My Goals for peace

This will be a short entry....
For my short term goal:
The goal is to finish school so I can start teaching and opening children’s lives and minds for the better.

For the long term goal:
The goal is continue to leave my life in peace and to help those that are in need of help. That job will never end, so there are many adventures to be had.

Inner Peace

For me inner peace has been a long time coming. Because I have had a troubled past, for many years it was hard for me to control my anger. This became a bigger problem as I got older. One day I just had enough of the anger that cruised through my veins, and I finally decided that it done.

Since then I have dealt heavily into meditation. I was trying to be able to control and lessen my anger. Fortunately, it has worked wonderfully. I no longer have short fuse and can control what anger I do have. Since now I was able to be in peace with myself I was ready to bring peace to others. At community college I meet a great teacher by the name of Allah Salama, he teaches philosophy. From him I learned to rhetoric and was able to express my thought without involving emotions.

I have begun a new life recently where I am free of prejudice to others and to myself. I have found my inner peace. I am now the happiest I have ever been in my entire life and that means a lot when your happiest moments are in college, where the most stress is. I know that my quest for complete inner peace is not complete. But at least now I am certain that whatever the world throws at me I can face it and survive it.

That is my definition for inner peace- No matter what is thrown at me I and those around me will come with our heads held high.  I know it’s not the end but it will be a fun ride.  I hope that others around the world will one day find their own inner peace, whatever it maybe.

Where in the world is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

If someone told you to find Iran on a map could you actually find it?  The amount of knowledge some Americans have about our political dealings in the Middle East could probably fill up a small soap dish.  This is the kind of disinterested attitude towards global politics that makes for a bad game.

Even though the country is in a recession, the United States spends an insurmountable amount of money in its wars.  According to the Washington Post the 2010 estimation is at 3 trillion dollars.  That is more than even the Monopoly guy has in his own bank.  The normal citizen is struggling to survive and yet it was the normal citizen that enthusiastically allowed the funding for these conflicts.

Polls have showed that an immense amount of people cannot identify countries where the U.S is currently involved.  This is a bad strategy for Risk, who could ever win?

 Even late night television has picked up on the common person’s inability to identify countries and their leaders.  Yes, the answers given can be hilarious but it also shows ineptitude of the commonwealth.

The game of life has been turn upside down.  Budgets have been slashed throughout the board.  The education system has been dealt a big blow.  $800 million is the total budget cut for Texas according to the National Conference of State Legislature.  How are teachers supposed to teach when they don’t have jobs?  It seems that this situation creates a vicious cycle.       

This is literally a deadly game of ring around the rosy.  First children are not instilled with a sense of political awareness by teachers that are not there.  When these uneducated children grow up, they either do not vote at all or have very little understanding of candidate issues.  When inadequate politicians are voted in and problems happen the one that ends up paying is the uneducated voter.

 

The unending cycle will ultimately affect peace in a great way.  The saying goes as “knowledge is power”.  Knowledge seems to be the key to winning the game.  If people could only get interested in researching politics they would truly understand what they can do.

Now if knowledgeable people were the norm then a bridge towards peace could be easily built.  A set of Lego’s would be harder to set up than peace.  The answer seems to be like child’s play. 

People need to have an understanding of global politics.  Peace even though it is extremely complicated can be easy to initiate.  Just like any board game it all begins with knowing the rules of the game.  That’s how you win the game of peace. 

The question to you then is.  Can you find on a map the country where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lives?

Audience: National

Free Write: Stand Up!

This video is good to watch as a conversation starter.  It is topical and it gets down to the point.  The bullying of homosexuals and others has become a hot topic in the last year or so.  The suicide rate of bullied people in the last couple of years has increased.  It is sad to see such disregard to a fellow human being.  We are all the same in every way possible.  We all have the same ability to reason and communicate it.  We are supposed to be a dominating species on this world, but we have some much distrust and anger towards each other.  How are we to survive as a people when we cannot even deal with each other?  Is this going to be the setting stone of our demise, the first step to our destruction?  I am shocked to see how we treat each other.  This world should be one of tolerance and acceptance.  Only when we can achieve this can we be in peace with each other and especially with oneself.

Tunisia and my thoughts

Tunisia is a country located east of Libya.  It has many rulers and many different empires rule it.  Most notably Tunisia was ruled by Carthage and Rome.  In the Roman Empire was only able to exist as a dominating entity because most of the agricultural surplus came from Tunisia.  Later in history France colonized and incorporated Tunisia into French dominance.  After revolting against France, Tunisia was liberated from French rule.  From 1987 to 2011 Tunisia had been ruled by authoritarian rule by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.  As the youth came to be a loud voice against the ideas of the president they started demonstrations against him.  To suppress these actions the president made crack downs on those that oppressed him.  The breaking point came in 2010 when a street vendor was forced to close his vegetable stand.  This was his only source of income and to protest the president he set himself on fire.  He later died from his injuries.  After this the youth joined together and made massive non-violent demonstrations that were geared to overthrow the president and his regime.  After two week of demonstrations the president left and the country is now in a transition to a more democratic national status.

I believe that Tunisia is a cross roads and it is a good one.  It just shows that when people are feed up and are with dissolution, no government is powerful enough to stop the masses.  I am happy that the people of Tunisia got what they wanted, maybe now they can truly be happy with their lives.  Hopefully this is not the end of Tunisian reform but only the beginning for them.  

Peace website memo

February 14, 2011

To: 1311 Students

From: Oscar Navarro

The problem of violence is ever growing throughout the world.  People around the world seem to have increased the use of their violent language throughout the years.  Many organizations have been created to deal with certain, if not all, parts of this vicious problem.  A global epidemic has ensued needing the help of certain individuals to help implicate a sense of peace once more. One organization that deals with this problem is The Center of Nonviolent Communication.

The creator of the CNVC is Marshall B. Rosenberg.  He is a clinical psychologist from New York.  The Center for Nonviolent Communication is run both locally and globally.  The organization has programs designed to teach nonviolent communication (NVC) throughout the world.  Classes are held year round.  Another form that CNVC helps is running worldwide projects.  One example of this world wide project is international intensive training.  International intensive training is specialized instruction for peoples around the world so that the message of peace and nonviolent communication can be taught all over the world.

Training from CNVC is done to create an “extraordinary quality of life”, according to Anthony Robins, author of Awaken the Giant within and Unlimited Power.  Both of these books are used by CNVC to help with its teachings.  Spirituality in CNVC is thought as a form of communication between the “Beloved Devine Energy” (God) and oneself.  One of the messages that Dr. Rosenberg involves with the Beloved Devine Energy is of love.  Love for all of humanity.

The vision of the Center Nonviolent Center is to create a passive atmosphere that promotes peace, justice, and education.  CNVC provides many methods to learn nonviolent communication.  The website has different materials for sale.  There are various books written by Dr. Rosenberg, including Nonviolent Communication: A language of life, which is the basis of the CNVC core.  They also carry a number audio and video recording to help along with NVC training.  One example of the recording is that of Dr. Rosenberg’s keynote address to the United Church of Religious Science in 2005.

The Center for Nonviolence Communication has its headquarters located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  They have a variety of ways to communicate with interested individuals.  From fax to toll free telephone number and even free Skype calling.  The CNVC also has a website with plenty of information and contact information. Thee website address is www.cnvc.org

The Center of Nonviolent Communication was created to help all of humanity achieve a better life by passive communication.  Dr. Rosenberg and the CNVC help to resolve problems and issues involving the world and how to change the perception of violence and communication.  The center uses the notions of western and eastern religions to incorporate God into the NVC training.  Scheduling is readily available throughout the United States and around the world.  One should call in advance to book NVC training and after completing it can advance to either group or community teaching.  The Center for Nonviolent Communication is a great opportunity to advance and better oneself.  

Believe in Peace

The view provided from the video by the institute is one of optimism.  The work done by Greg Mortenson is important in more ways than even the videos shows.  Education is an important part of creating a more self-sustaining economy which results in a more stable country.  The video mentions the idea of war against terror and how it is an inaccurate idea.  I agree with this because it is not the force of one nation over another that changes terrorist ideology.  What will change this view is a population that is more educated and can have the will power to change their existence in the world.  The video touches on the importance of teaching woman and how it betters the community.  That is very true and even more so because any great change in a society is produced by an impact to its economy.  This dates back to the people of Mesopotamia thousands of years ago to industrial revolution in the United States.  It is a good thing that Greg has taken an avid interest in this community, one day the results will be that this community will flourish and be able to forward itself in a more globalized world.  The end result will be that this region will enjoy prosperity unlike it has ever known.