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It seems that life slows down every year as Remembrance Day
approaches. Our thoughts shift from the dramas of daily life to
those men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of
lasting peace. As we prepare to express our gratitude, it is hard to
ignore the dark images of ongoing wars that are presented daily in
the media. Years ago, peace activist A.J. Muste stated, “There is no
way to peace; peace is the way.” The question is, have we lost our
way?
It is encouraging to witness our local school children
enthusiastically embracing global outreach programs and pledging to
"be the change" that will lead us into more peaceful times. I'm sure
that our fallen heroes of the past would be proud of their efforts,
but our youth cannot do it alone. They need all of us on board the
peace train. Maybe we can't end war by ourselves, but by making
conscious choices, we do have the power to keep the peace train
moving forward.
Everywhere we turn it seems that we are surrounded by images of
violence - in the news, television shows, movies, song lyrics and
video games. Worse yet, our children are bombarded by those same
images. What society considers to be "fun" has become questionable,
to say the least. Time and time again it has been demonstrated that
what we continue to put into our minds is eventually played out in
society and the world at large. As consumers we have the power to
create change. If we continue to demand more violence, then that is
what we will get, but we can choose differently. Action-packed,
"shoot-'em-up" movies and video games may be family favourites, but
there are fun, thought-provoking alternatives, such as the Internet
hit "Food Force".
Food Force (www.food-force.com) is the world's leading humanitarian
Internet video game and has become an unprecedented success, proving
to the international games market that a non-violent, educational
video game about hunger is considered to be "cool" amongst kids. The
game of strategy simulates the challenges of aid workers reaching
poor people with food in times of crisis and is comprised of six
missions, including air surveillance, energy packs, airdrops, locate
and dispatch, food runs and future farming. The missions encourage
strong decision-making skills and demonstrate the effectiveness of
co-operative solutions. 
05/11/2009 12:17 AM
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It is interesting that in addition to "Remembrance Day", the month of
November also hosts "International Day of Tolerance" on the 16th as well
as "National Day of the Child" on the 20th. Remembering sacrifice,
pledging tolerance and supporting youth worldwide all seem like fitting
ways to honour those men and women who have sacrificed so much on our
behalf. At a time in history when the dream of peace appears to be
fundamentally dependent on our ability to truly care for each other, our
local school children are leading the way. Let's hop aboard the peace
train with them and subscribe to their philosophy - "Be the change!"
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