Peace and Harmony Statue

[Sharon DAvis]

Hi,
This is Gennifer Davis again. I think I need to respond to thereasons for
the statue vs. food and clothing, etc. I spoke with Jason Crowe before I
wrote this and he said it so well, that I felt I should send you his
response instead of mine... Besides the hope that it will instill in the
Bosnian youth...there are several groups dedicated to supplying food,
clothes, drugs, and eradicating land mines.  These groups have a BIG base of
support and many are led by celebrities- such as Lucianno Pavarotti, War
Child (musicians), Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Bianca Jagger, etc.  They are
able to raise huge amounts of money, and I think that a youth group
dedicated to sending clothes, food, etc. to Bosnia would simply be
superfluous. Sure youth could collect some money and send it in, and this
might be fine for a one-time project,  but I hardly see how this would make
much of an impact on solving the problem in the Balkans.  Food, etc. is not
going to solve the problem of ethnic tension.

The statue project and Youth for Peace in the Year 2000 are unique. There
are no youth groups to my knowledge that have organized to help Bosnia. The
statue  and Y4PY2K, which will have a summit in Bosnia when the statue is
unveiled, represent an opportunity for youth to speak to youth and to look
for solutions to the problems in the Balkans from a youth perspective.
Instead of sending clothes we are going to be meeting with the Bosnian youth
to see what *they* perceive their needs to be, and then we will work
together -an international community of youth- to meet those needs.  When we
meet with the youth of Bosnia, then we will ask *them* what they feel they
most need.  If they say books, we will send books.  If they say prostheses
for victims of landmines, then we will raise the money for that.  If they
say an orphanage, we will raise money for that. If they say a center where
youth can come together to increase the peace, then we will raise money for
that!  I am sure it will help build their morale and their trust in the
international community to know that a group of youth cared enough to ask
*them* what they need rather than to just send in the standard humanitarian
aid to be distributed by the standard impersonal agency.

In other words the statue is a first step- a symbol to the Bosnian people
(who don't trust anyone considering that the entire international community
deserted them) of our earnestness and desire to help them.  The statue
simply opens the door into the country and the hearts of the people so that
we will be in a position to collaborate with the Bosnians to reach decisions
which will effect the future of the country.

The statue, in addition to being a first step/door opener in the process of
youth problem solving,  is meant to be a symbol for now and for future
generations of our desire for peace.  I suppose that the French people
didn't have to send the Statue of Liberty to us.  I am sure at that point in
time in our country, we could have used the money in the treasury. (In fact
we probably owed France money!)  But luckily no one in France said (or if
they did other people had the sense to ignore them)  "Don't send a silly
statue ... send some money to help them since they have just begun as a
country, have already had to fight the British in a couple of wars, and are
struggling to become the first democracy in history."  Because these
Frenchmen had a sense of the historical import of our nation, and a sense of
beauty, and a sense of art as a lasting symbol for important concepts like
freedom, we are blessed with a statue that has become synonymous with our
country. Not that I am deluded enough to think that a bronze, life-size
statue will achieve this fame, but the principle is the same.  Our statue
will be a memorial to what these people endured, to the future that they are
trying to build, and to the fact that the children of the 21st century took
a stand against war and genocide and insisted that they be seen and heard as
a united peaceful FORCE standing for peace and harmony.

Joan Baez understands the reasons behind the peace statue perfectly.  She
told me what she believes and lives by.  They are actually the words of an
old millworker's song which goes, "Give us bread, but give us roses."  The
other organizations are supplying the bread, our statue will supply the
roses to Bosnia.  In other words, the statue is humanitarian aid to the
spirit, not the body.  The Bosnians especially need this kind of aid because
they were literally deserted and forgotten by the rest of the world when
they were being cleansed out of existence.  Obviously their spirit as a
people was very, very wounded.  The statue tells them
1) that we remember and honor them for their struggle to survive and to
overcome the hatred that a few in power built on and actively sought to
increase for their own political gain.
2) that we have faith in them - and especially the young people- to reach
out to each other and bridge the cultural gap and build a harmonious
multicultural society,
3) and that even as children we have begun to work internationally for peace
so that history will not repeat itself and so that "Never again" will really
mean "Never again" this time.

There is another reason also for a statue that is quite practical.  Bosnia
lost almost all of its monuments during the siege. No one can ever replace
the old mosques, churches, and other historic monuments, but our statue can
be a monument to their future.  I have even found research saying that there
needs to be a program of rebuilding which in its design focuses on youth and
multiculturalism!

I hope that this has enlightened those who don't understand our cause and I
hope that this will allow more people to join our cause and help with
creating the Peaceful FORCE Across America by creating the chain of hope and
helping us raise the needed funds to do so.  If I didn't give you our
official website before... http://www.members.sigecom.net/jdc
Peace within,
Gennifer Davis
"Never doubt that a small group of concerned, thoughtful citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has"...Margaret Mead

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

YouthLearn (http://www.youthlearn.org) brings together youth professionals
to share information on using technology as part of learning, especially in
out-of-school programs. YouthLearn is a service of the Morino Institute,
a nonprofit organization (http://www.morino.org). We hope this list assists you
in your efforts to make a difference in the lives and potential of young people.

Tips:
· To post a message to this group, send an email to
  mailto:youthlearn at listserv.morino.org

· To unsubscribe from this group (either temporarily or
  permanently) or to receive YouthLearn in digest form, go to
  http://www.youthlearn.org/join/mailing.html

· To search the YouthLearn archives, go to
  http://LISTSERV.morino.org/youthlearn.html

· To contact the list facilitator, send an email to
  mailto:pmcketa at morino.org

Be sure to visit http://www.youthlearn.org.
We are adding content all the time!

The Youthlearn discussion forum is powered by L-Soft's LISTSERV(R) software.