Most inspirational peace hero

There is no doubt in my mind that Martin Luther King Jr. is the most inspirational peace hero of our time. Martin Luther King Jr. was a religious man and co-pastor to his grandfathers church. He was highly educated and elected by his white classmates to be their senior class president. After high school he attended Boston University and recieved his doctorate in 1955. In Boston he met his wife Coretta Scott and they had two children. Martin Luther King Jr. was always a strong activist for civil rights movements for his race. He was part of a large group called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was part of the bus boycott which allowed whites and negros to ride on the city busses together. The boycott lasted 382 days and during this time Martin Luther's home was bombed, he was arrested, and subjected to personal abuse. However, it was at this time that he became recognized for being a first class Negro leader. In the year of 1957 Martin Luther was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It was an organization formed for the civil rights movement. Between 1957-1968 Martin Luther travelled over 6 million miles and spoke over 2500 times. He went to which ever location had injustive, protest and action. He wrote 5 books and numerous articles. Martin Luther King Jr. led a protest in Alabama that shocked the entire world. He wanted negros to have voting rights and started the peace march to Washington involving 250,000 people. He told them, "I have a dream." Martin Luther was a very brave leader who was arrested more than 20 times and assulted 4 times. He was given 4 honourary degrees and named man of the year by time magazine in 1963. He was an idol to the entire world. Martin Luther recieved the nobel prize when he was just 35 years old. He was the youngest to ever recieve it. He gave his nobel prize award money to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. The amount was $54,123. Horrifically on the night of april 4,1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated while standing on his motel balcony in Tennessee. He was scheduled to lead a protest march with the garbage workers of the city who were on strike. He is deffinately the most inspirational peace hero of this time because of his courage and endurance. He did not fear death or being in danger because he knew that what he was fighting for was more important than just one person. He was willing to risk himself for his race and get awareness and knowledge to the people of the world about the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was a true inspiration and i believe he has influenced many people and was a major eye opener in the 50-60's.



http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

Youth in Action:what inspires me to act

For many youth today it is easy for them to forget about the world and it's issues. In my life i have always been aware of global problems and want to be able to change them for the better. The media has helped showcase these conflicts and i always want to help the poor kids, families or innocent people who have no hope. Music is a major influence in my life because i feel like there are a lot of passionate song writers who are aware and want to use their fame to promote awareness. There is a song by john mayer called waiting on the world to change which is influential to many people. It talks about  the misunderstood people and how war is not the only answer. Nobody likes war and if we had the power then we would not be sending our loved ones off on a life threatening mission. A lot of  people don't think that we have the power but we need to enable ourselves to make change and help one another.  The song also points out how when the media owns the information that they are showing you they can bend it all they want and it isn't necessarily true.  We care but we know that what is happening in the world is unfair. We don't know what to do to help so we just wait for something to change. These songs and artists can show so many young people that there is a way to change the world. If the youth are the future peacekeepers i think it is the 20-30 year old artists that need to be putting messages out in their songs because with leaders like this we can truly change the world. Movies also help because when you see someone who is an idol you want to be like them and help and when you help you feel good about yourself. You feel like your really making a difference even if it is small. 

News report

News Report
By:steph p
Impact of War and Conflict on Humans and their Environment

Today there is sad news in the International Community. Physical, psychological, health, displacement, education, and gender specific violence…these are all of the things that negatively affected by the war. There are 17 countries with over 100,000 people infected with AIDS orphans and 13 of these countries are in conflict. In 2001 more than half of the outbreaks of infectious diseases came from conflicted areas. Young mothers in war zones have to look after their displaced families on their own if the father dies and he acts as a soldier. They don’t have someone to help them with the chores or to clean up after a meal, if there is enough food for a meal that is. They don’t have protection that they need. Tens of thousands of people flee from the horrific fighting in the Congo (E-DRC). Children have to carry children, elderly, and the ill on their backs to safety. Children are forced to grow up before their times and accept that if they are meant to die this young that they will. War zones have more infant mortality rates, premature births, and birth defects. If these were your children how would you feel? Who would you want to help? People affected by war need urgent help from the international community. People are malnourished. Many people are hungry and do not know when their next meal will be or where they have to go next. How would you feel if you lost all possessions and properties you thought no one could take from you? World Vision visited their headquarters at the Kibumba region. During their visit they heard rapid gunfire close by. The heavily armed men were always stationed at the doors to keep guard. A full army vehicle rushed by the headquarters towards the closest town, inside was a wounded soldier. Armed conflict causes homelessness, unemployment, and deep physical trauma. Some of the internally displaced persons who made it to Kanyaruchina area were sweating, exhausted and hungry, but hopes were high and they were glad to be safe. World Vision was responsible for the movement of an elderly man with Tuberculosis to the safe haven of Goma because he was unable to walk that far. Soldiers limped with bandages by their blood drenched uniforms that were hung to air dry. World Vision distributed milk in the Congo behind enemy lines in November 2008. Mothers bring their children to get nutritious milk in hopes that they can care for their children. They hope after the conflict ends that there will be less malnutrition. In countries with malnutrition and disease the death rates from armed conflict can rise up to 24X what they were.(Especially children under the age of 5.) Rape is used as an ethnic cleansing. The women are forced to become “wives.” They must do chores and can be raped at any given time. In Uganda 8 year old girls are being kidnapped and trained to fight or forced into domestic and sex slavery. The impact of war on people is so tremendous that we must keep peace and stop the wars all together. The innocent people who are affected by wars suffer the most I believe. They have no choice in anything that goes on in their environment and are commonly forced to flee. I don’t believe this is just and it is up to us to help change the situations.

I thought this documentary was interesting but very long. I liked how informative it was and the details about clean war. I agree that the reports in Iraq are exaggerated and very excited about it and how calm people could be to be watching something so terrible in their living rooms just the same as they would watch any other show.  The pentagon in the united states was also encouraging war and in 2003 at the beginning of the war the war trailer was used to promote recruiting. It talked about a lot of movies that promote war and how top gun was used to recruit a lot of people. It changed many peoples views on war and encouraged them to join. When reports were reporting they would talk as if they were in Iraq. For example they would say " we are moving to the line of fire" instead of saying the troops are. I found that some of the reports had lots of fake emotions. There was more reality shows out about war and bootcamps and war games. Some of the reporters would go to boot camp so that they could go along with the soldiers. Technofetishism is frightening because it means worship or obsession of weapons. It can make people want to be around them more often and some people are dangerous and should not be exposed to things like that.

About Me

I decided to take this course because i think its important that as many people learn about peace as possible because conflict can be a global issue that everyone has a responsibility to address. To me peace means keeping combatants apart until a resolution can be made. I think war is necessary at times when trying to establish peace where none exists but i don't agree with certain wars that are irrational.