The Second Vice International President of Lions Clubs International, Dr. Patti Hill, started a great initiative: Global Conversation About Peace. With this initiative, members of Lions and Leo Clubs are encouraged to take action for peace, to organise service activities with a focus on peace, to create an awareness, to create a unifies energy and consciousness of peace.
t a time when we are talking about Syria and Afghanistan, not only in home country Turkey due to the immense number of refugees from these two countries, but all around the World, it is impossible not feel the energy of fear. There is such a big need for peace and understanding in our lives.
On the other hand, nature had its cries for help. Forest fires stormed Turkey, Greece, Italy and many other countries in Europe and again around the World this summer, creating great pain. Forests lost, wild life lost, people losing their homes as well as their livelihood, their farm lands and farm animals. We witnessed the helplessness as well as the unified efforts of citizens and volunteers.
As the World gets globally connected, we are becoming more and more aware of the pain and suffering in different parts of the World. We are becoming more aware of the restlessness, the lack of serenity and peace in our minds, in our hearts and in our physical world.
Over the centuries, great leaders have always called out for peace. The founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, although a soldier, always talked about the importance of peace. He is known for his famous saying: Peace at Home, peace in the World. Lions Clubs International, the largest and probably the best service organisation in the World, for more than a century, has focused on creating a climate of understanding between nations and in the World.
Being able to serve those in the need without expecting anything in return requires an energy of peace. Being able to selflessly work to help others requires one to be in harmony and peace with oneself, to respect people, nature, our World.
A lot can be said about peace. There is a need for peace in almost all aspects of life. Working to support peace is an immense task. The influx of negativity is tough to shake off and it is equally tough to look at this seemingly insurmountable mountain and take the first step. However, that first step and the steps that can follow are exactly what need to be done. One step at a time. And those steps, if they can be taken together with like minded people, bring us the hope that we need to remember, the hope that we need to believe in the inherent goodness in people and that peace is possible.
Lions’, Vice President Dr. Patti Hill’s “Global Conversation About Peace” is an ongoing conversation about taking action for a more positively rooted consciousness of peace. It is a call to look at where that energy of peace is needed, to identify what action can be taken and to start wherever and how ever we can.
Attending of the online session of Global Conversation About Peace, I remembered the many projects that we as Lions Clubs' members actually did over the years to support peace and understanding in our communities and in our lives. During the breakout room discussion of that session, I shared shortly some of the projects that we did, for example to create awareness for some of the issues that the mentally disabled children and their families experience, to address the hidden violence in our use of language - the need for peace in the way we speak and communicate, and also to protect nature as an action of peace, as a way to show our respect to life.
In my mind and heart, peace is a reflection and an expression of respect. When I do not know where to start to support peace, I start by showing love, compassion and respect to people, living things and nature around me. I start by treating everything around me, animate or inanimate, as living, as beings that will be able to feel the “touch” of my actions, feelings and thoughts. That approach changes me and shifts what I am able to do. And that sometimes means starting small.
When the needs that we see are huge, we start to believe that we need to come and do big projects and take big actions. Of course, if you are able to, surely do go ahead. We all have initiated and have taken part in big and influential projects. However, if that unique creative idea is not coming yet, or if the organisation and means are not coming together, please do not wait in order to support that energy of love, care and compassion, the respect to preserve and to enhance life, to support peace.
Among the many things that I have done and plan to do, for this September 21 International Day of Peace, as an act of peace, I chose to show my care and appreciation for nature by doing personal daily cleanups.
For me, that means taking a short walk to the beach with a glove and a trash bag and spending 20 minutes every morning to collect what the sea has brought to the beach during the night and also picking up that broken piece of glass or the blue plastic bottle cap among the pebbles. At times, even though that voice within that whispers, “why do I have to do it” still can be heard, the feeling of leaving a place a little better that I have found brings that energy of peace first of all to me, and it probably resonates from me to my day that I share with others. And those ripples are what taking an action for peace is all about.
So, I would like to call you to take an action for this September 21st, International Day of Peace. Whether you are a member of a Lions/Leo Club or not, let’s join forces to step up once again, to take action, even if we may have been disheartened many times before. Ripples do reach many distant shores. And maybe, when our ripples unite and gain strength from each other’s hearts, the energy of peace that is always present in us, though sometimes hidden, discouraged and forgotten, will awaken in so many more.
With love and gratitude,
Lion Zeynep Kocasinan
Member, Istanbul Ulus Lions Club, D118T, MD118 Turkey
Past District Governor, 2018-2019, D118R, MD118 Turkey
Lions Global Action Team Area Leader for CAIV Europe
P.S.
If you would like more information on ideas and how to join, please check out the information below.
www.lionsvirtual.org
Facebook: “Lions Virtual” https://facebook.com/LionsVirtual
lionsvirtualuniverse@gmail.com
