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
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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
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
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
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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