"The weekly meeting of the PeaceKids Club is now called to order!" Ahmed typed
on his laptop. In their own homes all across the planet, the PeaceKids tapped
in the PeaceKids Club worldwide web address onto their computers, pressed ENTER,
and suddenly appeared together in Cyberspace.
After the PeaceKids had finished hugging each other, they noticed a new kid standing
next to Indira, staring at the empty void with his mouth hanging open. "Sacré
bleu!" he kept whispering as he held tightly onto Indira's hand.
"It's okay,"
Indira whispered reassuringly. The PeaceKids Club controls only let us visit Peace-Friendly
sites in Cyberspace. We're perfectly safe here."
Pierre wasn't totally convinced. But he loosened his grip on Indira's hand, just
a little. "Everyone, this is my friend, Pierre, from France," Indira said to the
group. "Pierre has something exciting to share called the Appeal of the Nobel
Laureates."
"Hi
Pierre!" the kids said together.
"Nobel
what?" Solomon asked.
"Nobel
Laureates are the people who've won Nobel Prizes!" Ming exclaimed.
"Like Desmond
Tutu!" Jamal pointed out.
"And
Mother Theresa," Erin added.
"Right,"
Pierre said. "Before Mother Theresa died, she and all of the other Peace Prize
winners signed a special appeal that us Kids can help spread around the world..."
"Wow!"
the Kids said together. They loved getting involved in important peace-activities,
and this sounded like it was a BIG one.
"We
all know how hard it can be sometimes to have 'Peace' ..." Pierre began. "There
are ALWAYS going to be conflicts..."
"CONFLICTS
HAPPEN!" Johnny sighed.
"It's
how we deal with those conflicts that matters..." Indira pointed out.
"Exactly!"
Pierre said.
"We
can fight and argue ... with neither side listening to the other," Cheyenne began.
"Or
we can really try to find a solution so that both sides can win," Michiko piped
in.
"A
win-win solution!" Juan exclaimed.
"Absolutely!"
Pierre said. "There are 'tools' that we can learn to use to be more peaceful,
so that we don't let our emotions make us say and do things that get us into trouble."
"We
can learn conflict resolution..." said Ming.
"And
peer mediation..." Ahmed added.
"And
listening, dialogue, and negotiation are important skills to learn for conflict
resolution and peer mediation..." Erin said.
"Yes!"
Pierre continued. "Education is the key to changing our world into a culture of
peace. That's why all of the Nobel Peace Prize winners signed an appeal asking
the world's leaders to dedicate the New Millennium to help educate kids with tools
for peace and nonviolence."
"The
New Millennium sure hasn't started off on the right foot, so far!" Jamal sighed.
"Yeah,
we need all the peace we can get!" all the kids agreed.
"Kids are the
future, and if we grow up knowing how to work out our problems peacefully, we'll
find peaceful ways to deal with the grown-up world, too." Pierre continued.
"And
meanwhile, the grown-ups will change while we're learning to be peaceful, too,"
Ming pointed out.
"Yes,
we'll help teach them!" Ahmed said, looking up from his laptop. As the club secretary
he was typing as fast as he could to take good notes.
"We'll all learn
together!" Cheyenne declared.
Pierre continued explaining, "So the Appeal of the Nobel Laureates joined forces
with UNESCO..."
"That's
part of the UN, right?" Michiko asked.
"Yes,
it's the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which
has its headquarters in Paris..." Erin explained.
"That's
right," Pierre said, "UNESCO ... Hey, what's happening?!" He grabbed onto Indira's
arm as the PeaceKids suddenly found they were standing in front of a big building.
"We're
at UNESCO's website," Ahmed announced as he finished tapping into his computer.
He stuck it on standby, shoved it into its case and draped the strap over his
shoulder. "Come on!" he laughed. The kids strolled together down the tree-lined
street towards the UNESCO building at 7, place de Fontenoy in Paris, France.
The PeaceKids toured the building and then sat down together at a cafe down the
street from UNESCO headquarters. "UNESCO," Pierre sighed happily, and while the
kids munched on croissants he continued the story he had begun before they had
visited the UNESCO site.
"Together
the Appeal of the Nobel Laureates and UNESCO convinced the United Nations to declare
the first decade of the 21st century as the "International Decade for a Culture
of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World..."
"That's a mouthful!"
Ming laughed.
"But
it's a great mouthful!" the Kids chimed in together.
Pierre laughed with the kids. Then he continued. "They worked hard to have the
Appeal signed by 100 million people all around the world for the year 2000. They
presented these signatures to the United Nations during a special Millennium Assembly
in September 2000..."
Pierre lifted his croissant up to his mouth, took a bite, and then almost started
choking. The cafe and the street leading to UNESCO Headquarters were starting
to fade away. His eyes widened as they suddenly found themselves sitting up in
the balcony of the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations.
A guard was leaning over the chair in front of them with a wastebasket held in
his hand. "You kids can't eat in here!" he whispered motioning for them to deposit
their food in the wastebasket. Each of the kids stuck the rest of their croissants
into their mouths and held up their empty hands innocently. The guard rolled his
eyes and checked the badges the kids had pinned to their shirts. He rolled his
eyes yet again as he walked away with the empty waste-basket.
Pierre looked down at the Badges that had somehow appeared on their shirts. "Millennium
Assembly Pass" it said.
"Wow,
we're back in the year 2000 at the Millennium Assembly!" Pierre laughed as he
jumped up from his chair. He had completely adjusted to cyber-traveling and he
was thoroughly enjoying himself now.
"Hey,
isn't that the President of the United States?!" Johnny gasped, pointing down
below.
"And
that's my Prime Minister!" Solomon exclaimed.
Each of the PeaceKids pointed out their country's leader sitting attentively below.
"Yes,
the Millennium Assembly brought the most Heads of State together in one place,
ever!" Pierre told them.
They watched as the Appeal of the Nobel Laureates was presented to the Assembly
along with bags and bags of signed pledges.
The great hall of the General Assembly started to fade and the PeaceKids found
themselves back in cyberspace again.
"Wow,
with 100 million signatures, you would think it would have shown the leaders of
the world that the PEOPLE want PEACE!" Juan exclaimed.
"Unfortunately
the world's leaders haven't listened, yet," Pierre sighed. "But millions of people
all around the world are trying in little and big ways to make this world a better
place. And young people like me are using a kid's version of the Appeal - called
the Nobel Peace Pledge - to help kids stand up and say they want a more peaceful
world."
The Kids were all eager to read the peace Pledge so they could sign it, too.
"We
can get kids to sign this for the International Day of Peace on September 21,"
Michiko exclaimed.
"And
on October 24 on United Nations Day!" Ahmed added.
"And
Earth Day!" Cheyenne pointed out.
"Oh,
and for January 1, too!" Juan chimed in. "Pierre, did you hear that the United
Nations also invited the world to celebrate a worldwide day of peace EVERY January
1?" Jamal asked. "That way the world can start each new year trying to live in
peace. Our Peace Club worked hard to help spread the idea for the very first celebration
of One Day In Peace back on January 1, 2000."
"All
of those dates are wonderful times to hold campaigns to get kids to sign the Peace
Pledge. But even more important than signing it and spreading it, is living it,"
Pierre reminded them. "Every kind thing that we do helps the world to be more
peaceful. We can find lots of little ways to put this pledge into action..."
"In
our daily lives, you mean..." Johnny said, "like how we talk and act with our
families, our friends, our classmates, and with our neighbors ..."
"And stopping
to think about how our actions affect others and the environment," Ming added.
Suddenly the PeaceKids were floating in front of a giant scroll. They swam closer
to have a better look and started to read the Peace Pledge together...
"I
pledge in my daily life, in my family, my school, my community & my country to:
1. Respect all life - I pledge to respect people that are different, and treat
people and animals with kindness and fairness.
2. Reject violence - I pledge to find peaceful ways to work out my problems without
using violent actions or words.
3. Share with others - I pledge to share my time to help out in my community to
make life better for others.
4. Listen to understand. I pledge to allow others to express their point of view;
to find win-win solutions to problems so that both sides can win; and 'agreeing
to disagree' if we can't come to an agreement.
5. Preserve the planet - I pledge to practice good environmental habits like recycling
and helping to protect the earth and its habitats.
6. Rediscover community - I pledge to do my best to help my family, friends and
community to get along.
Just as they finished reading, they heard Ahmed's laptop beeping -- the batteries
were running out.
"Zut
Alors!" Pierre sighed. "It's time to go home already?"
"But you can
join us again next Friday for the next meeting," the PeaceKids assured him.
Before they adjourned the meeting, the PeaceKids all agreed that when they got
home they would try to get their schools to sign the Nobel Peace Pledge.
"We'll
get our churches and synagogues and mosques to sign it..."
"We'll get grocery
stores and department stores to include flyers in every bag for their customers..."
"We'll
write Letters To The Editor of our newspapers urging our communities to sign the
Pledge..."
"We'll
write our Mayors and Governors and ask them to declare Proclamations urging all
citizens to participate in the Appeal of the Nobel Laureates campaign..."
We'll convince our communities to stop what they're doing each day at 12 Noon
and join in the universal wish: MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH! "
But most importantly, the PeaceKids decided to try to find one thing each day
that they could do to make their daily lives more peaceful.
Then, in the twinkling of an eye, the PeaceKids were all back in their own homes.
"Thanks
for inviting me to join your PeaceKids Club," each of the PeaceKids saw on their
computer screens as Pierre typed from his home in Paris. "It's still possible
that together we can help turn this New Millennium into the Peace On Earth Millennium
-- a new era in history in which the world works hard to bring peace on earth.
Together we are all making a difference for a better, more peaceful world, one
day at a time."
"May
Peace Prevail On Earth," each of the PeaceKids typed with a smile, and the adventure
was officially adjourned. Until the next cyber-meeting of the PeaceKids Club,
of course.
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