KUALA LUMPUR: While some parts of the world continue to spend billions of dollars in arms to keep their defence plans in optimum shape, and others engaged in armed conflicts, there will also be a good number of people worldwide today celebrating the International Day of Peace – with the hope that peace is quite possible despite the conflicts and ceaseless battles.
Established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly, the International Day of Peace in 2001 was again designated as a period of non-violence and ceasefire following a unanimous vote by the General Assembly.
Over the years, the efforts and commitments made by many organisations and individuals for the Day have grown through their undertakings of various forms of activities and programmes – in sync with the call by the UN to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities, and instead mark the Day with education and public awareness on issues related to peace.
It will be no different this year except that most activities will take place online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One leading voice in these efforts has been Global Peace Ambassador, Prem Rawat, who has been consistently and steadily talking about the possibility of peace in the past few decades, reiterating his message that only individuals in peace could go on to collectively bring about the changes to have peace prevail globally.
The founder of Peace Education and Knowledge (PEAK), a groundbreaking and free educational programme that uncovers the potential for practical peace within each individual, Prem Rawat has relentlessly traveled around the world to bring his message of peace to many countries for more than 50 years.
Since 1971, nearly 1.5 million people have benefitted from Prem Rawat’s practical approach to personal peace, according to the website of The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF).
With the entry of Covid-19 early this year, Prem Rawat also began his LOCKDOWN series, an online series of talks that kept many people tuned in to listen to his words of hope, courage and kindness amid the fear and uncertainly that the pandemic brought.
In conjunction with the Sept 21 Peace Day celebration, TPRF has released yet another thought-provoking video on how each individual is really at the core of the reality of peace – not only in their own lives – but consequently with the capacity to spread it to the rest of the world amid the conflicts, the battles and wars.
Entitled “Voices of Peace”, this year’s video sees the expressions of a diverse group of people from various parts of the world, celebrating the strength and clarity that peace brings in their lives. -Bernama
