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Why Mitch Gold? It is time here on earth to hear the pleas of the world and recognize that underfoot is a movement. Whether this movement exists within the educational structures or as an independent non formal movement is ours to consider. This is akin to the civil rights movement. It is a call and they will come. They only ask that there be a linking mechanism so their voice be one voice of the many different shades. Spirituality is no longer an estranged word. Spirituality no longer represents religion. It stands alone as a word that reaches into the hearts of the young. It is the word that offers hope and opportunity to go beyond status quo. The young people know and do not resist as we do. They have the willingness to step into the age of peace through the door of spirituality. Having spent many years resolving and facing issues for the sake of the young and their personal futures, I see the doorway to this next movement. As an educator, for me it started with learning and sharing about self-esteem development and then moved towards personal empowerment skills. It was the early days of recognizing the role of young people as criteria for building a better future. This growth led me to know global education as a form to further the esteem of one person could allow that person to begin to experience another. In this mutuality, one could walk in another person's so called shoes. Multi-cultural experiences were one more way to know the world and create a sense of mutuality and equity for all. This led educators such as myself to the United Nations' document on Children Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The right to have a participatory voice at their own political future-- for young people to know that they are the future and in this future they must be able to participate. It was the time of giving voice to show the world that as young people they could and would partake in developing outcomes for their lives and the lives of others. Thus the need for peace education began to emerge. It did not mean peace versus war but rather peace as a state of being. Peace education slowly became the buzz word for young activists to gather and network and appear on the scene. Now it is time for spiritual peace building. This is the ultimate state of inner understanding of who we are and where we are going and how we must live as a global society that wants peace, respect, understanding, justice, and survival on earth. As educators we stand at a cross roads and are given an opportunity to remember our true vocational charge and that this is a calling to build a better society through holding the gates of modernity at a bay and bringing forth the voice of inner reason. True stability is the ability to know, to do and to act based on Spiritual Law. The Law is that which is perceived internally and is what is conducted externally. The Law is Love. Love saves the All. Interdependence, harmony and justice create environmental stability within each person and for the world at large. The young people of the world are becoming linked and networked and they want personal meaning and the survival of the earth. Already young people consist of over 25% of our world's population. We are the educators bringing in the potential for building a new culture. Build this better world-- build a Culture of Peace. Promoting peace is an honor and a privilege.
as is running for Mayor!! Written by friend of Mitch Gold, Nina Meyerhof, Ph. of Children of the Earth. (http://www.children-of-the-earth.org/dir.htm)
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