Bobsy Blog 2019 No. 14

WORLD PEACE DAY SEPTEMBER 21st 2019…

International Day of Peace is celebrated every year since 1981…And this day also happens to be the Autumn Equinox; where the length of the day & the length of the night are equal, thereby heralding the first day of Autumn.

My beloved city of Hong Kong is going through some challenging & very difficult times these daze, rightly or wrongly so, change is in the air & interesting times are upon us. I understand the demands of the demonstrations & I equally understand the awkward position of the Government. I believe HK is a resilient city & I believe we will all come through this stronger & wiser than ever before. But we must hold Peace in our Hearts & Minds at all times.

How much more effective would we be if we threw Flowers instead of bricks? How much more effective would the demonstrations be if they were totally Peaceful? There is a universal power in Peace that the world listens to. It is addictive & contagious and crosses borders and transcends creeds, religions, political opinions & assumptions. The power of Peace cannot be understated, it just needs to be understood & felt for it to become very, very real.

There is nothing more powerful than the image of hundreds of thousands of people marching in solidarity for a universal cause. An image once glimpsed of people from all ages & all walks of life marching together in silence for a just cause, marching peacefully displaying love & understanding, will haunt our minds & hearts forever, and will therefore have a much more powerful impact, and thereby have much further reaching consequences. This is also true for global public opinion, regardless of ones political orientation & partisan side. Our greatest teachers & visionaries all knew this fundamentally and inherently practiced this against the odds at times and consequently changed the world. Lao Tzu, Gautama Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Rodney King to name a few.

As the great Mahatma Gandhi famously said: “There is no way to peace, peace is the way“. In other words violence begets violence. If there is something we want in life, we must become it. So if we want peace in our lives we need to become peaceful & live peaceful lives, not just for ourselves & our families but especially for the others, for ALL Life. That means our thoughts, our attitudes & our actions need to embody peace. For example, one can’t be eating animals that were brutally killed and advocate peace. One can’t be investing in a company or stock shares that are directly or indirectly burning down our rainforests, and advocate peace. One can’t be living independent from ones actions, and advocate peace, and increasingly so, from ones lifestyle today without harming others. Be it the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the primates in the forest, the refugees fleeing war or the melting ice sheets in the poles.

As Khalil Gibran said “Pray not in your distress & times of troubles but pray in your times of abundance & peace” (not exact words verbatim)".

Did we as HK people give thanks for our moments of abundance & peaceful lifestyles? Or did we take it all for granted? These are relevant questions to ask in these times and well worth reflecting upon.

Power to the peaceful.

Until soon…
Bobsy Gaia