Forum on Nonviolence and Empathy

The world is in a terrible and terrifying state, riven with violent conflict.  What can we do to transform violent incidents and situations, to build a culture of peace?  What can we do TODAY to change things?  This is what we discussed in the forum. 

 

Please share this with your networks and please comment below. Thanks. 

 

Go here for more from the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence 2023.  

 

 

Embrace Love

Jo Anne Meekins wrote this poem to share during the funeral of her 15-year-old great-niece, Ke Yanna Shanay Jones, who was stabbed in the heart when she walked her friend to the bus stop and got in the middle of a melee of people who got off the bus at the stop where she was heading. 

 

They had taken offense at a man who was unpleasant to a pregnant woman on the bus. 

 

 

Embrace Love 

 

Embrace love, it is designed to cover a multitude of sins;
Release the anger to be productive, effective, and win.

God is love and He created us all to love ourselves,

each other, and Him.

It's time to make different choices
if we want to change our environment
and the hatred of the world that we are living in.

Ke Yanna, who was just beginning to live,
is a victim of circumstance.

An innocent bystander caught between
the poor choices of an angry group,
converging at the same location, by chance.

 

If we loved ourselves and our neighbors more,
this story could have ended a better way;
instead of paying respects to the memory
of a 15-year-old angel, who ended up slain.

 

How do we handle tragedies
and move forward, beyond these types of crimes?

By practicing love and compassion within our hearts,
and affirm godly thoughts within our minds.

Stop reacting to negative behavior,
Respond in LOVE for life's problems to be solved.

Don't turn a blind eye to the chaos around you,
step up and be unafraid to get involved.

My heart was broken and heavy laden with pain
by the loss of this precious loved one from my life.

Yet, I was able to heal, forgive, and be whole again
through the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ.

By Jo Anne Meekins © 2008

For more powerful poems from The Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence, see:  

When Will the Killing End?  by Gloria Clark

Faces of the Bereft by Hilary Thomas 

Lamentation, Verse 718 by Carla Cherry 

For the Lovers by Carla Cherry. 

Go here for The Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence 2023.

 

 

 

Your Experiences Are So Important

Peace Circles

Your experiences of empathy, nonviolence and/or violence are so important. They are vital. People want to read, and hear, about your experiences because we can relate to them and feel inspired by them.

If you have witnessed violence - and everyone has at some point in our lives - we will connect with your experience from the heart.

If you are recovering from violence, many people around the world share your concerns and will be inspired by your vulnerability, your courage and your healing process.

 

If you are helping others to recover from violence, through writing or teaching or through other means, people will be touched and inspired by your message.

If you are sharing practical nonviolent methods, your work can help others all over the world. We can end the culture of violence, help grow the culture of empathy and spread the culture of peace.

The Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence is a collective effort. You can be a part of it. And I extend an enormous “Thank You” to all of the bloggers who have contributed to our first 10 years.

Please share your experience with the Blogging Carnival of Nonviolence 2023. Your blog post can be:

• a written blog; 
• a vlog;
• an audio blog or podcast;
• a poem; or
• any other form you choose to use.

Go to our Facebook page to contact us and submit your blog post.

The 2023 blog posts will appear here.

Go here for the guidelines.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Please share this with your networks and please comment below.  Thanks!