(date indicated above pertains to date in the US when this was first posted.)
"www.peacecamp-masbate on-line forum"
Latest Update: Sunday, August 22, 2010
In the Aug. 22 Update:
H.U.G. for Peace -- 'Unconditional Goodwill'
“Is Unconditional Peace possible among humans? Is it even desirable?”
A posting in another blogsite, specifically "Readdingz," sought and received feedback on a posting that some considered to be boldly provocative or at least controversial, its central idea being "unconditional goodwill for harmony among humans (others only had rime to return the author's HUG, which was deeply appreciated. too!) A new thread under the "Wage Peace" major topic below reproduces, from that blogsite, those specific items that pertain to "unconditional goodwill" as a peace-seeking goal, "well worth the attempt.",This on-line forum, a sub-project of Peacecamp-Masbate supports the discourse on this and other matters that elevates the Peace Question well beyond matters of ceasefires and armistice. Needless to say, we encourage participants of this on-line forum to ponder these postings deeply, and "speak out" their own contributions to the enrichmemt of this discourse, a telltale reflection of real human evolution.
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MABUHAY!
ON-LINE FORUM ON PEACE"
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We ask you to read these items from a messages postings inbox (comments on a posted photo) on Facebook and our gmail account, plus the Forum Moderator's responses. Shared thoughts, responses, and responses to responses will be grouped into threads according to these Major Topics and their Sub-Topics:
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FORUM MAJOR TOPIC No. 1:
WAGE PEACE!
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FORUM MAJOR TOPIC No. 2:THE MASBATE PEACECAMP
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Wage PEACE!(FORUM MAJOR TOPIC No. 1)
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'H.U.G. for Peace -- Harmony in Unconditional Goodwill'
Ed Aurelio C. Reyes: rgy" the next few days, weeks and even beyond!
See: http://readdingz.blogspot.com/2010/08/harmony-in-unconditional-goodwill.html, and share with me your comments and whatever feedback you might receive so we can upload and share that, too. Thanks so much! --ding reyes
Carlos Lacanilao: Is that really possible among people? Unconditional???
[Ding/Ed Reyes: to Carlos L.: Yes, definitely possible; though not very probable soon for most of us. We can choose to attain such goodwill within ourselves, and this behavior, as pleasantly radiated, will be contagious. We can decide to be part of this slow but sure evolution. It's worth the try!]
I completely believe in H.U.G. However, there are layers of acceptance on the 'unconditionality', which is a function of time. All things can be accepted by a person in his lifetime. the shortest acceptance duration by a person is probably a second before he closes his eyes and his breath already cut off. From the time a person realizes the issue, have his stand and declares his non-negotiables, time as an independent factor comes into play. So a person, through another factor, may be a situation, some help from persons or things important to him, will be able to go to another 'level of acceptance' and his unconditional state will be lessened by a measurable quantity of acceptance..
Discerning Desiderata's Second Sentence
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From a posting in Readdingz: “As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.” This statement, apparently containing a clause of conditionality, is the second sentence of the classic Desiderata. The clause, that can logically be read as conditional, is unfortunately also equivocal or ambiguous as to the very sense of the sentence itself.
One meaning is.
“Be on good terms with all persons; and as far as possible, attain that state without surrendering anything.”.
......The other meaning, as valid as the first interpretation on the basis of the composition of the sentence, is: “Be on terms with all persons as far as possible; that is, if you can attain that state without having to surrender anything.”
The other meaning, as valid as the first interpretation on the basis of the composition of the sentence, is: “Be on good terms with all persons as far as possible; that is, if you can attain that state without having to surrender anything.”
In other words, it is saying that you ought to seek being on good terms with other people as long as it will be on your own terms, To concede, to agree, to meet somebody else halfway, could be construed as tantamount to surrendering something to some degree.
Let’s think and rethink of the sense of the wiser or wisest lesson that one can derive from this second sentence of Desiderata, whatever grammarians say and whatever the author might have actually meant as its intended meaning in the first place.
In an earnest meeting of hearts and of minds, persons exert best efforts to define their patterns of interaction according to what they both can and will choose to be the mutually-desired configuration of their interaction. If one or both of them would have to alter a first or previous preference, such shifting does not have to be viewed or felt as a surrendering of one to another, but a process of convincing to a position that is firmly accepted as the most logical and most fair to all concerned.
It is on the basis of such earnest discussions that real unities can be forged and real, deep and lasting peace can be attained between persons, between groupings of persons or between formal entities.
Let us further ponder this matter deeply, discern it in earnest, and rejoice in its divine wisdom!
--Readdingz
August 20, 2010
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Asking "Why" Furiously -- Curiosity or Condemnation?
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Balani Bagumbayan: Many people would like to believe that reality is simple. You just have to have the right intentions and right decisions will follow. So, Humanity would be neatly divided between those who are forces of good and those who are forces of evil. So, let’s all be on the side of good and be good and everybody will be happy, right? Wrong. Let me change that last word in the previous sentence: “No, I don’t agree; I don’t think so!”.
Whenever I declare somebody’s statement to be “correct” or “true.” I have to be precise with what I actually mean. If I owned the laptop I’ve been using, and someone says I own it. I can be precise and say “He is right!” But what if the other guy expressed an opinion, a judgment? Could I simply say, “He is right!” Of course, I could say that and I actually often do. But in such times I am not speaking precisely, because what I should really be saying is “I agree!” (No, I won’t deliberately say “I agree with him, therefore he is right. I only fall into that line of reasoning whenever I forget that I am not a proclaimer of what is right and wrong for the whole world to listen and “be guided accordingly”; I am only a proclaimer of my own opinions that agree or disagree with other peoples own opinions.
..........You may say I nitpick now on a whole lot of semantics and rhetorics, and I can go along with such judgement (“Yes, you’re right!” hehehe!) but if I don’t go into self-questioning at least once in a while, I might actually forget and hear (mistake!) my voice as “speaking the divine last word” as the ultimate judge of right and wrong without even being anywhere near the Biblical Tree of Knowledge.
..........People are often very passionate and overconfident about our own personal or organizational opinions and there’s nothing wrong with that, unless we forget that no matter how passionate one is or how “sure” s/he feels, it is still his/her personal view, albeit perhaps a well-studied opinion of a proven genius! Many agonizing hours have been spent in fierce quarrels over whose personal view is the real “divine judgment” in the contention.
Recently, I expressed my vehement disagreement with a political party’s decision and its apparent premise and said without any qualifying words: “treason is on a higher plane than corruption!” Many expressed agreement with me. But to be complete and precise about it, I really should have said: “I strongly feel that they should have considered treason to be on a higher plane than corruption!” and carry no less passion and sense of confidence in the validity of my assertion. Or those who read me may have taken it as that, anyway. And it could have had the same effect as intended. Anyway…
A question asked in earnest should be followed by a question mark. In oral conversations, the question mark is of course invisible but it should be perceptible in the intonation, body language and overall behavior of the one articulating the supposed question. In many instances, however, it “looks” more like a question followed by a very angry platoon of screaming exclamation points (“Why!!!!!”).
This is often understandable but unfortunate. In a many cases, the mouth can only be pronouncing the word “Why” but the mind is trying to accommodate at least two thoughts: “Oh no! It can’t be! This would have very disastrous effects! This angers me greatly” and “I wonder why it happened” and “Oh no! It can’t be! This would have very very disastrous effects! This angers me so much I could explode!” So, while the curious part gets articulated in the word why, the anger part builds up fast that in the few nanoseconds it takes the mouth to pronounce the monosyllabic word, the question mark has transformed into an angry battalion of exclamation points.
Now, the person is not prepared to hear any answer, because the question had been forgotten after getting drowned in a wave of judgments. Having no reverence for the unknown and being only terrified by it, we often have the tendency to dismiss as irrelevant what we still don’t know and proceed to judge because we For clarity of mind, therefore, we should remind ourselves to only ask questions with question marks – if we are still asking we do not know the answer yet; and if we are this angry, we might never know or understand it. And the ones being asked may have the tendency to overreact to the overreaction… so there goes your earnest conversation!
Many questions are asked and passionately debated where at least one side of the debaters tend to dismiss the nuances that figure significantly in the positions of the other. In debates, this is deliberately done; in earnest discussions this happens unintentionally. For the sake of all involved, the quality of the outcome of the argument or earnest discussion, simple statements should not be simplistic sentences – nuances ought to be looked into, understood well, and weighed judiciously, whether or not it appears at all in the net resulting summary of the analysis. Usually, the nuances that are considered in the decision-making are assumed by one side to be “obvious to all” and assumed by the other side as non-existent.
It takes time to find out exactly what nunces played in the decision-making and exactly how heavily they were considered and why. Again comes the charge of “nitpicking on petty considerations” and the more warhawkish among us grow impatient—“what are we waiting for?"
Where’s the rage? why are we not yet in a quarrel mood yet of ‘punishing mood’? Why are we not forming a lynch mob yet?” Those who are not afraid that a lynch mob can be formed and agitated to success may have the tendency to deny that any problem exists.
In the context of human tendencies so described, people in a misunderstanding tend to proceed more to the worsening of it rather than to solving it for the sake of peace and synergetic strength that a group would need to do its work or at least to exist in harmony. Some people feel that as long ay they can blame other people for a conflict situation within a supposedly friendly community they have no problem. Some others tend to thicken the wall between the contening sides by recruiting all invoved to take sides and be part of worsening the problem, instead of acting as living bridges of communication and dialogue and lead to resolution and reconciliation.
Having reminded myself of all the foregoing points, and declaring my openness to be reminded of more, I feel ready now to proceed to ask my own questions on a wide-ranging conflict of views (that has spawned highly emotional judgments).
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Shafts of wisdom just came in with postings in the Facebook wall of this on-line forum's moderator. It started with a sharing from Jenny Marie Aquino, whose postings have been blessing the cyberspace with much inspirational material. We believe she won't be angry seeing her posting reproduced here without us having secured her permission yet....
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'When You Get Angry, You are Hurting Yourself!'Posted here on August 16, 2010
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Anthony Jude Hernandez: Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
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Smiley Heartthrob: Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy.
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Much earlier, there was this first thread on Anger...
About "Anger Punishes... the Angry"(an exchange of text messages between friends)
Posted here on Aug. 7, 2010
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Ding Reyes: Anger Punishes. Anger unreasonably punishes... the Angry.
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Shayne Merioles: True. This is why i always forgive, always surrender, always let go, more often, cry the hurt/pain away. It works!
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Ding Reyes: Peace pa rin ba yon, kahit unfair sa 'yo? Kahit you feel there is something you need to weep about?.
..........(Nagi-guilty tuloy ako... have i driven you to tears without even knowing it? Sorry! Sana, kahit di mo ako komprontahin, dahil hindi ka nga confrontational, 'umaray' ka man lang sana, para ma-lift ko ang paa kong nakatapak pala sa paa mo!) Is your response still peace?
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Shayne Merioles: It is peace. I do not even wish to inflict suffering on my "offender(s)." I temporarily take on the "burden." And in the suffering act of crying , it's as if the Universe is my surgeon, my mother, my healer. She takes care of my anger, loneliness, agony -- she takes them away. She takes care of those who have trespassed against me.
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Ding Reyes: Sabagay, i once wrote a poem which says, in part...
(This poem, For Stronger Souls and Soles, may be read in
http://bookmakers-phils.8m.net/wishpers-1.htm#13.)
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On that path are many a pebble,
That annoy us as irritating prickles;
But little things need not cause trouble
Had we only learned to feel them as tickles.
Souls that still have so much to discover
Can understandably be quite irritable;
Grains, pebbles, they’d try to shun forever,
Realizing later they’d never be able.
Light of Wisdom shining in our souls
On such attitudes seeks an amendment—
Little things that irritate our soles
Can just be objects of amusement.
.Let's get back to the subject of anger. As long as there's no anger that needs to be repressed. Yun, malinaw pa sigurong may peace pa rin doon. You feel the pain without suffering that pain. Drain the sorrow or indignation, as tears always have to be drained, while it could still cause the tears to mount within your heart (tear glands, actually), but learn the soonest to be protected by your wisdom not to be affected that much anymore. Maybe you have already attained that state or are already close to it! Malayo pa yata ako, eh! And my anger still punishes me terribly with the feeling of being angry.
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Inquiring Deeper into Roots of Peace CulturePosted here on August 16, 2010
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Bebot Santa Cruz (Mindanao-based environment conservationist, artist and peace-builder): To look at anything, like a dove sitting peacefully on a branch preening itself, with all eyes, ears, nerves, mind and hearts as a whole, completely requires energy. Energy that is not shoddy, dissipated mind, struggled nor has tortured itself with innumerable burdens to be one with the sitting dove.
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........One cannot find truth for peace without seeing this "passion," a word derived from the Latin word for "suffering". This passion, for generations, has existed and has been experienced by all individual Masbateños. They have all that freedom-- to see, energy to live with it with their families, children, surrounded by all turmoil and violence. They have all the knowledge, the whole truth of the history of the culture of violence. Thus the children were given a choice and decided, to side with violators or with the oppress and become one to struggle and survive in Masbate.
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........But for those who want a new life, a new beginning, they leave the island of Masbate and search for a new home. As an outsider who wants to share energy for peace, there is a need for knowledge, we have to ask, not just with curiosity but with all the passion, to understand completely where and how to energize the lost energy of Masbateños who want genuine peace and have it in their homeland -- or we might not know where our energy our passion will take us.
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........To start with my question, does the word “peace” or language of peace exist in the earlier tribal culture or customary laws of the Masbateños?...
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Posted here on August 11, 2010
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..........If the majority of the population is below the poverty level (which is the case in the Philippines) then, the menacing, dark, dangerous specter of violence looms large over that society. How can peace be achieved in a situation like this? More than ever it is time for the government, think-tanks, and grassroots peace groups to come together and really take an honest look at poverty in the Philippines. (Granting the new president and administration is open to this.) The cause of poverty in the Philippines is systemic. The existing agrarian system with largely foreign multinational-controlled component is unable to generate enough decent-paying jobs and sustainable local services and business. The result is the very high rate of unemployment which is a cancer in the economic bloodstream of the country. Desperate for jobs, many Filipinos take jobs in foreign countries under very harsh and dangerous working conditions. Many even go to work in war-torn Iraq!
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..........To think that this is a mind-blowing bomber would be an understatement. Well, what I believe is it's time for a paradigm change in the Philippine socio-economic system to put an end to poverty, and achieve genuine peace. The solution to the problem of poverty is within reach if the Filipino people will keep their minds and hearts to the opportunities of working together with trust, honesty, love, and a resolute determination to make the change.
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..........The country's leadership needs to set the tone and example for this change. I mean really change the socio-economic structure. Simply eradicating corruption is like putting a bandaid to o a massive, festering, gaping wound: the system that breeds corruption and all the other socio-economic disorders including poverty. An inconvenient truth and a way of life for Filipinos for centuries, poverty and its violence is real, frightening, an ugly threat to peace. Poverty in the Philippines should end. Taking the challenge of a paradigm change in the socio-economic system of the country is the solution.
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..........The new president, administration, and the Filipino people should rise to this task. Only then can the Philippines achieve true peace.
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About "Violence of Poverty in Masbate, in the Philippines"
Posted here on August 11-12, 2010
Shayne Merioles: I share this thought and belief. (Myrna's "The solution to the problem of poverty is within reach if...") I believe this is what brought the peacecamp-masbate team together and this is also what we hope to bring to the consciousness of fellow Masbatenos/Filipinos
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Ickx Tan: The definition of Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. How does it become violent unless someone who's in that level applies physical force intended to hurt others--that closes in the definition of being violent. Unless someone is explaining the sub-categories about poverty and it's outcome; there should be a word that defines this and not using the word "violence". This is just my opinion.
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Shayne Merioles: One of Galtung's key concepts is structural violence. Often when we use the term "violence," we think of direct or physical violence. But Galtung has seen how violence can have many faces, and that evil can exist in many subtle and evil ways. Structural violence is violence that does not hurt or kill through fists or guns or nuclear bombs, but through social structures that produce poverty, death and enormous suffering. Structural violence may be political, repressive, economic and exploitative, it occurs when the social order directly or indirectly causes human suffering and death.
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..........Let me give a few examples of the existence of such non-physical, but brutal violence. In the USA 30 million people live below the poverty line and receive their food from soup kitchens. Others can do whatever they want. When George Bush now wants to do a $ 1,35 trillion tax relief, it will reduce the lived human potential in the poor and perhaps even cause many deaths. Without using guns, Bush creates a structural order where the poor are repressed, and rich get richer. This political move is a subtle kind of violent act, which is possible in the modern society we live in today. George Bush is the opposite of Robin Hood: while Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor, George Bush takes from the tax money which could have been used for welfare, and gives a tax reduction to those who already are rich."
(source: Structural Violence & the Autonomy of Morals by Andreas Saugstad http://goinside.com/01/6/morals.html)
(Other people are invited to join in this and other conversations in "Sharing a Thread.")...
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Sobriety Needed to Protect Peace
Posted here on August 4, 2010
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........But Humankind was not about to be drawn into a stampede of hate. Peace-loving people around the world, including many Americans, held prayer and discussion sessions for peace to hold against the fires of collective fury.
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........And as ancient future-seer Nostradamus came to be quoted, a group of peace-lovers in the Phili ppines brought to life a counterpart character crying out loud for keeping our sanity in sobriety. That call, in ten quatrains, was Our Truth. And his name was “Nostraverus.”
........Let’s read and discuss those insightful quatrains of that collective poem in this web page: http://saniblakas.faithweb.com/NOSTRAVERUS.htm. And learn timeless valuable lessons about peace and its much needed defense.
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bout "Sobriety Needed to Preserve Peace")Posted here on August 5:
Moderator: Shortly before midnight last night, I posted here and in my own personal blogsite (readdingz.blogspot.com) an article introducing a ten-quatrain poem that was written on the basis of personal sharings among a group of SanibLakas members and friends about nine years ago, during the tension-filled month of September 2001, at the heels of the “Nine-Eleven” plane-bombing of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York. I provided an intro for this in a separate posting in my Facebook wall and in the walls of my Facebook friends. That has resuted in a thread of postings where two of my good friends, Erik and Rex, joined me in a friendly exchange that I embed below:
.Ding/Ed Reyes (original post): ... Peace!" in http://peacecamp-masbate.blogspot.com/. with an embedded link to the ten quatrains.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Erik Villanueva (leader in cooperativism): The 9-11 attacks were atrocious.
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Ding Reyes: They were atrocious, but not a valid excuse to skip due process esp. the necessity to prove the guilt of any suspect about to be punished with counter-atrocities.
Erik Villanueva: 9-11 and other terrorist attacks do not justify the sufferings of innocents anywhere from whatever source, but they justify every action to stamp out terrorism using military and other means. They are attacks on humanity, and so are the attacks on, say, MV Rachel Corrie by Israel. Humanity is at war with terrorists and warmaking states and peacemakers must see this as starting point unless they want the peace of cowards without conviction.
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Ding Reyes: the other extreme is to favor endless overreactions to overreactions, like the US overreactions to their own suspicions about Iraqi WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), mounting a full-scale invasion the UN security council had voted against, and unable to find any WMDs, admitted later by CIA to have been unproven, settled for capturing the Iraqi oil supply, while keeping the attempt to project a “moral high ground” for themselves as policemen of the world, and getting the Philippines and Spain into the coalition of the gullible (at least not of the cowards?). Peace, Erik!
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Rex Deveraturda (businessman in Zambales): Any act that results in the death or injury of parties not directly involved in the game of war or struggle is inhuman and would easily fall under the category of terrorism. Be it by a group of like-believers or by a nation that thinks it has policeman's role to play in the world's politico-economic arena. We must condemn any and all acts that kill innocent lives, destroy peace and squander our chance to Live as One.
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Erik Villanueva: You are right, they are not cowards in a sense. but to get along with your US-bashing, they are cowards in the sense that they take on only militarily weak Iraq and Afghanistan and leaves China and the Saudis alone. despite US bunglings, saying there is no basis for the war on terror will not make peacemaking credible. Yea, man! Peace, man!
Ding Reyes: I've been called names before, and "US basher" has been among them. In the Epilogue of my book, Demands of Dignity, launched February 4 last year (http://demands-dignity.8m.net), explain my attitude that terrorist attacks even of the distant past have to be remembered and learned from: "Inevitably, eventually, and ultimately, all wrongs cry out to be fully acknowledged, regretted and set aright. Your peace of mind now and in the future demands it. Your very dignity demands it." If we are to apply my friend Rex Deveraturda's point above to the Nuclear bombing of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan exactly 65 years ago today, in August 6, 1945, it would not be mere "US bashing" to say those twin bombings in the two cities are terrorist acts not to be forgotten just because the Nine-Eleven bombings were allededly by "Al Quaeda terrorists" while those in Japan were even proudly claimed officially by the government of the US of A.
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Letters Addressed to Our Youth'Be Good Teammates for Peace!'First Letter, Posted here on Aug. 10 2010
Victoria M. Segovia (Executive Director of the Partnership for Clean Air, a CAI-Asia Network): We would like you, our young people to work so that peace will be enjoyed by our country. Only then can we taste the sweet victory of genuine sustainable development - when peace reigns in our communities.
God bless you all, stay fit, healthy, happy and successful. Be good teammates, and practice peace in everything you do and say.
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peacecamp.masbate@gmail.com
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More Peace Advocates Needed!Posted here on Aug. 15, 2010
Jasmine Chaitanya: Thank you. our country needs more peace advocates. there will be no progress in chaos. let the fire of peace camp burning.
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Brave Attempt... doablePosted here on Aug. 2, 2010
Melo Acuña: It's a brave attempt to put all the killings behind but place the persons responsible before the bar of justice. That would be a great lesson for all.
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Moderator: You're right, Melo! But at least, let's try to unify minds and hearts about what is right and what is wrong on the peace question, and motivate all to be peace advocates. Mahirap na rin iyon, pero mas doable for everyone.
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Peace Within, Peace Between, Peace Among...May Peace be BETWEEN and AMONG us...
May Peace be in the Conscious Living Oneness of the Earth,
.....our planetary home and family!
May Peace be in our every breath, in our every smile!
Real, durable peace is dynamic peace
.....in our Conscious Oneness, in our Synergy!
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'Be
Peaceable to All Men!'Posted here on Aug. 4, 2010
"Give peace a chance. Be peaceable to all men".
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..You have my full support. If you have any announcements to make, please email it to me ASAP. It would be aired on our radio & TV programs in Manila, Pilipinas Online, Bantay OCW over Radyo ng Bayan, 738 KHz, AM Band, 1:00-2:00 pm, Monday-Thursday and NBN-Channel 4, 10:00-11:00 pm, Monday-Friday.
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Offering Access to Uploaded Articles on Peace
Posted here on Aug. 7, 2010
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Offering Access to More Uploaded Articles on Peace
Posted here on Aug. 8, 2010
Scan All Those Divisive Walls! By Ed Aurelio 'Ding' Reyes.
Freedom to Grow and Flow By Ed Aurelio Reyes.
Synergism in the Divine Plan By Mila R. Garcia.
Know Yourself, Know the 'Others' By Francis 'Kiko' Comendador.
Humanity is for One Another By Agaton 'Tony' Cruzada.
Bridges of Belief: Golden Rule in Various Faiths By Peter Schir...
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Feedback on: 'Offering Access to More Articles on Peace'
Posted here on Aug. 9, 2010
Marlene Damolo Howe: Anything for peace is a welcome change! Here in the US they removed the prayers and the wording of God in the Pledge of Allegiance to appease the non-religious groups or the atheist group. It seems that there is a strong resistance by the few and the majority gave in. I pray on my own and have my daily talk to God. Thank you... for sharing!
Moderator: Thanks so much for the immediate feedback. We hope you'd find time to read, and even respond to, the articles carried in the sharing. Please consider other items in this on-line forum to respond to, and/or post your own peace-loving thought-provoking ideas. Tell your friends, too!
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(FORUM MAJOR TOPIC No. 2)
.City Councilor Seeks Info.
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ed here on Aug. 1, 2010Jojo Cortes III: I am a last termer city councilor of Masbate City, recently been appointed City Information Officer. May I be apprised of what is Peace Camp all about?
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Moderator: Great, Jojo! now that you've given us a way to do it, we will. i will forward your message to the peacecamp-masbate-2010 initiator and overall coordinator, a proud daughter of masbate, right after i post this reply to you, and text her to open her facebook account page asap so she could see it immediately and start replying to you. we will apprise you completely and immediately.
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........Please open this webpage immediately: http://peacecamp-masbate.blogspot.com/. (i suggest that you bookmark it (add as "favorite"). that blogsite will be one of our main channels for spreading information on what we are doing. Today we are scheduled to start in it the "peacecamp-masbate on-line forum," and we would be very glad if you can join this immediately (on day-one pa sana, wow!).
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..........Let's keep in touch, Jojo, my newest friend on Facebook! Thanks for your message! Peace!
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..........Why Masbate? One of the reasons for holding this peace camp in Masbate is because its amongst the poorest provinces in the country, and as we may know, poverty is a result of some sort of violence ("structural violence" as it is termed). Another key driving force is the dismal truth that the province has for years, suffered from politically motivated violence. We want to initiate healing and introduce ways of peace somewhere... and start building, and empowering. And another reason why this peace camp will be held first in Masbate is because I am a Masbateña.
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..........The project has a core team behind it, we are composed of proactive citizens, from within and outside Masbate, who commonly advocate peace, stewardship of creation, and love of country (patriotism and nationalism). We are a team of volunteers.
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..........."www.peacecamp-masbate2010" will be held in TAMS Memorial High School in Armenia, Masbate this October. Participants to the camp will be students and teachers of the same school. A highlight activity - fundraising dinner concert will be held a month before the camp (September 22) here in Quezon City.
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..........If you've got more questions, thoughts, you may send in your messages to peacecamp.masbate@gmail.com which will be posted at http://peacecamp-masbate.blogspot.com/ (an online forum)
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..........Thank you for your time.
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.........We welcome any form of genuine support from your end to contribute to the success of the project. :) ...
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.Solidarity Message from Bacolod
Posted here on Aug. 2, 2010May Altarejos-Cueva, Proponent/Chair, "Project C.A.R.E.S." --Community Activities Reaching to Everyone thru Services), Bacolod City, Negros Occidental: "Let's GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! We can do our share. May your tribe increase. Stay safe."
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Moderator: Thanks so much for your message, Ms. May! (Ms. May Cueva's "Project CARES" commemorates 10 years so far of community service)
Masbateña Educator is Grateful
Posted here on Aug. 1, 2010)Dr. Noemi Alindogan, Cagayan de Oro-based professor with roots in Ticao Island, Masbate (Dr. Medina was the Founding Chairperson of the mainly-Academe-based Lambat-Liwanag Network for Empowering Paradigms.): Thank God that a very good friend of mine, Prof. Ed Aurelio Reyes, started a peace advocacy project in my native province, Masbate. I'm from San Fernando, Masbate but I decided to settle for good here in Mindanao as I felt so desperate and so all alone to work on a project like what Ed has just launched today. Actually, my dream for my beloved Masbate has found fulfillment at Misamis Oriental State College for Agriculture and Technology where I am presently working.
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..........Ito si Noemi Clemente Alindogan-Medina, tubong Ticao, Masbate
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Moderator: Thanks so much for your message, Dr. Noemi. Although I would have been so proud to claim having started this project, i have to clarify that I am just assisting it. Hindi po ako ang nag-initiate ng laudable project na ito, kundi ang best friend kong si Ms. Hyacinth R. Merioles, at ako ay tumutulong lamang, bilang isa sa kanyang mga tagapayo at katulong dito, at ang inilunsad ngayong on-line forum na proyekto ng "www.Peacecamp-Masbate2010" ay isa sa partikular kong assignments sa PeaceCamp project. Ms. Merioles, an International Studies graduate of Miriam College in Quezon City, is a proud Masbateña. And Masbate has big reason to be very proud of her, too....
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Posted here on August 1, 2010'Sana, Matuloy… masaya!'
Posted here on Aug. 3, 2010Reina Marie Ramos: mam, xna m2loy ung peace camp ntin pra masaya
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Christian: O NGA MAM SALI TAU EEJJEJEJEJEJEJEJ
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Moderator: matutuloy at magtatagumpay yon! kasi, titiyakin natin! di naman siguro kokontra ang Panginoon kung taos sa puso natin ang pagtataguyod sa kapayapaan, sa mulat na kaisahan ng mga tao na lahat naman ay Siya ang lumikha. At, tama ka, MASAYA!
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Christian: Tama!
'Go-go-go, Peacecamp-Masbate!'
Posted here on Aug. 3, 2010Orlan Tiu de Guzman: Mabuhay tayong lahat!
Go, go, go, Peacecamp Masbate! . ..............As we know it, several peace camps have already been started all over (mostly in Mindanao). I know of one organized by Binhi ng Kapayapaan, Inc. that links Christian, Muslim & Lumadnon youths from Mindanao, Manila and Nueva Ecija. I've heard of several also in Metro Manila --Youth Peace Camp c/o Communication Foundation for Asia and a recent one last month by the Asia America Initiatives and Young Moro Professionals Network. It is good to know that all this sowing of seeds of peace have been started..
May peace that starts from within us radiate to others all around the country!
..........And now here is one for another province (it is best that seeds are sown throughout as wide as possible!). . --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
..........Let us envision peace camps sprouting all over the archipelago to create a critical mass of empowered and awakened youth peace-sowers, and let us work together for this to happen. Bathala Nawa!
COMING SOON AS A SECTION FOR THIS ON-LINE FORUM...
MGA HABILIN SA KABATAAN (para sa Kapayapaan).....................................................--Moderator
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