Find Your Stranger: Change history

15 May 2015

 

 

"We live between two worldsan old order that is dying but not yet dead,

and a new order that is conceived but not fully born."

        ~ Ambassador James A. Joseph

My vision, my perception, my understanding of what it means to be a universal citizen has grown.

Life gets better when you share it.

In order to have a meaningful life, you have to choose love. . .love and peace rather than choosing to be right.

        ~ Oprah Winfrey

            Harry's Last Lecture on a Meaningful Life

            Stanford University, April 2015

            https://rathbun.stanford.edu/rathbun-visiting-fellow-2015

"Above all, love a stranger wherever you go -- across the street, across the world. 

Find your strangers and love them.  And you will change history. 

You will change the world." 

        ~ Marc Gopin

            TedXBerkeley, March 2015

            http://tedxberkeley.org/portfolio-item/marc-gopin

= = 1 = =
Finding the Stranger
in a Heartbeat
Heartbeat -- http://heartbeat.fm -- is based in Jerusalem to amplify the voices of Palestinian and Israeli youth musicians, enabling them to transform the status quo in their communities and dismantle prejudice.

The  2015 Heartbeats touring band of Israeli and Palestinian musical artists and composers completed an inspiring, month-long US Tour of18 shows and 9 workshops with their messages for equality and empathy touching 3,000 audience members from Washington, DC to Chicago and beyond, and professional recording sessions are underway.
    
PHOTOS are at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153355310623714.1073741839.365054763713&type=3

SEE Heartbeats new post-high school Graduate Program of Arab and Jewish musicians converging for an exciting first retreat in Haifa -- http://heartbeat.fm/graduates/


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Finding the Stranger
to Simply Sing
SIMPLY SING in Jerusalem brought together over two thousand young Palestinians and Jews to celebrate life and the new "Simply Singing" initiative which began at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to create face-to-face community by sharing cultures and common passions.

Shoulder-to-shoulder learning each other's songs, participants sang together in both Hebrew and Arabic. The event was headlined by singer Lubna Salame and the Yemen Blues band, who together created a special joint performance for the event proving once again the power of music to lower walls and erase boundaries.

Lubna Salame. a resident singer with the Nazareth Orchestra, in childhood sang classical Arabic songs with a religious choir before becoming an instant star after her first concert at the 2000 Israel Festival.

Yemen Blues is lead by singer Ravid Kahalani, who combines the ancient Jewish melodies of his Arab-Jewish family's native Yemen with West African, funk and mambo influences. Time Out Chicago wrote that Yemen Blues is "one of the most exciting bands in world music right now.

A food truck featured two chefs -- one Arab, the other Jewish -- who worked together to create fusion dishes that reflected both their cultures (gefilte fish with knafeh anyone?). Chef Elias Mattar from the northern Galilee region and Chef Marcus Gershkowitz, co-owner of Jerusalem's famous Angelica restaurant, demonstrated cuisine from their kitchens.

 

Jews, Arabs Simply Sing in Jerusalem

3-1/2 min video - Jerusalem - Novemeber 2014    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rJ_RB3Iwws

and

https://www.facebook.com/JewishStandard/videos/10152637463728717/

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Finding the Stranger
to Apologize
Japanese citizens are showing humankind the power of empathy and personal apology for healing.
Led by women, former WW2 combatants are doing what governments cannot or will not -- expressing regret
for war, mostly crimes -- acts of unspeakable cruelty and life-long wounds.
They are exemplars of empathy and dignity to anyone on Earth who wishes to rescue people from humiliation and truly heal themselves, their victims, and relationships.

BRIDGES FOR PEACE -- http://bridgeforpeace.jp/aboutus/english/ -- was created by Naoko Jin, a Japanese wife, mother, researcher, and author who receives e-mail at Naoko@bridgeforpeace.jp
BfP participants maximize the power of Listening and Story to awaken empathy and heal both victim and perpetrator.
Unforgettable Voices

 

Accounts of war victims

February 2012 -- 97 pages

http://traubman.igc.org/unforgettablevoices.pdf

and

http://www.scribd.com/doc/150531723/Unforgettable-Voices-edited-and-written-by-Bridge-for-Peace-JAPAN

Sixty years after the war--What can young Japanese generation do?

Naoko Jin -- 2005

http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Jin.htm

Yukako Ibuki is another very special human being -- a powerful woman of Bridges for Peace.
Yuka has volunteered countless hours translating the journals of Japanese WW2 survivors.
She is driven to promote sensitivity and a better understanding between the people and cultures that were caught up in the terrible conflagration of war.

 

The Battle for Bataan: A Japanese Officer's Memoir

Transcribed by Yukako Ibuki

http://kumaibuki.com

Dear Visitors,

Thank you for reading the story of Mr. Toshimi Kumai.

I am a retired teacher of English in Tokyo, who has lived a happy life meeting people from different parts of the world in friendship.

Being six years old at the end of the Pacific theatre of WWII, I have been concerned and learning different war experiences of various people. 

My heartfelt apology as a Japanese goes to the people victimized by fanatic brutality caused by the Japanese.

This report is part of my small contribution as I work with my wish for lasting peace and friendship, based on the facts and realities of the past war.

~ Yuka Ibuki

= = 4 = =
Small Steps
are Big

 

Small Steps -- Big Impact

The importance of one person, one small contribution

March 2015 - 1-minute video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_udUNFxgEA

Little Actions Can Change the World

Change is in our hands

4-1/2 min video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT-HBl2TVtI


"Your future is so bright it burns my eyes.

You cant even imagine it."

        ~ Oprah Winfrey

            Harry's Last Lecture on a Meaningful Life

            Stanford University, April 2015

            https://rathbun.stanford.edu/rathbun-visiting-fellow-2015

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This message is on the Web at http://traubman.igc.org/messages/685.htm
Hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm