One simple word that carries with it a different color for each who allows the word to flow through their mind.
Some may say, “No War” Some might say “Quiet” Others may consider it’s meaning as a way of life such as Gandhi. This is where “Peace” begins to take on it’s real meaning and purpose for even existing.
We will explore what “Peace” really means as this page progresses.
Our current project is an 8 hour music video being created with the theme of “Peace” actually it is called “Peace In Africa” and it is focused on meditation, de-stressing, improved sleep and relaxation. It will have elements of Africa in it and we think when it it finished you will find it extremely helpful and healthful.
Visit the project page here
So as to add a bit more to this particular page, let me tell you a little story that helped me realize that if true peace is to exist on this planet, it must start directly with me.
Some years ago I was introduced to an African man who had come to the United States for refuge… You see this man owned a business in Africa named “Friends Of America”. He had a dream of his very own which was to find a way to bring some of the positive ideals of freedom and prosperity to his own country. A portion of what his business did was excavation and other heavy machine work. He had a goal of unifying people in his surrounding area through the concept of brotherly kindness to all. He was patiently determined to reach out and help the down trodden, the thirsty and the hungry and bring a higher standard of living among the small tribes that seemed so very lost in the simple focus of just mere survival.
As he pushed forward with a pure intent of raising the people around him to a general concern for one another, the unthinkable happened! His business building and the many expensive machines he had so diligently acquired through extreme hard work had been attacked in the middle of the night by a gang of locals that did not want peace in the area and especially did not want the presence of anyone who would openly embrace the American principles of peace and a focus on the poor and needy. All of the heavy machinery, tools, and resources including the building were destroyed and all that was left in the wake of the destruction…threatening messages on his life.
They found his wife and beat her… His children were taken and his alternative was to come to the US to seek help from a friend.
Time passed and he found very little help from the friend he had come to see.
It was around that time that I had met him and heard the plight of his events. Though I at the time felt there was little I could do, I did have a desire to assist him however I could. My simple offering wasn’t much but I helped him design and launch a website as he felt his mission was not one to be stopped by the resistance. He felt that making a broader statement may bring a sympathetic energy rallying to his cause.
I had the feeling that the little I was able to do at the least may have been a beneficial help toward his goals. Soon he returned to Africa to … Well… Face the music. His plan was to rebuild everything he had worked for so many years to accomplish. I stayed in touch with him and did everything I could to help his new website reach the potential he was aiming for.
After about a year, I received a phone call from him asking me if I could place some photos on his website. I responded with “Sure! Just email the images to me and I will take care of it for you.” his response to me was… “I am here in your country and I am delivering the photos to you personally if you could just at least do that small favor for me?” I was shocked to think he had traveled all this way to simply hand to me a folder of photographs. I traveled to the city where the airport was that he had arrived at. I found him in the heart of the city at a table in a public park awaiting my arrival. I met him and embraced him and told him how glad I was to see him in good health especially after all of the threats against his life. He handed me the folder of photos and thanked me generously and bid me farewell at which point I asked the simple question… “What are you going to do next?” He replied with “Oh not much, It was really important that you should receive these photographs and now I will just wait for my flight back home.” “When it that?” I questioned him. “My return flight home is in two weeks.” He responded. “Two weeks I said?” and then added “Where will you be staying until that time?” He looked at me in the most curious way as if I had just asked a very silly question… “Right here!” as he pointed to the ground he was standing on… “I will be right here as I am used to sleeping in nature and hunting for what I need to sustain myself.” “Right here in this park?” I exclaimed! “And hunting for food here as well?” I gestured in unbelief. “Why yes! Brotha Corteess!” As he so fondly called me with his thick accent. I then realized this simplified view he had of our country and I leaned over and gave him a hug and bid him farewell.
I hadn’t finished the argument in my head and at that moment had been completely thrown off by his outlook on the next two weeks that I had to just walk away and continue the internal struggle away from his presence.
The struggle went something like this… Where is he going to stay? What is he going to eat? They won’t let him just loiter in the park… He doesn’t even understand anything about this country… He might get in trouble and probably couldn’t make a good cause for his situation… This is crazy!!! I don’t know what to do or who to turn to to help someone like this??? Are there really people who think this basically? Someone has to watch out for him… I don’t even know how to deal with a situation like this?
The argument inside my head just kept getting louder and louder and full of more and more conflict until I exclaimed aloud! … “STOP!” “There is only one choice!”
I had by then finished walking to my car. I hurriedly started to engine and drove quickly to the side of the street where I could get a good look at the park he had been sitting in. It was for me a small miracle… He was still at the same location looking like he was content to make this his new home for the next two weeks… I stopped the car mid traffic and yelled out to him as I stood now so full of purpose on the curb of the street. “Hey come over here for a moment!” I yelled at him over the roar of the traffic while gesturing with my hand to come quickly.
He gathered his only possession, a worn out duffel bag in a motion to protect all that he had and came closer to me. “Hurry!” I exclaimed! “Get in!, I need to show you something!” I realized he had been quite set on staying there in the park for two weeks as he had expressed to me earlier, so a sense of urgency was the option I knew I needed to display in order to attain his compliance. It worked, I opened the door and ushered him into the passenger’s seat.
As I drove away from the park, I turned to him and said gently… “They won’t let you stay in the park and especially, they won’t let you hunt for food either… So I would like to show you a guest room that I have waiting just for you at my place.” The words fell from my tongue with a considerable amount of concern as I didn’t actually have a guest room and I was now thinking fast as to how to make that happen before he had the chance to figure the complications of bringing home a wandering African who had no place to lay his head or no way of surviving two weeks of no food.
The drive home was a bit of a long one especially with the thought of having a guest room for him when I actually did not; I certainly did not want him to feel as though he was intruding so I rehearsed how I would bring him into my house and find an excuse for him to stay in a room in my house such as the kitchen or living room while I humidly cleaned out some space downstairs and tried desperately with anxiety speed to make a space that seemed like a room to welcome a guest.
As I arrived home, I was ready to begin the speedy transformation and the plan seemed to work. I had never fixed up a space to look like a guest room so fast in all of my life but in a short period of time, I came back up the stairs and invited him into his very own room. I then fixed him something to eat and introduced him to running warm water and a bathroom in which to refresh himself and even just soak in precious extravagant water which was in such scarcity in his country.
To Be Continued:
The next few chapters will be as follows.
2. Stephen’s Dream to bring water, food and safety to his tribes in Africa
3. The quest to find support in making the dream come true
4. The friendly face that turned betrayer
5. “You water grass? Where are your vegetables and food?’
6. Defeat… A lonely and down trodden African Warrior heading to the mountains to die.
7. Still a friend who can and will bring you back
8. Hope
9. The Prayer
10. Adoption money and the whispering voice
11. “Hey Stephen! You can’t take that on the Air Plane!”
12. Stephen’s Dream – Stephen’s Reality
13. This is how hope and peace begin
14. From small things come great things
If you would like me to finish this story sooner then later, please let me know by contacting me and letting me know you are interested in knowing the final outcome and the rest of the story. Click here to let me know.
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