 | | Israeli Jews and Arabs work together to bring peace to their area. They do this by distributing copies of The Way to Happiness in Hebrew and Arabic. |
Despite bombs dropping around them, members of the Association for Prosperity and Security in the Middle East continued their work to promote peace in the streets and shelters of their war-torn region last month.
During the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict, with Association members traveling back and forth, helping in the shelters in the North and visiting evacuees in Central Israel every day, one of the Israeli volunteers had an idea. He thought of a way to turn the fear and anger of those personally affected by the conflict into a new understanding between the people of Israel and Lebanon — a way to break down the barriers between the people on opposite sides of the war.
The plan was a simple one: encourage those whose lives were disrupted to write letters and draw pictures and send them to someone just like them — in Lebanon.
For instance — if you were 4 years old, what would you draw for a 4 years old Lebanese child? If you were a housewife, what would you write to a housewife like you in Lebanon?
People were asked to speak from the heart — write about nice things, bad things, blessings, curses — anything they really felt.
Suddenly, "the unknown enemies" became "real people," and those people were just like them.
And it had an interesting effect.
Instead of shrinking and hiding from the bombs they felt more confident and optimistic. As they sent their words and thoughts flowing across the border to real people living on the other side, life seemed to become brighter and less threatening where they were.
Here are some of the messages they sent:
To the people in Lebanon
I live in Kibbutz Iftah and we are currently inside the shelters.
I am sure it is not easy for you, and like me, you wish that all this mess would end already.
I would be happy to get in touch with you, since all of us have similar reasons to be happy or sad.
I hope that in the end we will meet, I believe in love for all.
Haran
10 years old
Salam Aleikum! (Greetings of peace in Arabic)
We also suffer, like you, from bombings.
We also want to get back to our day-to-day routines and normal lives.
We are also hurt for our children and people that die everyday and we also want peace!
Let's not surrender to the few radicals and to the violence. It's entire purpose is to disrupt our lives.
From me,
Goni
17 years old
The Israeli chapter of Association for Prosperity and Security in the Middle East carries out the purpose expressed in their name by distributing copies of The Way to Happiness in Hebrew and Arabic. The Way to Happiness is a common-sense, non-religious moral code, written by L. Ron Hubbard, which promotes peace through understanding.
For more information on The Association for Prosperity and Security in The Middle East visit their web site at http://www.apume.org/
To contact members of the Israeli chapter:
Fax: 972-3-5350557, Tel: 972-3-5163976
POB 4445 Tel Aviv 61043, Israel
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