SI MONTHLY NEWS August 2008 Editorial
From SI Exco News
Servas Attitude in Action?
We are members of Servas, as a Peace organisation where Peace should have that capital P. Do we live out that Peace in our everyday lives or do we just keep it for being hosts/travellers and attending meetings? This was brought home to me today by a phone call from a friend who is also a long time Servas member. He has had growly emails from me about a neighbour of mine who is currently being less than helpful. As part of our conversation he was asking how things were going for me and quietly said. "You are a member of Servas." He did not need to say anything more. I fully understood. He meant that as a member of Servas I should not be getting into altercations with anyone but should be looking for a Peaceful solution. I assured him that I was trying my best and that currently, because I was so annoyed, it was preferable to keep out of her way rather than have the confrontation that I know she wants. She has already tried to have a screaming match, but found to her disappointment that screaming matches do not work when the 'opponent' does not reciprocate. However I am also aware that this is not the best long term solution. I am hoping that a 2 week break travelling in Europe will help me find a solution.
And so the aspect of Peace in our everyday lives is around us all the time. It does not just apply to Peace between different countries, Peace between different sections or ethnic groups in countries but is an important factor in individual lives. I try to get the children at school to understand that fighting between countries is a macrocosm of the microcosm of fighting in the school playground. Learning to be peaceful in the playground could help cutting back world wide incidents.
Look at page 9 and more Peace related websites are shown. I would welcome people sending more recommendations for us to share.
Pages 2 and 3 give us a view of the Youth Conference in Istanbul. Hopefully this bringing people together has helped generate more peaceful actions.
Here some members are generating music for Peace.
Count down to 2009
- * * * * * * *
o Servas 60th Anniversary
o Activities round the world
o January Youth in Australia
o Belgium and Britain activities see p4
o GA, Turkey August - to be confirmed
o New editor needed for SI and Monthly News
I am awaiting expressions of interest for taking over the editorship. Potential editors might like to work with me over the coming year to find out what is expected. (note: am doing this with the treasurer post in Britain) Please contact me at: newsletter[at]servas.org
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