Dear fellow human beings,

Today, we must gather our will and strength to reflect upon the state of our world and our shared future, as well as the importance of embracing change. We are at a crucial moment in history where our choices and actions will shape the world we face as well the one we leave behind. Therefore, we the young people of Earth appeal to all of you to strive together for change and a better world.

Some fundamental pillars for our survival are as listed below:

Peace that is a universal right that we all need. Peace represents a world where conflicts and violence are replaced by dialogue and cooperation. Today, more than ever, we must work to resolve conflicts peacefully and avoid being gripped and controlled by hatred and vilence. By promoting peace, we can achieve stability and thriving communities.

Tolerance is the key to harmony and coexistence. We must accept differences, respect each other's opinions and backgrounds. By being tolerant, we can create inclusive societies where everyone feels safe, welcome and valued.

Sustainability is crucial to protect our planet and secure a viable future. We must take responsibility for our actions and strive to reduce our impact on the environment. By living sustainably, we can ensure that future generations also get to enjoy the planet's resources and beauty.

Prosperity is not just about material wealth but also about health, happiness, and well-being for all. We must create economic systems and communities where every individual has the opportunity to thrive and achieve their full potential.

Human rights are fundamental and indivisible. We must work for justice, equality, and respect for the dignity of every person. By defending human rights, we can create a world where no one is subjected to violence, oppression, or discrimination.

Innovation and education are keys to progress and development. We must encourage and support creativity, curiosity, and knowledge to solve the challenges we face. By embracing innovation and investing in education, we can shape a brighter future for all of us.

Solidarity and diversity are strong building blocks for a fair and inclusive society. We must stand together, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, or religion, and support each other in our endeavors. By embracing diversity and showing solidarity, we can create a stronger and more harmonious community.

Respect is the foundation for good relationships and a peaceful society. We must show respect for the rights, opinions, and feelings of every person. By cultivating a culture of respect, we can build bridges and promote understanding.

Courage is essential to combat injustices and counter what is wrong. It is about daring to stand up for what is right, even when it is difficult. We must bravely challenge oppression, inequalities, and abuses wherever they occur. By showing courage, we can create a safer and more just world for everyone.

Animal rights and eco-rights are also part of our moral duty towards other living beings and our environment. We must treat animals with dignity and respect . We also need to protect our ecosystems from destruction. By promoting animal rights and our planet's eco-rights, we can create a balanced and harmonious ecosystem.

Our resources are limited, and we must learn to manage them responsibly. We must use our resources in a sustainable manner and ensure that everyone has access to them fairly. By effectively managing our resources, we can create a more just and sustainable world.

In conclusion, dear fellow human beings, it is up to us to take action and create a future that we can be proud of. If we do not address the challenges we face and embrace these principles and concepts, we can expect a world marked by injustices, conflicts, and destruction. But if we collectively work for courage, peace, tolerance, sustainability, prosperity, human rights, animal rights, eco-rights, innovation, education, solidarity, diversity, respect, and resources, we can create a world filled with possibilities, harmony, and flourishing communities.

Let us walk hand in hand towards a future where our ideals become a reality, and where every individual can live in peace, dignity, and harmony.

Thank you for your attention and your commitment.

Best regards,

Global Youth Institute

In recent months, countries like Sweden and France have experienced a surge in violent incidents, in Sweden frequent shootings and in France alarming riots, raising concerns about public safety and community well-being.

The incidents of shootings, riots, and violent acts have sparked national debates in both countries, leading to discussions about social inequality, marginalization, racial tensions and the need for inclusive policies that address the underlying socio-political factors contributing to such incidents.

To tackle all social tensions we do need to:

• 1. Foster an inclusive culture: Promote a culture that values diversity and inclusivity. Encourage respect for differences in race, ethnicity, gender, backgrounds. and so on. 
• 2. Create opportunities for young people to learn about and appreciate diverse cultures and perspectives.
• 3. Establish safe spaces: Create safe and welcoming spaces where young people can express themselves freely without fear of judgment or discrimination. This could be a physical space, such as a community center or youth club, or a virtual platform where they can connect with others who share similar experiences.
• 4. Encourage positive relationships: Facilitate opportunities for young people to build positive relationships with peers, mentors, and role models. These relationships can provide support, guidance, and a sense of belonging. 
• 5. Encourage collaboration, teamwork, and empathy among young people.
• Promote empathy and understanding: Teach young people about empathy, compassion, and understanding. Help them develop the ability to recognize and appreciate different perspectives and experiences. This can be done through workshops, discussions, and activities that encourage empathy and open-mindedness.
• 6. Address bullying and harassment: Create a zero-tolerance policy for bullying, harassment, and discrimination. Implement effective reporting mechanisms and ensure that incidents are taken seriously and addressed promptly. Provide resources and support for both victims and perpetrators to foster understanding and change behavior.
• 7. Encourage youth participation: Involve young people in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Empower them to contribute their ideas, opinions, and solutions to community issues. This helps them feel valued and included, and it promotes a sense of ownership and responsibility.
• 8. Provide skill-building opportunities: Offer educational and skill-building programs that enhance young people's confidence, abilities, and opportunities. These could include workshops, vocational training, mentoring programs, entrepreneurship initiatives, and internships. Providing avenues for personal growth and development can help young people feel empowered and connected.
• 9. Strengthen support networks: Collaborate with local organizations, schools, community leaders, and families to create a comprehensive support network for young people. This network should provide access to counseling services, mental health support, career guidance, and other resources to address their individual needs.
• 10. Celebrate achievements and successes: Recognize and celebrate the achievements, talents, and contributions of young people. Create platforms to showcase their skills, creativity, and accomplishments. This helps boost their self-esteem, encourages further engagement, and inspires others.
• 11. Educate and involve families: Engage families in supporting the well-being of young people. Offer workshops, seminars, and resources to educate parents. caregivers and teachers about the challenges faced by young people and the importance of fostering inclusivity and support at home as well as at school and other places!
• 12. Introducing National Youth Civil Service: 18 Months of Skill-Building and Management Training for Young People to Navigate Life's Challenges and to equip them with sane, sustainable and health-promoting tools.

How connecting the dots and solving the "knots"

- Words of our days: whistleblowers (no more flowers), integrity - des-integrity!

- Leadership! Lots of oppressors.

- Rights? What does that mean?

- Open sources - limited dittos! Increasingly limited freedoms!

- Misdirected power!

So how to connect the dots and solve the "knots"?

Any suggestion?

How connecting the dots and solving the "knots"

- Words of our days: whistleblowers (no more flowers), integrity - des-integrity!

- Leadership! Lots of oppressors.

- Rights? What does that mean?

- Open sources - limited dittos! Increasingly limited freedoms!

- Misdirected power!

So how to connect the dots and solve the "knots"?

Any suggestion?

How connecting the dots and solving the "knots"

- Words of our days: whistleblowers (no more flowers), integrity - des-integrity!

- Leadership! Lots of oppressors.

- Rights? What does that mean?

- Open sources - limited dittos! Increasingly limited freedoms!

- Misdirected power!

So how to connect the dots and solve the "knots"?

Any suggestion?

The following is the executive summary of an upcoming proposal.

Executive Summary

The educated man in the 19th Century was expected to have excellent skills in handwriting arithmetic, spelling, and memory.  Therefore 19th Century Education concentrated on teaching those skills to prepare the student for the 19th Century workplace.  We automated those skills using 20th Century technology. 

But traditional education continues to call these 19th Century skills as “basic”.  Students must learn these first before they can move ahead.  I question the wisdom of that strategy. 

The employer in the 21st Century wants employees with 21st Century skills.  19th Century skills are secondary.  Employers would prefer someone who could keyboard to someone who had good hand writing.   The spreadsheet is one of the most widely used programs across almost all industries.  But education stresses paper and pencil arithmetic.  The World Wide Web has made memorization a thing of the past except in school or theater. Handwriting, spelling bees, mental arithmetic can be called Unnecessary Goods.  Estimable skills but not essential to the workplace.  Teach students from the start 21^st Century skills.

The most devastating blockade to education is the “standardized test”.  The purpose of a test is to predict what a student would do in the real world.  Project Based Learning means the student must create a project in the real world.  A student completes tasks and is evaluated by authentic assessment, an evaluation of what the student has produced.

Not a test score.

Reading

The solution to the reading problem is the solution to everything.  Postpone the alphabet until the child can read.  Within 5 years children will come to school reading and writing.

                                    Bringing Education back to life

I think everyone can agree today that the educational system worldwide is suffering, suffering from loss of connection between fields, suffering from loss of purpose.

There is next to a billion project claiming to be THE ONE that can heal the system, but in the school of why we believe there is only one way to do so:

it’s to DO so. literally:

we are a platform that gathers passionate individuals with our same values, we offer coaching to these individuals so they can be effective at organizing classes in schools of their choice.

The themes discussed by these brilliant individuals touch the WHY, why do we study what we study? why would you spend years in the educational system? what’s the outcome? that’s where we build bridges, we bring clarity and hopefully inspire students to reflect, instead of learn the facts.

In order to join us you don’t need the IQ of Albert Einstein, you don’t need to be in a particular geographic zone and you don’t need to give us all of your hours.

You can join us anyday, start anywhere, with any topic you’re truly passionate about.

They teach lessons, we teach life.

If you believe in the why as strongly as we do, we’re happy to have you among us

Find out contact here: http://schoolofwhy.strikingly.com/

or https://medium.com/@schoolofwhy

Let’s do it, person to person.

Art Exhibition

                 Galerie Stexwig

               15 - 27/10, 2013

     Strandweg 7, Borgwedel

   www.galerie-stexwig.com

Bullying is the use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others. The behavior can be habitual and involve an imbalance of social or physical power. It can include verbal harassement or threat, physical asault or coercion and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, apprearance, behavior or ability. If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing.  The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "target".

Bullying consists of four basic types of abuse – emotional (sometimes called relational), verbal, physical and cyber. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.

Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse.

Galerie Stexwig

11 international artists

Vernissage 2 June at 3 pm

(2/6 - 25/8, 2013)

www.galerie-stexwig.com

host:

Mechthild Wichmann-Kramp

+49 4621 307441

Strandweg 7

24857 Borgwedel

"Eeny Meeny Miny Moe"

1.2.3 ….. Let´s go:

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

….. keep smiling 

By Victoria Gill BBC reporter

The study revealed that kinder children were happier and found "greater acceptance in their peer groups"

Performing deliberate acts of kindness makes pre-teen children more popular with their peers, say scientists.

A team led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, "assigned" children three acts of kindness each week for four weeks.

After the four weeks, children were happier and more liked by classmates.

The researchers say than encouraging such simple "positive acts" could help children to get along with classmates and even prevent instances of bullying.

The findings are published in the open access journal Plos One.

Cuddling and cleaning

Working with 400 school children aged between nine and 11, the team assigned whole classrooms either to perform and note down three kind acts per week or - as a control group - to keep a diary of three locations they visited each week.

The kind acts were not necessarily directed towards their classmates. Some examples of the things children reported were: "Gave my mom a hug when she was stressed by her job", "gave someone some of my lunch," and "vacuumed the floor".

"Before the four weeks, we had each student circle [the names] of students from their classroom who they would like to be in school activities with," explained the lead researcher, Kristin Layous from UC Riverside's department of psychology.

The children were asked to repeat this same "nomination process" at the end of four weeks.

"Both conditions - kindness and comparison - received more nominations from their classmates after the four weeks were over," explained Dr Layous, but students in the kindness [group] gained significantly more nominations than the [other group].

"The most interesting finding to me is that a simple positive activity can promote positive relationships among peers," said Dr Layous.

She suggested that by reinforcing social connections between children in this simple way, schools could help to combat bullying.

"I was not completely surprised that students increased in happiness, because we have found the same effects in adults," said the researcher.

"[But] I was surprised that a simple activity could change the dynamics of a well-established classroom.

"This study was conducted in the spring, so students had already known each other all year. For them to nominate more peers at the end of a four-week activity period is promising."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20851434

As our world is becoming more complex we do urge the need for new and innovative ideas for a better, brighter and sustainable future. Out there, there are a lot of good and honorable efforts to make a difference for those who need it! One interesting initiative is by Marcos Antonio and his famous global art project named "Impressions Of Humanity" - highlighting the commonalities among people around the world by sharing panels of colorful handprints designed to travel on an on-going basis to museums and public locations expressing the one and only thing we have in common: our humanity.

http://www.impressionsofhumanity.com/

Tragedy as a girl, 15, kills herself just one month after posting desperate YouTube plea begging bullies to stop tormenting her

The 15-year-old Canadian girl was found dead Wednesday night, just weeks after posting a video about her battle with cyber bullies.

The details surrounding Amanda Todd's death have not been released, but it is suspected to be suicide.

On September 7, Amanda posted a nearly nine-minute YouTube video where she tells the story of her repeated harassment by bullies on a series of notecards.

In the video, she admitted that she had previously tried to kill herself twice.

Shame on all the maniacs as well as FB and any other social media networks "sponsoring" such terrible acts!

all is about how we do choose to see things, to interprete and so on .... Much might seem illusive for someone but can be very real for someone else! I also think .... it might be about "Limited nonations" - Since I think even "nobodies" might be somebodies in one or an other context! Walls and walls .... The biggest walls are those (sometimes such kind of checkpoints, lines or any other limitating obstacles) we do create for ourselves and between each ..... Just trying to keep as free as I possibly can within a decent and responsible "liberty"!

Bricks and bricks to build walls and there are good bricks and bad bricks ... So for good and sustainable walls it is very important to choose the right bricks, have the right talks and take the right walks!

So what Am I? What Are We? Walls and walls ... Who to blame? Blame me, blame you, blame US! It is the only reasonable option to restore and save what might be possible to save ....

Shared from a friend having a conversation with his 2 adorable kids:

As we all know what love is, and most of us have felt the feeling i asked my kids today what they know and think about love. Very quickly we got into a logical reasoning about it and it occurred to me that we, people don't know what it is …

Here is what happened...

I asked, "Does a stone have feelings?"
Tanya (6yrs) answered "No, its just a stone, it can't have feelings"
I stupidly asked why…
Daniel (4yrs) answered "It has no hands, no legs and no eyes, it can't have feelings"
I said "So if i got really, really hurt, i can't love you?"
Tanya said "Of course you can"
Daniel said "Yes, ok daddy, a stone can have feelings, even you..."
Then Tanya said "But daddy, when you die, will you stop loving us then?"

I answered "Of course not", then "Duffy duck" on tv was more interesting than daddys future love for his kids, but I started to think about it...

Now here is the mind teaser…
If, a dead person can't have feelings, like a stone, then love is gone when someone is dead and the other part is just foolishly hanging on to old memories…

If, a dead person CAN have feelings, love is still there but on the other hand this means it is required some heaven etc ... religious thinking for storing and keeping the feelings alive as the body is fading away into other things like dirt, dust, flowers etc.

But we, mankind, really DONT KNOW, by fact (its just beliefs) and as consequence we don't know if love ceases to exist upon death or if it´s eternal...

Next thing…
IF there is a "heaven" and love is eternal, as the dead person´s body fades away and the feelings are either changeable or frozen at the last known state. If the feelings of a dead person are changeable, how do we, the others, KNOW that?
Will the dead person become sad / jealous / happy if the one alive falls in love again?
Is love replaceable at all, even for the one alive???

Lots of mind boggling thoughts about the very concept we fight for very much…
What is love, does it exist, is it eternal or is it just a hoax???

Hoax?
Yes while thinking really really deep about it, the only ones that gains on the concept of love is ownership, people control, power and most of all, making some people having better chances with more naive people, just by getting some flowers, candy and a pink package. Until they understand, they get either happy or fooled. If they get happy, they are easier to control and if they are fooled they are fooled.

Is it possibly so that the concept of love is a hoax but our feelings to someone else is more like a scary feeling to be alone in the dark???

We know that mankind is a social animal, maybe love is just a social structure getting its roots from our frightening to be left alone?
So whats the real problem of being alone?
Everything.

Posted by AH at fb.

Morocco World News
Rabat, August 22, 2012

According to a study conducted by University of North Carolina, tender hugs reduce blood pressure which is one of the main risk factors to heart disease.

The study showed that hugs increases levels of the hormone oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the “love hormone”, which is best known for its roles in sexual reproduction.

The hormone of oxytocin triggers a “caring” or “bonding” response in both men and women, added the study.

The study explained that a daily dose of oxytocin mainly stimulated from hugging can help protect human beings from heart diseases and reduce stress.

Women seem to benefit more than men do from hugging as explained by the second phase of the University of North Carolina study.

“Male heart patients with good marriages stay healthier than do those living with conflict,” confirmed Brian Baker, University of Toronto psychiatrist, in his study on how marriage affects men’s hearts.

There is no doubt that hugs are reassuring, making the couple feel the warmth sensations and comfort, particularly when the hugs are exchanged by couples who share special feelings of love and strong emotions.

It is obvious that hugging pleases everyone and assures feelings of comfort and security when it is emotionally shared; since it is free and has proved healthy, people may need to hug their loved ones regularly.

Jag rekommenderar:

http://www.change.org och 

http://care2.com