thousands of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan by raising the number of educated individuals throughout the region.  Their mission is “to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls and women, in the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Their main focus is aimed at females. As quoted by Mr. Mortenson in a 1995 article, “educate the women and you educate the whole community… because they teach the children.” From the foundation of the Central Asia Institute in 1996, through the year 2010, the organization has built 145 schools ranging from Pre-schools to colleges for all the people who want to further their education.  In addition, the organization offers different programs including scholarships, teacher training to gain teaching experience through training workshops, the construction of schools, and the Pennies for Peace Program.   The Pennies for Peace Program is a great way for students in the United States to raise money to help people in Pakistan and Afghanistan with getting an education.  While in the program, they learn that when they share and work together, they have a good influence on the world.       

Like any organization, the Central Asia Institute has several ways of communicating with the public as well as within the organization itself.  One way that the public can communicate with the organization is by visiting their website.  Subscribers will receive e-mails and the monthly e-newsletter, which is called Alima so that they could keep up with the latest news, as well the current community projects that the Central Asia Institute is doing, and finally upcoming events.  There are also books available for purchase about Greg Mortenson and his beneficial influence within the Pakistan and Afghanistan regions.   The public can volunteer for any event or fundraiser by registering online.

Greg Mortenson's "Building Peace"

    The "Building Peace" video is about the people in central Asia who are living in poverty with very few educated people and no clean drinking water.  That all changed when a man named Greg Mortenson was attempting to climb K2, the world’s tallest mountain, to honor his sister who died of epilepsy in 1992.  The attempt was just that, an attempt.  Afterwards, he was taken in by the Balti people of the Korphe village and was nursed back to health in northern Pakistan.  While on his three-year stay, he met a group of kids scribbling in the dirt and promised them that he come back to help build a school for the local children, especially girls.  When he returned to northern Pakistan, he started to bring his promise to reality.  He is now co-founder of the Central Asia Institute in which educated natives volunteer to teach children, mainly females of all ages, so that they could have a basic education of learning to read, write, and do mathematics.  The main focus of CAI is to give females an education so they could get a job to help their families.  It not only helped their families by them having a job, but it also would help stimulate the economy as well.  Even though it is aimed at females, boys can also get an education.       

    Not only did Mr. Mortenson give the local children a school, but he also gave the village clean water to drink by building a water system.     

    This shows that we should not take anything for granted and to appreciate what we already have.  Mr. Mortenson spent a lot of his time in Pakistan and Afghanistan trying to promote education, especially for females of all ages.  According to him, one of the causes of terrorism is fear.  But if we follow his example, there will be fewer misunderstandings and less fear in the world.  Less fear means less of a chance of a terrorist attack on any country.   

For more info about the CAI, feel free to visit https://www.ikat.org/  

    

Thinking Peace

What do some of us, including me, think about when it comes to the word "peace"?

    I do not know about you, but I think of plenty of things when I hear the word "peace", but the first three that come to mind are: peace of mind, peace on Earth, and peace between people.  Peace of mind is when our brain is at a single, or multiple, points in our lives where we are not stressing out over one or more things.  Having peace of mind is having a relaxed mind.  No one wants to feel stressed out, but we experience it more than once in our lifetime.  To feel relaxed, we could do something that we enjoy doing on our spare time. 

   Peace can also mean peace on Earth.  This is when every country is getting along with the rest of the world.  This would mean that there would not be any wars to fight and no killing between two or more nations, or countries.  No war also means that there will not be any fatalities or casualties on either side.  I think of it like 1960's America where the teenagers were relaxed, they all got along with one another, and did not worry about anything dealing with the matter of war.



   Peace can also be on a smaller scale than just between nations, but between two or more people.  When people get along with each other and not fight, the world really is a better place to live.  In this peaceful world, if someone does not like someone else is doing or how they are acting, then they could just talk about the issue and try to come to an agreement.  They could do this instead of resorting to punching each other in the face and starting a fight.   This method of resolving issues could also hold true to peace on Earth.