QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."
- - Seren Kierkegaard
Rhino here:
On July 10th, John Wallach, the Founder and President of Seeds of Peace,
passed away of nonsmoker's lung cancer. He was a passionate journalist and
activist; a wonderful example of what one person can do to make a better
world. Seeds of Peace is a non-profit, non-political organization that helps
teenagers from regions of conflict learn the skills of making peace. It is
set at a camp in the woods of Maine where the youngsters can air their views
and learn listening, communication and other conflict resolution techniques
that allow them to develop empathy for one another.
Each year more than 300 outstanding Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian,
Palestinian, Moroccan, Tunisian, Qatari, Yemeni and other Middle Eastern
teenagers are chosen from more than 2,000 applicants to participate in the
program. Selected by their respective governments without regard to economic
or social background, and based solely on academic performance and
leadership ability, these young people are destined to become tomorrow's
leaders.
Below is an excerpt of a letter by John's son chronicling his fathers
exemplary life.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SEEDS OF PEACE, GO TO:
http://www.seedsofpeace.org
TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN ASSIST SEEDS OF PEACE, GO TO:
http://www.seedsofpeace.org/display.cfm?section=Ways%20You%20Can%20Help
"A Letter on Behalf of My Father", by Michael Wallach.
...he became a reporter, and his first big story almost got him fired. He
had heard that the American President, Lyndon Johnson had considered
stopping the Vietnam War, but had decided against it. John wrote a front
page story. Johnson, the President, was so upset at the bad press that he
asked the head of the newspaper to fire him. "Get rid of that
whippersnapper" said Johnson. I don't think it was the first mischevious
pro-peace thing my dad did, and it certainly wasn't the last.
Later in his life, more presidents, and the CIA wished he had been fired. In
the 1980's he broke a newspaper story in America about how the U.S.
government had illegally shipped weapons to the Contras in Nicaragua, and
how the CIA had secretly mined the Nicaraguan harbors. It was called the
Iran-Contra scandal, and he won the highest award you could win for
journalism, called the Overseas Press Club award.
In 1985, my father began working for peace in a different way, starting a
dialogue program between U.S. and Soviet Diplomats, and an exchange between
American and Soviet artists. It was called the Chataqua Conference, and
thousands of Soviet citizens came to a small town in New York to meet
Americans for the first time. Together, they listened to bluegrass music and
talked about the future, and shook hands for the first time. Soon after, my
father started a newspaper called "WE," which was the first paper published
in both the Soviet Union and the United States...
TO READ THE ENTIRE LETTER, GO TO:
http://www.seedsofpeace.org/wallachletter.cfm
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright
law ( http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html ).
All copyrights belong to original publisher.
Rhino's Weblog is the responsibility of The Rhino.
Gary Rhine
rhino@kifaru.com
http://www.kifaru.com
http://www.dreamcatchers.org
http://radio.weblogs.com/0103207/
8:42:51 AM
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