Today was the first day of the Rotary Peace Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
I travelled in with my host and noted that the traffic was very heavy. As she had a passenger she was able to go into the car pooling lane. This was just a free flowing drive in as the traffic in the next two lanes was crawling. I just marvelled at the fact that people drove alone when they could have a faster ride if they took another with them. My host told me that her friend had worked on carpooling for years and in the end just had to let it go as people wouldn’t do it. It is interesting to ponder why? when it benefits them. I guess change maybe the issue here, people don’t want to change or perhaps go out of their way. Could be a range of reasons.
We drove into the Convention Centre and my host parked in the makeshift carpark. We noted their was payment and commented on the fees for the conference. I noted there wasn’t a lot of people there compared to Bangkok earlier in 2012 and wondered if it was the cost of the Forum, the location of Hawaii or the level of interest in peace. My inner feeling told me the right people will be there, it is not about numbers, it is about those committed to peace.
I wandered off to find a workshop and found ‘Dream It Do It by Ashoka Youth Venture. I decided to film the speeches. This was a workshop for young people and essentially the topic was about landmines. So the kids generated ideas on how to remove landmines. I wasn’t sure what I thought of that as a topic as the focus is war, my version of peace is positive peace and inner peace. So I am not so much the cessation of violence but more positive transformation. None the less I was curious to be there and just listen. I was to find out later that a man came up with an idea for rats to sniff out landmines and was to find that the rats could also detect tuberculosis, that I found fascinating. The only reason this guy came up with the rat ideas was that rats were his passion. So for me the focus on a person’s passion and the application was to minimise others being hurt and remove the harmful landmines. So there was a good served here and it was original.
I filmed the kids speaking and was inspired by their articulation, energy and desire for change. I recognised immediately that young people want to get into it, whereas the older ones do tend to speak of the past or find inspiring words, they don’t seem to have the same energy as youth. I really love this energy and totally believe in young people as change agents and innovators. So I filmed all the kids with their inspirational ideas and felt confident they can do great things. I thought about myself as a innovator and marvelled at how hard it has been for me to get my ideas up. I have great ideas and I just am amazed I haven’t been discovered. I smile and just trust all is as it should be. That is how I can hold my candle for years, I just have to be at peace with what is. There is no other choice. You cannot force destiny. I dreamed I was teaching peace and definitely my work has grown even if classroom work hasn’t, my own personal development has. So I guess when I am ready the doors will naturally open.
After this workshop I had a look at Appreciative Inquiry which is positive thinking and seeking out associations that resonate. The facilitator talked about the importance of resonance and people coming together with similar themes. I spoke to my partner about my International SPEAK UP Award and showed her the pictures of myself as a World Peace Clown. Turns out she was in education in Uganda and had been for years teaching English. The theory was that all the tribes spoke different languages, but by teaching English it would form a bridge of peace and they could talk together. I liked the idea, it was wise. Moreover, they could start businesses and speak in the business language, which is English. My new friend was a film producer and I felt maybe she might like to film me and others as clowns as I have a few ideas for a campaign.
Appreciative Inquiry is defined by Wikipedia as follows:
Appreciative Inquiry (sometimes shortened to “AI”) is primarily an organizational development method which focuses on increasing what an organization does well rather than on eliminating what it does badly. Through an inquiry which appreciates the positive and engages all levels of an organization (and often its customers and suppliers) it seeks to renew, develop and build on this. Its proponents view it as being applicable to organizations facing rapid change or growth.[1] Stowell and West (1991) have been credited with the development of the “Appreciative Inquiry Method” (AIM). The Appreciative Inquiry method was proposed in the 1990s and arose out of the lessons learnt from research undertaken into the methods of knowledge elicitation (West,1991). AIM was developed over the years and examples can be seen in Stowell and West (1990) as part of the process of knowledge elicitation and in gathering of expertise in (West, 1992; West and Thomas, 2005; West and Braganca, 2011); as a means of gaining understanding of complex decision making in Smith’s (2001) work in mental health; and in understanding management problems Stowell (2001-2009)in a number of systems workshops within the Systems Practice for Managing Complexity network (http://northumbria.ac.uk/spmc)
The last workshop I went to was Practices for Cultivating Peaceful Communication in Schools. This was a group of teachers promoting philosophy in school and how this spread from one teacher to around 40 teachers desiring to be facilitators. They explained the Dalai Lama came to their school and the kids asked some profound questions which got him thinking. Kids are fresh and refreshing. The group of teachers had a session whereby each person introduced their name and what they liked about it and if they had any obstacles in peace education. We had a large group and people held the ball of wool and wound it around a cardboard tube. They spoke of their name and revealed more about themselves. It was really lovely. Unfortunately there was not enough time for everyone to speak. The group was really large for this exercise, but it was positive. They had a thumbs up/down to evaluate the session. It was encouraging for me to hear more about peace education.
The last session of the day was the plenary and we were treated with Hawaiian dancers and singers. I really love their culture and feel interested to learn more about Polynesia. They spoke of love and family. I saw that as central to peace. I felt some tears in my eyes actually when this was mentioned. Other speakers were on the stage and some spoke of the importance of peace as the war on ignorance, the war on poverty. I can no longer see that as I feel the moment you go into a negative ‘war’ you create against and this blocks manifestation. Appreciative Inquiry would encourage going for the positive what you do want. It seems our conditioning with war is deep. Others spoke of heroism in respect of service above self and the sacrifice to save others, a famous Hawaiian’s story was told well and it gave myself deeper insight into this canoe culture and their brilliance and navigation. I could see they were cousins of the Maori, it was so clear. Yet Hawaii was many many thousand kilometers from New Zealand. Another speaker spoke of a dream to travel the world with a canoe to learn from the people’s of the world and to travel the oceans to promote care for the oceans. They would take many years to sail around the world and then travel back to Hawaii. It was a brave mission but it appeared they did their research in respect of winds, storms, seasons and overall sailing conditions. These days there is satellite data whereas 200 years ago you can imagine they navigated by the stars and were incredibly brave.
for myself it is always good to hear of peace in all its forms. I feel I am at home. At the same time I felt I should be up on the stage given my whole life has been dedicated to peace but at the same time perhaps it is better to just celebrate others and be at peace. in some ways I don’t mind, I am privileged to just be in Hawaii through a generous donation. I guess everything keeps building and really selfless service keeps you in a spirit of openness, flow and humility. So in many respects I don’t care, if this work is meant to happen something will. I dreamed I was teaching peace and I just smile in my heart.
I saw an old Rotary peace scholar classmate who was at Chulalongkorn University, it was so nice to see him and catch up. He told me and others that I had a debate with a muslim and apparently everyone thought he had won the debate, I was told I said something in the end that just was profound. I don’t remember a thing, but smiled at him knowing I must be feisty, which I am. I don’t mean to be I just say what I think and yes some people don’t like it, but it is my nature to just speak my truth. I try to be polite, I am never rude, but I can challenge. It is a funny situation on the one hand I am a clown and I do laugh a lot at myself and life. On the other hand I can be articulate and speak my mind perhaps causing conflict unintentionally as I step over the boundary of norms. Hence the jester in me coming out I guess. I have to smile at the juxtaposition. The only thing I can say is that my intention is good. I come from a very good place and I do genuinely love people. So it was nice to meet this old friend and I felt within that I have changed since he saw me. I did invite him clowning and will take a spare clown suit and see if there are any takers.
I’ve met some wonderful Rotarians, particularly women. I am open to whomever I meet but simply ask in my heart to meet with the right people. So will see what transpires. Should be fun.
So tomorrow another great day, we have Aung Sun Suu Kyi speaking. I have followed her for years as incredibly brave and committed to her people. So for me that will be a highlight.
Peace through service is the theme of Rotary. Imagine if everyone did it. Imagine if they regarded service above self as their own personal theme how much we would accomplish. I encourage everyone to make peace a reality, but first start in your own life. It will require self reflection, deeply listening, being prepared to speak the truth to self and others and to deal with the past with courage. We are at a point now of clearing the past of its weeds and resentments, it is time to clear this and step into our dreams. We are powerful when we are clear, just focus on what you truly want, believe you can have it and go for it. Turn off the television, get rid of distractions designed to keep you playing games or busy so you don’t think. Push it all aside and decide who you wish to become.
I can see your light from here. Go for it, live your dreams and serve our beautiful world before it disappears.
You are the one who decides the future, if not you, then who?