Great Things Come in Threes

Great things come in threes…

Like the great tasting Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Yum! Yum!


Like the Peacebus rules.

And the following three interesting photos…


Explanation: What's that below the Milky Way? Historic kilns. Built in the 1870s in rural Nevada, USA to process local wood into charcoal, the kilns were soon abandoned due to a town fire and flooding, but remain in good condition even today. The above panorama is a digital conglomerate of five separate images taken in early June from the same location. Visible above the unusual kilns is a colorful star field, highlighted by the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy appearing along a diagonal toward the lower right. Many famous sites in our Galaxy are visible, including the Pipe Nebula and the Dark River to Antares, seen to the right of the Milky Way. The origin of the green mist on the lower left, however, is currently unexplained.


Explanation: The scene might have been considered serene if it weren't for the tornado. During 2004 in Kansas, storm chaser Eric Nguyen photographed this budding twister in a different light -- the light of a rainbow. Pictured above, a white tornado cloud descends from a dark storm cloud. The Sun, peeking through a clear patch of sky to the left, illuminates some buildings in the foreground. Sunlight reflects off raindrops to form a rainbow. By coincidence, the tornado appears to end right over the rainbow. Streaks in the image are hail being swept about by the high swirling winds. Over 1,000 tornadoes, the most violent type of storm known, occur on Earth every year, many in tornado alley. If you see a tornado while driving, do not try to outrun it -- park your car safely, go to a storm cellar, or crouch under steps in a basement.


Explanation: What is that on the horizon? No, it's not an alien starship battling distant Earthlings, but rather a sun pillar. When driving across Ontario, Canada in early June 2011, the photographer was surprised to encounter such an "eerie and beautiful" vista, and immediately took pictures. When the atmosphere is cold, ice sometimes forms flat six-sided crystals as it falls from high-level clouds. Air resistance then causes these crystals to lie nearly flat much of the time as they flutter to the ground. If viewed toward a rising or setting Sun, these flat crystals will reflect sunlight and create an unusual column of light -- a sun pillar as seen above.

I just love all the amazing wonders that exist on our incredible planet!!!!

These photos and their stories were taken from a NASA website. This site showcases a different interesting photo every day. I like to peruse their archives to see all that they have to show - http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html . Please enjoy!

So! I’ve filled you with inspiration to realize that our Earth is a magical place. But my job is not yet finished, for today. Before I end this blog, I feel I need to share with you a concern of great importance….


Yes – our world is full of wonder! But – we humans have created many, many problems that could destroy this world for future generations!

Yes – our world will never die! But – do we really want to create a situation that will cause the Earth to have to heal itself for other life forms, knowing that this healing process could take a few million years?

The future depends on what we do now! Let’s all do our part to raise awareness and instigate positive actions that will lead us to our glorious future!

Jim

God’s Glue

About fifteen years ago, I was gathering and organizing my thoughts to understand why our world is in such a dilapidated state of environmental care, so that I could best choose my path forward in such a way that my actions would help to create a better world for future generations.

I started defining words like karma and destiny. Somehow or other I came across the word ‘providence’ and I included it in an essay I was writing. I wrote, “When a person has made a decision to act as an inspiration or true steward for the Earth, providence will move!” This is similar to the philosophy of ‘Positive Attraction’. If one is dedicated to positive action then positive results will prevail. Providence is – according to my dictionary – ‘God’s protective care’, and with providence one will achieve positive results.

Over time, I’ve come to notice that providence seems to thread its existence through synchronistic occurrences. Synchronicities may be involved in karmic activities that will aid in one’s pursuits to flow through life as one embraces destiny, but sometimes synchronicities just happen – with no apparent affect on a soul other than simple appreciation for this phenomenon.

Today’s story revolves around this idea…


This is one of the Red Currant bushes that I planted in my berry patch, last spring. You can tell that this photo was also taken in the spring cuz the ground is littered with freshly fallen Maple tree keys. You’d be correct in thinking that this is not a very big deal – it’s just a berry bush, but let’s take a closer look…


Hmmmmm… what’s this? I can see one or two Maple keys stuck to one of the Red Currant bush’s leaves. Interesting! Let’s take a closer look…


Oh! In fact there are three Maple keys somehow hanging on to one of the berry bush’s leaves. Unbelievable… but true!


It’s really hard to see this clearly in a two-dimensional photo, so I took a few pics from different angles. While I was moving around the bush, snapping these photos, my mind wandered around – wherever it tends to wander – searching for an explanation.


In slow motion, my mind played back for me a possible scenario that could have happened to create this natural phenomenon. It was a very rainy Spring, here in London, Ontario and so the Red Currant leaf and the three Maple keys – along with everything else in my garden – was covered in tiny beads of moisture. The wind might have been blowing a slight breeze through the air at the time when these three individual Maple keys had fallen off the tree to begin their swirling decent to the ground. In my mind I could picture these three keys swirling about as they descended, drawing ever closer to each other and to the very small leaf on the berry bush. Then, in one flash of an instance all three keys magically touched – each other and the leaf on the bush! Synchronicity!!!

Had there been no breeze – these three keys would have never met. Had there been a stronger breeze – these three keys would have never met. Had it been a wetter day, the keys may have had too much moisture on them and again, they would not have met. Had it been a drier Spring, then there would have been no moisture and these keys would not have been able to stick together. See the magic, now?!

Thousands of different variables came into action throughout the brief history of this event and had one single variable been just slightly different then this phenomenon would not have happened.

While I marveled at this, a song started playing in my head and I could hear Bono singing, “Stuck together with God’s glue”. I smiled as I appreciated this most excellent tune drifting through my mind as I appreciated this most synchronistic Earthly phenomenon!!!

Nature is continuously swirling around us and if we had a way of identifying the millions of synchronistic Earthly phenomena that are continuously occurring I’m sure that we would be awestruck with lack of definition. I think that this is a good thing!!! Nature should always delight us with fascination. Nature should always thrill our investigative minds. Nature should be honoured for its fierceness and gentleness…

… but it sure is hard to do these things while we surround ourselves in technologies that have become blasé. So, get off that couch, put down that remote and go for a walk in a park full of grasses, bushes and trees and you, too, may witness a most synchronistic Earthly phenomenon that was created just for you.

Jim

PS – For your enjoyment, I have included a link to the U2 song mentioned above, as well as a Beatles classic that elaborates on the subject matter of this short story…

U2 – Staring At The Sun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3jzvVPWy2I

The Beatles – Within You and Without You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4G2RlBKbrM

Here’s a little treat for my newest readers, who don’t know that I have a few (5) Youtube videos of my very own….

Jim Kogelheide – The Bricks of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVcQiXq9qhI

ENJOY!!!!

Earth Hour 2011

Don’t ya just think it is the most ridiculous thing when you watch people being interviewed on the news saying, “I don’t see the importance of Earth Hour cuz really the amount of energy saved during that hour is so small it’s insignificant.”


Earth Hour is not designed to ‘save’ energy and ‘save’ the environment. It is not a solution to the fact that our global civilization consumes and wastes enormous amounts of energy every day. It will not stop the production of another eleven nuclear reactors this year.


Earth Hour is a growing movement of concerned human beings who are simply stating, “We know that our want for energy is grossly extravagant and environmentally unsound and although we may not have the solutions to these problems right now, we are uniting to inspire each other to begin a process of change!” Well… maybe that statement is a bit more profound than simple, now that I think about it.


Earth Hour is a pioneering philosophy that is changing the future for mankind… and I was a small part of it! And so were over one billion people from 134 countries. And so were 90% of the students who ride The Peacebus!!!


A week before Earth Hour was to take place, I asked the students of The Peacebus if they would like to create some artwork for the bus, inspired by this event. Many said they would… and they did!!!


I was so amazed with all of the designs that were created that I went to visit the principal for one of the schools to show and share these artworks. He was very impressed with his students’ dedication to this art! He scanned the images and may very well use these artworks to create posters for the school for next year’s event.


When the students boarded The Peacebus, after the event, I asked them what kinds of things they did during that hour. Many of the students told me that they played board games, like Monopoly and Scrabble, with their parents, surrounded by candlelight. Some went outside to play soccer or ball toss with their neighbourhood friends. Some students simply lit candles and spent the hour talking with their parents.


One group of students told me that a few of them got together and danced while another friend played an acoustic guitar. I thought that this was great cuz that’s what Joanne and I did for our hour – minus the dancing. Jo’ lit some candles and we spent the first while enjoying a bit of quiet that was quickly broken as our pets wanted us to play… so we did. After twenty minutes I picked up my guitar and quietly played for another hour or so.


I had pulled up to one of the bus stops and a mom was waiting to pick up her daughter who is in JK – Junior Kindergarten. She came up to me and told me that she thought my idea for creating Earth Hour art for the bus was great! She told me how my idea helped to inspire her idea. She told me that she and her daughter had dug a small hole in their back flower garden and that they had put a balled up piece of paper, a not used diaper and some apple cores in the hole and buried it. She said that in two months they will dig everything up to see what is composting and what is not.

I think that it is amazingly great that so many parents involved themselves in all of these activities, uniting families and friends towards a common goal… understanding our place within the natural world!!!


While I was preparing this blog story, I did a little ‘googling’ to see what had happened in the rest of Canada. I found this enjoyable video on youtube that really helps to put this event into a global perspective – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMwArLkF0oU


I also came across several reports that both delighted and upset me a little. I really didn’t enjoy reading that some think Earth Hour is a dying fad that never became a fad. I really enjoyed reports that stated that one of Canada’s provinces – New Brunswick – had the most successful Earth Hour to date.

Here’s what else I learned about Canada’s participation in Earth Hour 2011…

New Brunswick
It was New Brunswick's most successful Earth Hour to date, according to NB Power. Electricity consumption decreased by 24 megawatts, which is the equivalent to seeing 480,000 lights turned off in the province.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Power claims the province saved 18 megawatts of power.
Prince Edward Island
P.E.I.'s numbers were less impressive than last year's. Only about 2,200 islanders participated, in stark contrast to the 21,000 who took part in 2009.
Ontario
Is it fair to blame the cold? Below-seasonal temperatures in Toronto are the excuse for a four per cent drop in energy consumption as compared to six per cent last year.
Manitoba
Note to Earth Hour organizers: Promote the event in Manitoba next year. Not only did Manitoba Hydro not track participation; most Manitobans surveyed had little idea as to what Earth Hour was.
Saskatchewan
A two per cent drop in Saskatoon points to more substantial participation than in previous years.
Alberta
Despite the energy-saving competition between Calgary and Edmonton, the minor blip in energy reduction in Calgary is barely countable. In Edmonton, power consumption actually increased.
British Columbia
B.C. saw 117 megawatts of power saved over the course of one hour. That's a 1.04 per cent drop in the province's electricity load, and less of a dent made in both 2009 and 2008.


“Making positive change for future generations,” is a statement that has evolved into an explosive amount of action over the last few years, as more and more people are becoming aware that the actions needed to create our future need to be voluntary. Many of the minor shifts in governmental policy, marginal adjustments to ongoing programs and moderate improvements in laws and regulations are all forms of appeasement, designed to satisfy the publics desire to believe that sacrifice, struggle and a wrenching transformation of our societies will not be necessary.


The participants in Earth Hour 2011 have come to these realizations and by committing ourselves and our spirit to positive inspirations such as this we will influence others to realize that we are our only allies in the ‘war’ against pollution and greed as we struggle to evolve to a more peaceful stage of human existence.

Jim

Soon… soon…

So… it’s taking me a little longer – no surprise – to prepare my photos and stories about our Riviera Maya experience. But, I’ll show you my very first efforts…

… so you’ll know that I am putting a lot of thought into the images that I want to share with you. Ha!

So… (again)… for today’s blog I thought that you’d enjoy some images created by some other planetary folk. Though some of these images were captured by satellites, a human hand was in touch with it’s mechanics and controls to capture these universal happenings. All of these images and their explanations came from a NASA website that I have a link to at the very bottom of my www.bitsandpeaces.com website’s homepage entitled “My Home”

Explanation: Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar apparition has a surprisingly familiar shape. Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply as The Bubble Nebula. Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Above and right of the Bubble's center is a hot, O-type star, several hundred thousand times more luminous and approximately 45 times more massive than the Sun. A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from that star has blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud. The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia.

Explanation: Sometimes, it's fun to share the sky. Although it might appear that the two sky enthusiasts on the ridge are sharing only a crescent moon between them, three bright planets also stand behind them. The brightest point in the sky is the planet Venus, while reddish Mars floats above it, and Saturn shines off to its right. In the foreground are picturesque clumps of sand of the beach at Costa da Caparica, before the reflecting waters of the Atlantic Ocean. August 18, 2010

Explanation: Don't panic, the Sun has not gone wild. But this wild-looking portrait of the nearest star to planet Earth was made on March 30th, 2010 by the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Shown in false-color, the composite view covers extreme ultraviolet wavelengths and traces hot plasma at temperatures approaching 1 million kelvins. At full resolution, SDO image data is intended to explore solar activity in unprecedented detail. In fact, SDO will send 1.5 terabytes of data back each day, equivalent to a daily download of about half a million MP3 songs. New SDO data releases include a high-resolution movie of the large, eruptive prominence seen along the solar limb at the upper left.

Explanation: Why did the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland create so much ash? Although the large ash plume was not unparalleled in its abundance, its location was particularly noticeable because it drifted across such well populated areas. The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland began erupting on March 20, with a second eruption starting under the center of a small glacier on April 14, 2010. Neither eruption was unusually powerful. The second eruption, however, melted a large amount of glacial ice which then cooled and fragmented lava into gritty glass particles that were carried up with the rising volcanic plume. Pictured above, lightning bolts illuminate ash pouring out of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

Explanation: Inside the head of this interstellar monster is a star that is slowly destroying it. The monster, on the right, is actually an inanimate pillar of gas and dust that measures over a light year in length. The star, not itself visible through the opaque dust, is bursting out partly by ejecting energetic beams of particles. Similar epic battles are being waged all over the star-forming Carina Nebula. The stars will win in the end, destroying their pillars of creation over the next 100,000 years, and resulting in a new open cluster of stars. The pink dots around the image are newly formed stars that have already been freed from their birth monster. The above image was released last week in commemoration of the Hubble Space Telescopes 20th year of operation. The technical name for the stellar jets are Herbig-Haro objects. How a star creates Herbig-Haro jets is an ongoing topic of research, but it likely involves an accretion disk swirling around a central star. A second impressive Herbig-Haro jet occurs diagonally near the image center.

Explanation: These are towers and walls of sedimentary rock that are particularly plentiful in Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA. The rock columns may rise higher than 50 meters and are called hoodoos. On the far left is Thor's Hammer, perhaps the most famous hoodoo. The tall rock columns were carved, most typically, when a unusually dense cap of rock provided a layer of protection to rock underneath from rain-based erosion. Visible in the background (a few kilometers in the far distance) are a few water clouds. Far in the distance lie billions of stars that are thousands of light years away and compose the faintly glowing arch that is the visible central band of the flat disk of our Milky Way. Over many years, wind and rain will eventually cause the tops of the hoodoos to topple, whereafter the underlying column will likely completely erode away.

Explanation: Venus, being commonly discernible as one of the brightest objects in the sky, is frequently mistaken for an airplane. (Venus will set quite slowly, though.) Mercury, however, is dimmer and usually harder to find. During February 2010 though, Mercury was found just to the right of Venus, appearing increasingly below the brighter planet. Pictured above, Venus and Mercury were imaged next to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. A careful inspection of the image will further reveal that the bright object nearly below Venus is iconic Eiffel Tower.

There’s just so much to marvel at when ya think about it!?

Jim

Greetings To All Of Our New Neighbours!!!!!!!

Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I (and family of crazy pets) moved into beautiful Byron! We are all Nature lovers, so finding a home surrounded by London’s largest park and the Thames River and being so close to recreational facilities like Boler Mountain and the Byron Optimist Park is a true delight for us!!!

Since we have been so busy moving in and unpacking I have not yet had a chance to put my ‘No Flyers’ sticker on my mailbox. I am completely shocked with the amount of flyers that I have received, to date.


In just one week I have had enough useless flyers delivered to my door, do decorate my kitchen floor… many times over. I was amazed – after I had weighed them – to learn that I am receiving almost three (3) pounds of flyers, every single week! It would be a very conservative estimate to calculate that residents of Byron alone (not including London) receive over 10 000 pounds of flyers, every week. Yes – that’s over half a million pounds of flyers every year!

Some of the flyers are finally now being created using post consumer recycled paper (which is a good thing), but most flyers are created using virgin timbers from forestlands such as the Temagami forest – located just north of North Bay.

Since these forestlands are so desperately clinging on for their own survival, I would ask you to help this situation by posting the attached ‘No Flyer’ sticker to your mailbox.

Let’s show the future that we care with this simple and positive action!
Let’s make Byron a “Flyer Free” zone.

This information sheet has been printed on tree-free hemp paper!
All printing has been paid for by…

Jim Kogelheide
www.bitsandpeaces.com


Many people are searching for ways to help save the Earth but don’t really know what to do. Sometimes just a simple letter with a sticker attached could make significant changes in your own neighbourhood. The above is a letter I wrote, last week, and I am slowly distributing them throughout my neighbourhood.


Two days ago, I handed out about twenty of these letters and ‘No Flyers’ stickers to my neighbours as I was walking to my local market. I returned home, about one hour later and to my surprise one of my neighbours had already put his sticker on his mailbox! My goal is to get at least ten of these stickers placed onto mailboxes just on the street where I live.


As always – I also took this simple project to the next level!

I took more of these stickers with me when I went to pick up my students for their bus ride home. As we were leaving the school I asked them if they would like to help me save some trees from being chopped down. They thundered their response – YES!!!

I opened up a conversation about this topic and I was surprised when – instead of the usual activity that occurs on my bus – the students all moved to the front of the bus to listen and ask questions. I had peeked every student’s interest with this topic!


Some students asked questions and I was surprised – again – when sometimes other students would answer these questions for each other. At one point I was the one listening to them as I continued to drive in silence.

All the questions were very thoughtful and intelligent – these future world leaders are the smartest humans I’ve ever met!

A young boy in grade one asked two questions that I thought showed a great ability to understand the finest points of detail on this subject. His first question was, “Mr. Jim, aren’t you wasting trees when you print your letters and stickers?”

I first praised him for such an intelligent question. Then I asked him to visualize all flyers that my neighbours would receive if I did nothing about this issue. Then I asked him to visualize the amount of paper that I was using in an attempt to stop the creation of all of these flyers. He sat, thought, and then told me that it would be okay to chop down one tree to create my letters and stickers if the result was that hundreds and hundreds of trees would be saved.


A few minutes later he asked his second question and it made me pause and wonder at the depth of intelligence in this young mind. “Mr. Jim, haven’t the flyers already been made and the trees cut down to make them? The flyers might not get put into our mailboxes, so won’t the mailman throw out all the flyers that don’t get delivered? How is this actually saving the trees?”

I asked him – and everyone else – to visualize just one street with one hundred houses on it. I asked them to visualize all of the flyers being delivered, everyday, as they have been for the last fifty years. I asked them to visualize what would happen if suddenly just one person put a ‘No Flyers’ sticker on his mailbox. They agreed that just one sticker would not change this situation at all. I asked them to visualize what would happen if four more people also put stickers on their mailboxes. They agreed that – again – not much would change. Then I asked them to visualize what would happen if almost half of the houses had stickers on their mailboxes. They weren’t sure what to think at this point, so I helped them out with a possible answer.

I told them that the person delivering the mail would report to his boss that half of the people living on this street didn’t want to have flyers delivered anymore. His boss would then call the companies that were creating the flyers to tell them that fewer flyers were needed for this one neighbourhood and the companies would not print as many flyers – thus beginning the process of saving the trees. This made sense to the students.

They also understood that sometimes it takes a long time to see the results when doing something like this. I explained that just because it may take years and years to see positive results that we should not be discouraged into thinking that our actions are useless or a waste of time. Any time we take the initiative to raise our voice, to make a stand about something we believe in – we are never wasting our time!

I asked them to think about that one person who put the very first ‘No Flyer’ sticker on his mailbox. I said that because of this small action, the mailman became aware (or heard his voice) to realize that he doesn’t want any flyers delivered. When this person had his friends and family over to visit they might see his sticker and then they would know how this person feels about this issue. If any neighbours dropped by to visit then they would also see this one little sticker and they would know how this person feels about this issue. Maybe it was because of this one little sticker that one more of his neighbours decided to put another ‘No Flyer’ sticker on her mailbox, and so on and so on until the day when no more flyers would be delivered at all!!!!

I really start to feel a bright glow within me, during times like these. It is great to see the students so interested in understanding and finding new ways to make positive changes that will help to save the Earth. It is great to see that these students are gaining an appreciation to realize that one person, doing one small positive thing really can change the world.

Jim

Respect

It’s funny - - - The other evening I was filling my mind with thoughts that would hopefully, soon lead to another art assignment for the students who ride The Peacebus and then this idea popped into my head…


I figured that this poem would inspire others, so I’ve simply posted this image on my Facebook profile and – here – on my blog. I’ll be making some stickers from this image to hand out to the students who ride my bus, very soon! They’ll love them!!!

Sometimes the most inspiring thoughts are the ones that take the least amount of energy and effort to create.

I’m remembering a saying from one of my old high school teachers…

“KISS”

K eep
I t
S imple
Stupid

Words to live by!

Jim

World March For Peace

When I first became aware that our planet and all its inhabitants are faced with so many problems that our continued existence is threatened (Yikes! That’s a heavy statement.), I became extremely concerned and a bit full of fear. The first thought to enter my mind was, “What can I do?” Since then, I’ve found sooooooo many different ways to answer that question.

In my early years as an environmentalist, peace activist and budding artist I could only find comfort (or companionship) through others who had become icons: Neil Young, U2, The Tragically Hip, David Suzuki, Al Gore. It seemed like only the real ‘big wigs’ were speaking out and raising awareness. For many years I felt alone with my struggles to enlighten those around me.

NOW!!! You would have to try really, really hard to avoid the swelling of voices ready to take action to ensure the survival of our home… the Earth! Earthday celebrations and tree planting initiatives are becoming more and more popular every year. In the last three years millions of individuals from around the world have united to celebrate Earth Hour as we look for ways to support global ‘green’ energies.


The most recent global peace initiative to take place began on October, 02, 2009… just a few weeks ago. This date is known globally as the International Day of Nonviolence and was thus selected as the kick-off date for the World March For Peace (http://www.worldmarch.ca/)

This three month long event will see a large group of people ‘the team walkers’ walking around the world… just like the title suggests. Now – it would take over a year (or even two) to walk continuously around the globe, so I’m thinking that the march will be broken down into smaller segments in order to accomplish their goal. Beginning at the most easterly part of the world, New Zealand, the team walkers will navigate through 100 countries to reach their final destination in Argentina. Thousands of events are schedule throughout the world including marches, festivals, exhibits, concerts, forums, conferences and many other cultural and educational events.

A Facebook friend of mine, from British Columbia, thought that this would interest me… and it did. Soon, I was visiting websites and sending out emails asking for information about how Canadians are supporting this effort. Soon, after that, on October 02, I found myself in Kitchener, Ontario to participate in the kick-off event for this world tour.

Marchers were to meet at a downtown café… and I’m glad that we did – I was starving after having left straight from work without any food. A few people were busy moving tables and hanging up posters while I enjoyed a vegetarian pizza (with eggplant) cooked on homestyle pizza bread.


Soon, a small choir consisting of about ten young adults started off the evening. It had been a while since I had heard Elvis Costello’s song ‘What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XYFJUP84lE) I thought that they were really great!

Since my photos can’t lie, I won’t try to say that there were many people in attendance. In fact, there were only about three people who showed up especially for this event… including me. There were about seven organizers, the choir, another musician, the three participants and one guy who just happened to drop into the café for his dinner. This fact didn’t bother me at all. We were there and that was all that mattered!


About half an hour later our March For Peace began. Our walk was simply a symbolic effort to show support for this global action.


Our walk lasted for about fifteen minutes as we circled around a few blocks in Kitchener’s downtown core.


One of the co-ordinators told me that he was so happy that the choir had decided to join our walk or else we might have looked a little foolish with only six people walking around with a banner.

When we returned to the café, the choir entertained us with a few more songs.


Then the stage was cleared away for another musician. He played his violin and flute for us for the rest of the evening. While he continued to fill this space with delightful melodies, the rest of us created artwork for a very special quilt.


The idea, as I understood it, is that people from around the world would be creating peaceful art on small squares of fabric that would later all be joined to create on massive quilt at the end of ‘the team walkers’ journey in Argentina.


Of course, I had to participate!


We were to use bright and colourful permanent markers to create our artworks.


Just a few minutes later, my design was complete. I figured that this would be an interesting way to introduce my website (with all its links) to many other people so I signed it with ‘http://www.bitsandpeaces.com/’.


Many people from the choir also created artwork for this global quilt. Here are a few of the designs…


The woman who was in charge of the quilt station was also recording greetings of support (in digital video format) that would later be shared with ‘the team walkers’. I thought that this was a brilliant idea… to let the world know that Canada is aware of their effort and that we support them. In my greeting I recited the following poem…

Be peaceful
Be kind
Cuz we can’t rewind

Our actions of today
Are building the histories of tomorrow
Let’s try to build a world
With a little less sorrow

Here is a link to the one-minute video that was created from events from this evening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW1yom5S8qk&feature=player_embedded

There were many, many events happening around the world on this day in support of this global effort.


In Kenya, hundreds of people rallied together and spent part of this day marching for peace.


In Paris, over one thousand people showed up to march for peace. Candles were lit and organizers shaped the crowd to form the international symbol for nonviolence. Quite spectacular! This symbol kind-of looks like a ‘yin & yang’ symbol with an eye in the middle.

This is a link to an online news report from Southern Lucena: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20091007-228846/10000-Lucena-students-form-human-peace-symbol

The article shows a picture and talks about the fact that a world record was created on this day in support of this World March For Peace. Students of Lucena numbered over 10 000 and they created the largest human peace symbol in the world! This is a link to the video that shows the construction of this peace symbol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOhRQanuKHo&feature=player_embedded

And, finally, this is a link that shows what happened in Milan, on this same day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFe50YS7lsI&feature=player_embedded. Thousands of people all joining in to sing one song that has been opening eyes and healing hearts for close to four decades.

“You may say I’m a dreamer… But, I’m not the only one… I hope someday you’ll join us… and the world will live as one” Thanks John!!!

Jim

PS – There is one more event planned for Canada (and the world) to participate in to support this World March For Peace. It is scheduled for November 19, 2009 and it will take place in both Kitchener and Waterloo. There is a walk planned between these two cities – about 4 km – as well as a concert. I am offering a ride to anyone in London – maximum four people – who would like to share a ride to and from this event. If interested, please contact me – peacefulwarrior333@hotmail.com