The ideal doesn't exist. The personal equilibrium and the harmony people dream of come only after years and years of struggle, and then only as flashes of grace and peace. Peace is the fruit of love and service to others. I'd like to tell the people in communities, "Stop looking for peace. Give yourselves where you are. Stop looking at yourselves, look instead at your brothers and sisters in need. Ask how you can better love your brothers and sisters. Then you will find peace."
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Added by Susie Shapiro on June 5, 2009 at 10:37pm —
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People come together because they are of the same flesh and blood or of the same village or tribe. Some wanting security and comfort come together because they are alike and have the same vision of themselves and of the world. Some come together because they want to grow in universal love and compassion. It is these latter who create true community.
- Jean Vanier
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 29, 2009 at 7:15pm —
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Great news! David Suzuki is the latest Canadian celebrity to endorse the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.
www.davidsuzuki.org
To endorse the World March, please go to the international website: www.worldmarch.org
www.worldmarch.ca in Canada.
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 27, 2009 at 8:29am —
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Humanity in its entirety is a body, and in the body each member is important. Groups, nations or races which cut themselves off from others, or seek to dominate by imposing their own culture, ideology and customs, by suppressing the identity of another's culture, wound and hurt not only that particular people but the whole of humanity and themselves. To-day, more than ever before, we are called to become more conscious of the fundamental unity of the human family and to help each group of…
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Added by Susie Shapiro on May 26, 2009 at 7:00pm —
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This place -an oasis where I quench my thirst for peace, and shade myself from the harshness in the world. A community created because of kindness and understanding. Our stories, ideas, and art, for the sake of helping -and hoping. Peace isn't just some impossible dream, but a reality that's emerging from even the most unlikely places. Reaching out across the world, forming these bonds, strengthens our web of peace. As we continue to nurture this peace, we enable it to thrive and grow -out in…
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Added by Susie Shapiro on May 26, 2009 at 9:11am —
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I went bankrupt, my business died
I buried it and at first I cried
But then up from the ground grew the most beautiful tree
with fragrant pink blossoms and fresh spring leaves
Friends and acquaintances gave their condolences
I told them that at last, I'd come to my senses
They looked at me, puzzled -you're in denial, or shock
I showed them my tree and all the birds that it brought
They spoke in hushed tones, this was some kind of…
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Added by Susie Shapiro on May 23, 2009 at 9:30pm —
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If you discover that somebody really loves you, listens to you, then you begin to change. You come out from behind the barriers of fear that you have erected around your heart.
- Jean Vanier
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 23, 2009 at 7:07pm —
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When you're small and when you're grown
I love you always
When you laugh and when you cry
I love you always
When you're quiet and when you're angry
I love you always
When you're truthful and when you lie
I love you always
When you cling to me and when you run
I love you always
When you're close and when you're far
I love you always
I love you always
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 23, 2009 at 8:00am —
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We become peacemakers when we are no longer struggling for power, to be at the top, but just working to serve each other... We cannot all do big things, but all of us can kneel at each other's feet and say, "I trust you and I believe in you."
- Jean Vanier: Encountering 'the Other' p 58
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 22, 2009 at 7:00pm —
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"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."
-Martin Luther King
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 21, 2009 at 7:47pm —
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Forgiveness is a long road. It is based on the knowledge that each person can change; that I can change and that you can change... Let us try to understand each other. Tell me your story, the story of your pain, and I can tell you my story and somewhere, we will come together.... Forgiveness is a journey. It is not an event. The first step is "no vengeance". Then gradually to enter into a relationship with those who have caused hurt.
- Jean Vanier: Encountering 'the Other' p 37, 57
Added by Susie Shapiro on May 21, 2009 at 7:32pm —
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