what is peace by
8:00 on board sir
what is peace his peace something outside of us or is peace something inside of us his peace something you can learn
or a deep green forest
or a hot dry desert or up on a really high mountain if you ever go to one of
those places and you stop talking and playing around if you can stand or sit
really still for just a few minutes maybe you can feel peace there but you have
to go to a quiet place far from the city with all the cars and the people and
noise and crazy stuff going on to feel peace maybe we are born with peace
already deep inside us and maybe we can feel the peace that is already deep
inside us anywhere but is peace only a quiet thing maybe peace is about more
than only being quiet maybe once you were walking along and you accidentally
stepped on a quiet bug because you didn't see or hear it does peace mean being
quiet like that bug maybe one night your mom wants you to turn off the TV early
so that you'll be fresh for school in the morning
but maybe you want to watch
another show can you feel peace if you argue with your mom or your dad or your
brother or sister or friend can you feel peace if you're quiet is a bug but you
don't get what you want maybe we can't always know what peace is if we always
have to argue and try to get everything we want but what if you want something
that is really simple or important to you and that doesn't hurt anybody else
but you aren't allowed to have it should you argue then like what if there is a
king of a country and he orders people to do only two things that he wants them
to do and he doesn't let them do any of the things that they want to do how can
anybody feel peace if someone is bossing them around or being really unfair and
hurtful can you sometimes argue and still feel your peace inside what if the
people get angry at the king and they don't want to do what the king orders
them to do anymore can the people of that country do something peaceful to
change the way the king thinks so that the king will listen to them and change
the things he does maybe in your class you read about some women and men and
even kids who had to live with the king who made them do things they didn't think
were fair and how they wanted to be free to do the things they thought were
fair to be free means that we can think and say and do the things we like as
long as we're fair and don't hurt other people or selves maybe you read how
those brave women and men and even kids try to change things in that country to
be brave means that you are not afraid to say and do what you think and feel as
long as you don't hurt other people maybe you read about how the king tried to
stop those brave people and maybe he even hurt those people when they tried to
change things now when people hurt each other that's called violence and that's
not a good thing violence means that people stop talking or listening to each
other or trying to understand each other and instead they start to get angry
and then they start to fight and hurt each other with nasty words with their
hands or even with guns .
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| Peace |
when grown-ups get angry and violent they sometimes start Wars and then they really hurt each other but is there a peaceful way to stop violence yes there is a peaceful way to stop violence and that's called non-violence non-violence means that you talk to somebody that hurt you or that got you angry and you explain to that person why you're feeling hurt or angry and that person explains why she or he is feeling hurt or angry all without using nasty words or fighting sometimes you can practice non-violence just by compromising and that means that you give up a little bit of what you want and the other person gives up a little bit of what she or he wants compromising is another way to practice peace and sometimes after compromising people even become better friends than they were before they started a fight so maybe we can start to feel peace when each of us gives up a little bit of what we want when we compromise but what happens if somebody does something to you maybe not on purpose but it really hurts you or gets you angry if one day at school your friend stomps real hard on your foot by accident
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| Peace Day Challenge |
or kind of like it's a joke
ouch that can make you feel really angry so that you really want to stop back
hard on your friends foot how can you compromise or practice non-violence on
that one maybe instead of getting angry at your friend and losing your peace
you can take a really deep breath and you can look real deep into your friends
eyeballs and you can try to understand why he hurt you hey nobody says it's
easy to be nonviolent nobody says it's easy not to get angry when someone does
something hurtful to you even if it's not on purpose nobody says it's easy to
keep your peace but maybe you can tell your friend that your foot hurts and so
do your feelings and maybe you can ask your friend why he did that hurtful
thing to you sometimes a person hurts somebody or hurts himself or herself if
somebody is hurting them maybe after you talk with your friend you find out
that somebody is hurting him and that's why he wants to hurt other people maybe
you find out that your friend really needs some help now if you can help other
people to find their peace that will make you a peacemaker saying peaceful
things to other people doing peaceful things for other people even thinking
peaceful thoughts about other people will make you a peacemaker and being a
peacemaker will even make you feel more peace inside to remembering peace is
hard to do even if we are born with peace inside us because there's always
stuff both inside and outside of us that makes it easy to forget our peace but
that just means that maybe we all have to try a little harder to remember to talk
to each other and to understand each other instead of fighting each other until
one day we can all become peacemakers we said that we can lose our peace when
we don't get what we want but how can we ever stop wanting what we want
sometimes we get confused about the difference between stuff that we want and
stuff that we need for instance we need food and clothes and a safe house to
live in right we need medicine if we're sick right maybe we need a car to get
to school and for your mom and dad to get to work maybe we even need a few
games and some fun stuff to do sometimes right but suppose one day you also
want some cool new sneakers so maybe you do some work and you earn enough money
to buy those cool new sneakers you want but then later maybe you see that your
friend has got some even cooler sneakers that you have all of a sudden you
decide that you really want your friend's sneakers to look out then you know
you don't really need your friend's sneakers in anyway why do you even want
that person smelly sneakers can you see how crazy things can get if you want
stuff so bad for no good reason and you can't get what you want can you see how
you can lose your piece but lots of people will do anything like running around
busy all day and night like not looking where they're going and bumping into
stuff like getting headaches and getting angry and maybe even getting violent
just to get what they think they really want so maybe part of knowing what
pieces is knowing the difference between what we want and what we need or even
just being happy with what we have maybe we lose our peace when we become
afraid maybe you become afraid because you see a scary movie or maybe you think
there are some kind of little blue bug things in your bed near your feet maybe
you become afraid because your friends dare you to do stuff you don't want to
do or maybe somebody is touching you where he shouldn't touch you or hurting
you maybe you become afraid because your dad and mom are fighting you think you
may lose your home maybe you become afraid because somebody doesn't understand
your religion or the language your parents speak or because somebody thinks
about your skin color instead of the wonderful person you really are becoming
afraid can make you lose your peace so how can we not become afraid and not
lose that nice inside feeling of peace that we're born with and that is always
inside of us sometimes people pray when they become afraid and feel they are
losing their peace to pray means that you remember that peace is always inside
of you and when you remember that peace is always inside of you maybe you can
also remember all the people who love you and who care about you and who
protect you and that will help you find your peace too once you find your peace
again you can become real strong and you won't be afraid anymore sometimes when
people become afraid and start to lose their peace they remember a special
person or persons who practiced peace all the time these special persons were
nonviolent and they remembered to understand and forgive the people who hurt
them sometimes you can remember your peace just by being able to understand and
forgive sometimes you can remember your peace if you just stop and breathe
quietly and listen very carefully to the peace that is always inside of you.
there are many ways to remember your peace and maybe somebody you know and
trust can tell you more about the different ways that they remember to keep
their peace what is peace peace is a quiet thing like watching clouds go by but
it is not like being a quiet bug that gets stepped on peace is being really
awake like listening real closely in a deep green forest and hearing the plants
breathing and the trees growing and the little animals moving their eyes around
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