Peace Day Greetings from Culture of Peace Initiative & Mur de la Paix

Gratitude and blessings to all on this International Day of Peace!

This year thousands of organizations (local and global) are holding tens of thousands of events for the International Day of Peace, involving hundreds of millions of people - teaching, serving, praying, working, celebrating, helping and more. Some events will continue until Oct. 2nd the International Day of Non-Violence (Gandhi's birthday); and some have been going on since Sept. 11th.
There are many ways to observe peace: government and security; education and media; economics and business; health and relationships; religion and spiritual teachings; environment and habitat; personal and cultural; science and technology. The United Nations urged people around the world to make their voices heard to strengthen peace and democracy. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon called on individuals to speak out for social justice, the rule of law, and the right to a say in one's own future.
We remind people of our three guiding principles: Peace inside - find and act from a state of peace within ourselves; Peace outside - engage in practical acts of peace for the good of others; and Peace year round - commit to an ongoing peacebuilding practice. Together we are helping humanity to create a worldwide culture of peace.


Mur de la Paix

The Mur de la Paix (Wall of Peace) is one of those many interesting pieces of modern art that are scattered through Paris.
Above all, its dimensions are quite impressive: 16m long, 13m wide and 9m high.
It consists of twelve glass panels where the word PEACE is written in 32 languages and 13 alphabets.
The monument was built in 2000 on the southern part of the Champ de Mars, in front of the Ecole Militaire, to symbolize the passage into the third millennium and was directly inspired by the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
The choice of this location has a high symbolic value in our French culture.
Each village used to have a Champ de Mars, a large field dedicated to the Roman God of War and used for military exercises as well as local fairs and festivals.
This custom that goes back to the pagan era could not be eradicated by the Church of Rome and the name remained.
It then seemed obvious to build the Mur de la Paix on the Champ de Mars...
The monument should have remained in place for three months only, but eleven years later it is still there!
You can leave your personal message of peace by sliding it in the slots provided for this purpose. The web addicts can simply post their message on the site of the Mur pour la Paix and see it displayed on the monument.

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