LatinaLista — How will you create peace in the world?
The question sounds more like one of those hypothetical musings posed to beauty pageant finalists than anything that is of substance and attainable but British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley believed a global observance of day without violence could be a reality.
Gilley set out to make his dream of having an annual day of a global ceasefire and non-violence with a fixed calendar date a reality by getting the United Nations to establish this day on Sept. 21 which is the international observance of Peace Day. The heads of every major nation on the globe made that infamous declaration on Sept. 7, 2001 — four days later the world changed forever.
Since then, the world has seen little peace. Yet, Gilley has made some strides. He created the non-profit organization Peace One Day to educate all ages about the importance of peace and what to do to help achieve it, presided over star-studded galas at Royal Albert Hall in the United Kingdom to heighten awareness of Peace Day and can claim success in pockets of the world where peace seems like a fictional concept.
In 2007 according to the UN, over 100 million people were active on Peace Day, in 192 countries. There were life-saving initiatives in 14 countries and over 80 activities in Afghanistan alone where 1.4 million children were vaccinated against polio.
Throughout his quest for global peace, Gilley has been documenting the ups and downs of trying to convert the world from a war culture to one of peace. It’s been a long and arduous struggle that now finds him and his organization teetering on the brink of financial ruin.
But like all of us with a dream, Gilley isn’t going to give up without one more try. Being a filmmaker, he has taken all the footage over the last 10 years tracing his struggles and successes in realizing world peace and has created a documentary titled The Day After Peace.
To help raise money to keep his organization, and his dream, alive, he is selling DVD copies of his documentary. The film has been screened at film festivals around the world and has garnered positive responses.
While individuals may feel powerless to bring peace to the world there are small things everyone can do collectively to help support others who know how to make the dream a reality.
It boils down to asking ourselves one question — how badly does the world need peace?
