Saturday, June 26, 2010

The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not just a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth of the heart of the universe.

Deepak Chopra


Peace to You and Yours with Love
Jerry

Saturday, June 19, 2010

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
~Mother Teresa~

Peace to You and Yours with Love
Jerry

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The U.S. Department of Peace: A Brief History and Bright Future
by Antony Adolf




George washingtonJohn F. Kennedy, that great orator if not practitioner of peace, once said: "Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."

But what most Americans don't realize is that this gradualness as manifested in the initiative to create such "new structures," a federal U.S. Department of Peace to coordinate and fund peace work nationally, has been part of the American Dream since the country was founded.

I was recently invited to speak on peace activism, peace professionalism and peace journalism (no, the three aren't mutually exclusive) at the Midwest U.S. Department of Peace Conference in Detroit. The experienced vitality of the attendees who came in from six states and dozens of cities re-energized me, and I returned home reminded that there are a lot of people who work proudly and effectively for peace despite still being in the shadows of most media. To be among them, sharing stories and ideas, was a privilege I am unlikely to forget, and with a bright future ahead, neither will the history of which we are a part.

Not only are there a lot of Americans working for peace right now, there has been ever since there has been Americans. Peace isn't just a fad that came and went with hippies in the 60s; it is part of the very fabric of this country, if also one we often forget or are made to. In a powerful presentation by the charismatic President of Citizens for Peace, Colleen Mills, our host along with sponsor The Peace Alliance, a perhaps surprising brief history of the U.S. Department of Peace initiative was given.

1783: George Washington called for a proper “Peace Establishment”.
1792: Benjamin Banneker and Dr. Benjamin Rush call for an “Office of Peace” with peace education in all schools.
1936: Dr. Frederick Kettner publishes essay “The Need for a Secretary of Peace”.
1943 -1968: Eighty-eight Congressional bills are introduced calling for a Department of Peace in the House or Senate.
1961: President John F. Kennedy launches the Peace Corps.
1969: Senator Vance Hartke (IL), and Rep. Seymour Halpern (NY), introduce a Bill for a Department of Peace with a Peace Academy.
1984: The U.S. Institute of Peace created (its beautiful new building is currently under construction).
1993: President Bill Clinton launches Americorps.
2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH), and Sen. Mark Dayton (MN) introduce Bills calling for a Department of Peace.
2010: The U.S. Department of Peace is named in Change.org's "Ideas for Change in America."

Of particular note is that peace has always been a bipartisan issue insofar as both Republicans and Democrats have been involved in the U.S. Department of Peace initiative throughout its long and distinguished history. The initiative is also global, and with successes in a few countries already. Will Americans lead or follow when it comes to peace in the 21st century?

As campaigning for the November elections picks up steam, we can each do our part to make some of it push the gears of the U.S. Department of Peace forward. We're in good company, there's lots of us if you look, and it's part of our and peace history, too.


Antony Adolf is the author of Peace: A World History

Sunday, June 13, 2010


Photo of Mares and Chuck's grandchildren after putting together the Peace Puzzle we received at the Midwest Conference.

Date of doing the puzzle-May 18th, 2010

Brennan, Colin, Audrey with Grandpa

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Peace
Do you think peace requires an end to war
Or tigers eating only vegetables?
Does peace require an absence from your boss, your
spouse, yourself?
Do you think peace will come some other place than
here?
Some other time than now?
In some other heart than yours?
Peace is this moment without judgement.
That is all.
This moment in the heart-space where everything
that is, is welcome.
Peace is this moment without thinking that it should
be some other way
That you should feel some other thing
That your life should unfold according to your plans.
Peace is this moment without judgement.
This moment in the heart-space where everything
that is, is welcome.
- Dorothy Hunt

Peace to You and Yours
Jerry

Saturday, June 05, 2010

If we can change ourselves, we can change the world.
We are not the victims of the world we see.
We are the victims of the way we see the world.

Dennis Kucinich

Peace to You and Yours with Love
Jerry
Citizens for Peace Meeting June 8th

Join us for our monthly meeting as we write postcards to our Congressman requesting support of the Youth Promise Act. If you have not signed the petition yet, please do at http://www.youthpromiseaction.org/. We will also hear a report from the National Student Peace Alliance Conference from Meredith, an officer of the Student Peace Alliance at Schoolcraft. This important bill is ready to pass in the House. We need more Senators to support it. It could pass this year! We need your help to make it happen!
See you at Unity of Livonia (Five Mile between Middlebelt & Inkster) at 7 pm!