Send Them Peace

Here STP will suggest targets that need Peace and Compassion, and sent their way, right on target,  through The Challenge.

You are welcome and encouraged to suggest other targets. Send your suggestion to:  targets@sendthempeace.com

To use this page,

... see yourself as a hawk, flying over a terrain, and getting a clear sense of what it contains. Do not get lost in the material details of the problems linked to on this page. Do so, and you may never emerge from the "hungry ghosts" of misery evident in our world. While one day you may be moved enough to travel where help is needed: carrying water, chopping wood, dressing wounds, teaching ... While such a voyage is laudable, here for now, through joining others in meeting The Challenge each day at 12:00 noon (GMT), shift your focus. Instead, travel in the Spirit, learning how to do this better each day, and SendThemPeace. It takes 20 minutes. Have faith that in uniting with others in this effort, like 10,000 butterflies, World Spirit will sort out, sort through, and correct, one after another, perhaps several at once, these imbalances in our planet's Body and Mind, in its Material Nature. Does that seem like too big a problem for you alone? Of course. It is too big a problem for you alone. But you are not alone.

Simply say "yes." Simply say: "Hey, I'm doing this. I'm in." Put it on your iPhone, on a Post-It, write it on your hand, send yourself an email. Put it on your calender or use ours. But especially, put it in your heart. Then notice how, with time, this practice changes you and the rest of your day. Simply say "yes. I'm in."

Are these all the "Bad Countries?"

Or perhaps, the countries with the most starving mouths to feed, or destroyed daily by civil war in the streets? It is too easy to relate to these stereotypes as "cardboard cutouts," blocking the flow of feeling from sympathy, to empathy, to compassion. 

These Targets are the places where difficulty exists in joining the Global Community of Our World: A birth usually complicated by a great deal of suffering. In another article, you can hear more about what a "Good Country" is from Simon Anholt, but it is not the opposite of a "Bad Country." A "Good Country" is, however, the opposite of a selfish country. In our STP Target Overviews, this "Good Country Ranking" is also taken into account where available. Clearly, Targets that score poorly, where selfishness at a global level is in evidence, not by coincidence, are usually lacking in empathy for their populations. Such deficits are also part of identifying them as Targets for The Challenge. Do have a look at Anholt’s presentation to better understand.

Clearly, this is only a beginning, yet perhaps, somehow, the right place to start ...

By Country :

Notice who the key International Actors are as you read these reports. Consider also, the STP Target Overviews to get the most information.

Afghanistan -  STP Target Overview and  Learn more.  In 1963, my father was Chief of Public Works for Far East Asia, under the US Agency for International Development (USAID), of the US State Department. That included a span of giving from Kabul, Afghanistan to Djakarta, Indonesia. Since then, support from the US-AID program has continued to pour into this country. Why is such AID sometimes counterproductive if the goal is to obtain Peace, even though well-intentioned? Taliban control is increasing systematically. Has the US presence in Afghanistan, learned from its own mistakes? Perhaps not yet.

Bosnia - Herzegovina  -  Learn more. STP Target Overview.

Burundi -  STP Target Overview. and Learn more. The UN’s perspective on Burundi (Dec., '15). See if you find any instructive thoughts here, related to current global counter-terrorism measures. Peace and Poverty start with the same letter. Are they mutually exclusive in Africa today?

Cambodia -   STP Target Overview  and  Learn more. 

Central African Republic -  STP Target Overview. Target selected for June 11 to Friday, June 24, 2016.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo - STP Target Overview   Understanding the DRC's  legacies of violence.

A Journal of never-ending violence. Being clear about travel to the D.R.C. : Don't!

WARNING: Armed groups in North and South Kivu, Orientale provinces, northern and central regions of the Katanga province, and the eastern section of Maniema, have been known to pillage, steal automobiles, take hostages, sexually assault, murder, and carry out violent operations in which civilians are indiscriminately targeted. U.S. Department of the State advises to avoid all but essential travel.

Read in particular about Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s Death to get a sense of the political historical past (1960's) in the Post-colonial Congo.

Honduras -   Learn more. Honduras is the country with the highest murder rate in our world.

Iraq -  Learn more.

Israel - Read our STP Overview. So many things have been tried to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How about Compassion?

Kuwait -  Learn more.  Do you buy gasoline refined from oil from Kuwait for your car? See the consequences.

Mali -  Learn more.

Myanmar (Burma) -  STP Overview. Yet another example of problems arising in corrupt government.

Nepal - Learn more.

Somalia -  Read this STP Overview. Somalia is the most corrupt country in the world! (Although many are contenders for 1st or 2ndplace)!

Sudan - Learn more. And, if you were there?: Life in Sudan. Follow the dollar... Is Aid Dead in Africa? Should it be?

Syria -   Learn more.  Where children are used as soldiers. And in case you thought they are unclear in their purpose, watch ... Here is a European (ex-member of the Dutch military) who explains why and how he trains jihadists in warfare in Syria. (In Dutch and English). How not to keep people from joining ISIS.

Thailand -  Learn more. Supporting slavery?: you might be if you buy fish from Thailand.

United States -  Learn more.  The United States is ranked number 94 (range 1 to 162) on the Global Peace Initiatives ranking scale: Still room for improvement. Gun violence: the President’s Plan. Hey wait, ... isn't violence just another form of entertainment?  Are you looking for causes of U.S. violence? Viewing Violence as a Health Issue : it's already been studied. Hey wait a minute... what would happen if we tought our children non-violence and Peace?

At the end of King Kong, with Kong lying motionless at the foot of the skyscraper, an extra runs up and shouts, "I guess the airplanes got 'im, huhn?!" and the classic reply: "Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes,... 'twas Beauty killed the Beast." Kong may have had a different opinion, and prompting him to seek an eventual emmigration from the U.S.A., if he were only able to regain enough strength to swing that Reincarnate Kong. Compassionate healthcare for big apes and others is still a mess in the States. 

Yemen - STP Target Overview. and,  Learn more. Yemen's Torture Camps, where migrant workers fall prey to the collusion of traffickers in human labor and government security forces. Women’s rights in Yemen, or lack thereof. It doesn’t get any harder than Yemen when it comes to war leading to famine, among many sequelae.

More countries will appear here over time. But to see some more now, use the box at the bottom right on that page.

By Topic, alphabetically :

Children at risk.   Learn more, and here as well.

Corruption in Gov't and Domestic Practices.  Clearly, human dignity suffers in corrupt circumstances. How does this impact Peace?  Few better examples of self-centeredness or selfishness exist than in corrupt nations. Looking out for the good of the world in a corrupt seting is a non-existant phenomenon, much less fostering concern for the economic well-being of one's country. Quite The Challenge. Use the interactive map (or the table located below it on the same page) to explore Global Levels of Corruption.

Privacy and the Internet.  Learn more. 

Products of War.   Learn more.

Refugees.   Learn more about CERI. What a wonderful model.

Violence against women.   STP Target Overview. Learn more, and more (Nepal, - full report), and more (Syria), the UN’s statement about Violence Against Women. Here is a useful overview as well. Is violence tied to economic gender inequalities? Here is a report on this subject for the EU countries.

An excellent resource for this Target, consistently, is Peace X Peace in Washington, DC.

Here is a United Nations index that looks at the same subject, the Gender Development Index.

And from the World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report (2014). Is gender gap inequality a world peace topic? Do you see it that way? Is it a coincidence that the countries best known for Peace, are also those with the smallest gender inequality? (see report and country ranking - Iceland #1, Belgium #10, USA #20, Yemen #142). [ Current STP Target for The Challenge ]

Our World as a whole

Though individual countries and topics get singled out for study and to SendThemPeace, our Earth, our World taken in its entirety, also merits some attention through The Challenge. This approach emphasizes Unity, or Earth's Beauty, and its Abundance, when each of us remembers to take Just Enough but no more. Read more about our World as Target, here. Rather than focusing on a Target's biggest failings and obstructions to Peace and Non-violence, here we emphasize the positive. Take 20 minutes and Listen to our Guided Exo-Meditation (GEM) on applying the 12 Presences to our loving Earth, and Send It Peace.

What do you think of the state of our world, now? 

The goal of this page is not to plunge you into a state of despair and malaise.

It is however, very much related to an invitation to stop feeling completely incapable, completely powerless, of making any difference in your/our world. And that's The Challenge.

It begins with information and shared knowledge. Acquiring at least a little beats driving your life, like driving your car, with a blindfold on.

What good is a dialogue between two people whom, neither of which, have any knowledge whatsoever about the subject being discussed?!

So yes, Knowledge is Power.

It helps avoid the problems arising in The Blind Leading The Blind.

Another analogy is: sighting on The Target, through the clear, crystalline lens of the hawk floating above on the winds, as you begin to visualize our current Target before meeting The Challenge. View it and take it all in as the hawk does, not just with your senses, but also with Spirit.

Does one have to become an expert in International Affairs before The Challenge can be made to work? We don't think so at SendThemPeace.com.

Those blow-by-blow events happening in the material world, have an overarching Spiritual dimension in which they take place. Be confident as you join The Challenge, that by focusing on that dimension, you will create the opportunity for the diverse, required, and apparently insurmountable components in the material world, to fall into place. 

Say, "I'm In." Participate in The Challenge : Move Mountains : SendThemPeace.

======================

Thursday, November 26, 2015 was Thanksgiving Day, celebrated in the United States. A great day to make a list of all the things for which, and all the people for whom, you are grateful. But don't limit thankfulness to that day alone. Be grateful today and each day. Begin by placing yourself on your list today. As you meet The Challenge : You're quite a resource.

And remember today, at Greenwich Mean Time 12:00 noon, to send our Targets something to be thankful for as well. Click here to see what time that is for you.

Already too late for today? Do it tomorrow, without fail. And call out to a friend to do the same.

 Diversitas hodie, sed cras Iunctus

 Diversity today, but tomorrow Unity

Some will say, "... easier said than done."

In listing some of our current Targets, some will react: "So much misery has been left out." And that is the impression that it gives.

Clearly, being "only human," some would say; and with "limited resources," some would say, do not think beyond your means. That may be good advice to consider, as you ponder the World Population Clock (click the 'World Population' tab, then watch it spin).

If nothing else, the effort involved in addressing a single problem ...

... for example, in bringing potable water to those who need it, is HUGE.

Here are many if not most, water scarcity facts.

(And here is a sampling: One in six people on earth, do not have access to safe drinking water.

While each individual living in the United States uses on average 100 to 175 gallons of water per day in the home, the average African family uses only 5 gallons of water per day. 

Because of traditional gender labor roles, women are forced to spend around sixty percent of each day collecting water, which translates to approximately 200 million collective work hours by women globally per day ^[10]. [the same amount of time spent by American women, shopping.]

That's 40 billion hours annually, in Africa alone, devoted to fetching water. For African women, this often means carrying the typical jerrycan that can weigh over 40 pounds when full ^[11] frequently along with one or more buckets, for an average of six kilometers each day ^[12].

As a result of this, many women are unable to hold professional employment.

One can switch to other countries, and find the same or worse.

A number of people equal to the total population of Los Angeles (3.6 Million), die each year due to water-related illnesses. One child dies every 15 seconds, or 6 thousand children each day: related to water and its growing scarcity).

End of this sampling from one major challenge to our world.

Overwhelmed yet? No? Good.

But embark personally on solving that problem through material means and hard work, and you may soon be suffering "burn out" in spite of your good will, knowledge, education, intentions, and courage. Not to forget to mention:  your proof of compassion. 

Where am I going with this?

On this site we have already selected several Targets for The Challenge. 

This involves identifying, studying, empathizing with and prioritizing these Targets. Doing this well, involves once again, a HUGE effort. Are we not up to that effort? Are we already getting lazy? Are we already throwing in the towel because, well, ... this is all just TOO BIG !!

Not at all. But succeeding in The Challenge, demands already, and will continue to demand, ultra-focusing to conserve several things. Here are only a few:

• energy: That of those guiding, as well and especially for, those participating.
• mental clarity: while many worthwhile problems can and will attract our attention, and merit attention, (I used water scarcity as one example) the goal here is: to SendThemPeace.
• resources: especially time, space, funds if these ever become a necessity. Imagine. Accomplishing The Challenge without funds?!
• mental/ emitional health: facing a panorama of our world's current problems,... all at once, like awakening on a field of battle, is inviting deep suffering, depression, sadness, anger, overwhelm, suicidal ideation, madness into one's existence. That does not mean, running in the opposite direction and putting one's head in the sand.

 Why worry you with this?

Our approach to selecting Targets, as referenced above has several deficiencies:

• It leaves out many Targets, but excluding none can quickly become overwhelming.
• It leaves out a great deal of information about a potential Target.
• It lacks organized and updated links from a Target, to its history, geography, cultures, religions, politics, arts, economics, etc.
• So it lacks a space where deep knowledge can be efficiently acquired.

This is illogical, perhaps unacceptable, in the Internet era. Fortunately,

We Are Saved.

And of course, in a wonderful Internet way...

• Someone else has already done the work. Ah! It feels better already.
• That work yields information that is readily available, respected, and pertinent.
• Prioritizing the task here, becomes much more doable.
• Communicating about Target choices becomes easier and clarified by this process being based in one source, though others are available, and may still contribute essential knowledge from time to time.

And that Miracle is : 

The Institute for Economics & Peace ( IEP), and especially, their Global Peace Index.

Their Global Peace Index Report for 2015 is here on their site, and if you click on it here, you can download it (7.4MB!) from SendThemPeace.com.

An absolutely wonderful place to review this information is (once again) on Wikipedia.

Here is a very nice Global Peace ranking display on Wikipedia. Very useful.

Below is a static image of the "bottom of the pile": those countries with the highest scores (high score = a bad result: ranked number 1 means your country is viewed as being the most Peaceful. It's Iceland by the way). As noted on the image below, the name of a country is an active link, taking one to another usually excellent source of knowledge on Wikipedia. As I said: a Miracle Has Happened Here.

To be found on this list? :  Countries covered by the GPI must either have a population of more than 1 million or a land area greater than 20,000 square kilometers.

Each pair of Pink-White columns presents one year'ss results: so 2015 at the laft, and back to 2008 on the right (years not visible here). So reading horizontally, Yemen is ranked 147th in 2015, and was 138th in 2011. This gives a sense of evolution or devolution of a country's stauts over time. Those at the very bottom, are usually getting worse. Easier to appreciate on the actual page.

- (click to enlarge if needed) -

Final Suggestions and a Word of Caution :

If one uses this page, one can ...

• quickly find, "the worst" countries (towards the bottom).
• click on the countries name to read more about it, learning that most (towards the bottom) have very major problems with Peace and Compassionate care of their citizens.
• one can then beginning working one's way up the list, filled with hope of finding countries with better ecology for human beings.
• one can quickly collect evidence that may prompt you to want to put your head in the sand after all. Resist that urge at all costs!

But also, 

• Do have a look at the countries where Peace seems to reign supreme.
• Ask yourself, for these countries: "What are they doing right?" 
• Think about in these countries: "How can I learn everything there is to know about those components of the Peace quest, that I can then duplicate as I SendPeace to those in greater need.
• Recall that this relates to Peace, not to economic status, religious tolerance, infant mortality, women's rights, etc., although these influencers are also looked at and reflected in other indices at the top of each column (look at the explanations on the site). So for instance, an economic power like the United States, only ranks 94th on the Global Peace Index. Room for improvement, and an example of a potential Target for The Challenge.

If the goal was ... 

... to help make a difference with material practices in these Targets, all would probably be lost if one limited The Challenge to this material world and overarching world view. And yes, using that world view, poor results and desparate situations line up to offer proof of insufficiency, inadequacy, failure, even when well-intended at the start. What was missing?

The Challenge: one Target after the next. Although The Challenge actually encompasses these material problems and issues, the methodology at SendThemPeace.com is, and must be, drastically different.

Through the methodology of The Challenge, we, individually and together, enter into a different sphere. A different space, time and agenda, from the one that materialism requires to get its Things To Do List, Done. This space includes right perception. This space includes a faith (dangerous word), that action follows right intention and springs from right dialogue, and from the right tools, and from an infinitely more powerful set of Ideals and Principles.

Does that also include watching closely to measure and document its efficacy over time? Absolutely.

And that Reality, my friend, is only emerging, and thanks to people like you, meeting The Challenge on a daily basis. Utopian? We'll have to see.

"What a strange thing to find on a site dedicated to Peace ..."

Permit me to attempt an explanation.

At right is an image from the World War II period of human history. These two men are inside a B-17G Flying Fortress, the final version of this aircraft.

The seated crewman writing on his clipboard is the Navigator, and the one up front with his thumb in the air is the Bombardier. Both also doubled as machine gunners as this image also instructs.  It's "armament" was 4,800 pounds of bombs (2,200 Kg), its "payload." Ammunition for the guns was 11,000 rounds.

Whether the Bombardier's "thumb's up" here means "Bombs Away!" one can only guess or assume. The point of the aircraft was to participate in bombing runs over enemy territory. This of course, involved a flight plan and a targetting process, and a detailed list or checklist required by the complexity of such a mission. This assured or promised the best outcome possible in a setting of uncertainty: the uncertainty being the enemy's intentions to shoot at these men and the others of their crew, from the air and the ground and anywhere in between, on any given day.

"Yes, that's war, and we don't want any part of it..."

So since their job was to bring and dispose of (drop) bombs, after that was done, the task at hand became a swift (since their visit was not welcome) and safe return to their home base airfield. So "Bombs Away!!" also signalled the pilot, paraphrased politely here: "Let's get out of here and go home!"  While not always an easy return trip if angry enemy crewmembers decided to shoot them down, "Bombs Away!" = "Let's get out of here!" was a good start. It signalled that the key "inbound" objective of the mission had been met, and the moment for "outbound" return was at hand. Events tied to these trips in both directions are the subject of war books, and war stories. The lives of these crewmen were marked forever by their encounter with uncertainty, the unknown and unknowable.

As alluded to elsewhere, trying to make an argument that bombing places where humans are standing (some soldiers, some citizens) can be discussed from the perspective of a question : "Does bombing humans ever do any good?" Many would answer: "Yes. You bet." The value judgements associated with this reply are couched in always difficult and not infrequently, simply wrong perceptions. If most of the world is in agreement that down below is a hideous monster of a dictator, guilty of all the atrocities war can inflict, a great deal of support worldwide can at that moment be found for: "Bomb him and Blow him to Smitherenes!"

The decision to bomb a country and its occupants and resources arises of course, in complex sets of evolving circumstances and decisions. These circumstances depend on facts, "intelligence," fiction, propaganda, and world views that are at times : wrong perceptions. The two men in the picture appear to be still in a "so far, so good" situation and physical state. Those on the ground, about the time that the Bombardier's thumb went up into the air, or shortly after, may not have been able that day, to say the same. 

Even though "War Is Hell !" - men persist in it.

So effectiveness may depend on which side of the bomb bay door one finds oneself on. To get the feel for these positions, I like to call attention to the "Christmas Bombing" of Hanoi and surroundings by B-52's at the end of the war in Vietnam. History has to put such events in perspective.

My own perspective on it, in December 1972, from where I stood at the time on the island of Guam, was of course easier to sustain. I recall seeing B-52's, one took the habit of seeing them low in the air as they came and went, during those days "flying smoke." When the engine smoke from one dissipated, the next was there to take its place. Essentially, departures were one aircraft per minute for days (18 to 29 December). This from the Anderson Air Force Base on Guam (153 B-52's), as well as from U-Tapao, Thailand (54). A B-52 Startofortress's payload was 70,000 pounds (31,500 Kg), as displayed in the photo below, taken at Anderson. Some returned from Vietnam damaged. Some (the US said 15, the North Vietnamese said 34) never returned at all. Their payload was 14.6 times that of a WWII B-17G. What an improvement in bombing efficiency !  A trophy of human ingenuity...

"Rolling Thunder" a B-52 at AAFB on Guam.

History suggests that these raids are a bad example, if one is trying to support an argument for indicated and effective bombing. You can read about this bombing of Hanoi here, and a combined and intriguing summary of observations from those in the air, delivering, and those on the ground, receiving, by Marshall Michel, here.  For a more complete view of the Love/ Hate relationship with B-52's by those who fly them still today, click here.

A second interpretation of "Bombs Away!"

So far, this article doesn't sound very tied to the usual message that you might read at SendThemPeace.com But the words themselves of course suggest another thought or interpretation. One might paraphrase this as: "Take that bomb of yours and get it out of here! Take it very, very far away! Now!" Perhaps one can imagine an elderly pacifist school teacher saying something like that out on the tarmac at Anderson Air Force Base, to the fellow loading this device. "Get it out of here, or you're in big trouble, Mister !"

Balance

• SendThemPeace.com is not concealing any missile silos or bombs in its basement.
• The message here remains that through an effective implementation of The Challenge, bombs and other horrible instruments of destruction, like automatic weapons, will in fact become unnecessary. Pointless souvenirs of a bygone age of fear. And at that point, and as we see them disappear, we will be able to joyfully lift a thumb and shout: "the Bombs (have gone) Away! " That message doesn't require more explanation.
• This one does : The idea of Targets for The Challenge, does arise in the same language of war. The selected Targets at SendThemPeace.com are targetted for only good intentions and right perception. Not with 500 pounders. The energies we seek to deliver are those of Peace and Compassion.
• Yet, this non-violent methodology may benefit from certain lessons or practices developed by, contained in and practiced by that non-Peaceful methodology:

1. While confident of the effectiveness of even a single, small, whispered intention of Compassion ..., is a mass effect more effective? Rudely put: "Let's Peace and Compassion them to Smittereens!" Can that be more effective? If one Butterfly beating its wings, has a quantum effect on waves on the other side of our world, how about 10,000 Butterflies?" How about 10,000 visionnairies, practicing SendThemPeace and The Challenge at the same time? For 20 minutes each day. Day after day. More effective than a solitary monastic intent on the same Target?  We'll see. This "mass effect" is what was referred to in the introductory article on the Home Page. ["So How Can Compassion Win? Only Through A Mass Effect."] Perhaps this reveals an impatience that is more akin to what motivates wars than Peace mouvements. Perhaps this is "wrong perception" once again, because human thinking is simply prone to that: like comparing payloads of the B-17G and B-52. Then again: perhaps not. Those bounded by Body+Thought materialism may reply: "Send them 10,000 real troops or 10,000 real bombs in real ships and real flying fortresses, and just get this over with." Those who courageously add back Spirit to the composition of humanity [Body+Thought+Spirit], might be our candidates for flying with SendThemPeace.com and The Challenge. We certainly think so. Up to us all to identify these truly courageous souls.
2. Caution! Military Terms to follow : To avoid diluting this "bombardement" using Peace and Compassion "bombs", specific areas of Peace deficiency are : Targetted. This makes it less likely that any of the 10,000 Butterflies will get lost either "inbound" or "outbound." Or that the good intentions sent towards "A," will be mistakenly sent towards "B" by a practitioner who has become a bit lost in the fog of Spritual Travel.
3. In other disciplines, such as Medicine, outcomes are used increasingly to determine effectiveness. Such studies seek to display a certain "statistical power" invariably helped by adequate numbers of studied entities. How nice it would be to observe a similar effect from meeting The Challenge. Much more importantly, how nice it would be to see Peace through Compassion, flourishing. A true monastic may quietly respond that he does not need such "proof." That if faith is small, results may be small. So work on faith. Others: faith the size of a mustard seed moves mountains. Such sentiment supports the effectiveness of a hermit's practice. This should not devolve into arguments about numbers of angels dancing on heads of pins. I admit that my practice is far from perfected. It has clearly been shown that group meditation is a perceptibly different energy experience. It's why monastics in all traditions gather together. Will The Challenge have this effectiveness?  Let's hope so. The Scientific Method is intimately bound to making measurements of phenomenon. What can be measured that could be bound to The Challenge? Perhaps over time, a country's ranking on the Global Peace Index. Open to other suggestions.
4. Clearly, preparing information about Targets, and scheduling a specific time globally for intervention, clarifying "Time On Target" should help the human participants in The Challenge to participate more fully, more effectively. The non-Peaceful ring to the words, are just words. They are not the actions. So review your pre-flight checklist of where we're going and how to get there, and climb aboard this flight for 20 minutes each day, and SendThemPeace.
5. ... nonviolence is not passivity but a wholly different way of struggling against injustice and violence. It takes as much discipline and planning as military options. It offers a markedly different way of power and a much broader menu of tools and tactics than those available to military force.

Targets for The Challenge,

are certainly selected using a process of knowledge acquisition and thought. The choices made would seem to dependent on some unstated rules of logic. This might be quite loose, for example, "that place looks pretty bad when weighed in the scales of Peace/ Compassion/ non-violence, with the opposites on the other side of the balance, dominating. Let's include it as a Target."

But with time, your participation in The Challenge may come to convince you that something else is going on. What? Well, do not be concerned in the slightest about where your feelings of Compassion, joined to those of others, are actually "landing." They are being applied where they are most needed. So if today, a certain region in our World is selected as the Target, other priorities at first inapparent to you, may result in a "rerouting" of what you are "sending."

Now a "thought mode" approach to this suggestion may quickly object: "sounds crazy..." and "who is doing this 'rerouting' of compassionate feeling?" and "how would you know?" which means, "what can you measure to prove this hypothesis?"

So I'm awaiting your feedback on this, after you've been accepting and participating in The Challenge for a little while.

In an article entitled "Bombs Away!" some analogies are developed between components of The Challenge, and the military exercise, but only in the sense of organizing a combined effort (e.g., Target time and place), and this for presumed increased efficiency or heightened effect. One clear difference is that I have never seen, or heard of, any 500 pound bombs spontaneously flying back up into a B-52 (quite a few people would have preferred that direction).

The Challenge seems to have a definite bi-directional component. As you add, during your 20 minutes each day of Send(ing) Them Peace, your heartfelt energies of Compassion and Peace to those of others, and moving this out into our World, ... let's call that "outgoing" energy. But is there for any given participant, or for all, an "incoming" component? Is it a circular, or an otherwise unified phenomenon, suggesting that, like other things in life, one gets back what one gives? You'll have to see. At times I already sense this right at the end of The Challenge.

Others have noticed and written about coincidence or chance events, which they have come to view as cause and effect rather than chance. The term "serendipity" has gained popularity to describe this. But does this Compassionate energy come back towards you? Being prepared to receive such, may heighten ones awareness for noticing when it happens. "When what happens," you may be thinking? Suddenly, for example, the discovery of a kindred spirit (not a ghost, a real live person in the flesh), and perhaps at what seems like the perfect moment, appearing in your reality. Or discovering an entire organizaton that is in place, effectively teaching children about Peace and how it can be attained and maintained, for instance. Perhaps something you had been seeking is found, and having a strong sense of this as "returning energy" suddenly presenting in your awareness. Or having seemingly impossible scheduling conflicts disappear, and being able to meet with several people afterall.

One could start jotting down in a Journal when such things occurred, if one felt the need to measure over time.

Another approach would be to simply observe the "arrival" of such energies with gratefulness, and be thankful in the moment.

And don't worry at all about whether the Target selected for today, is the right choice or not. SendThemPeace, and it will get to where it needs to be.

See if The Challenge over time gives you the impression of "incoming" Compassion and Peace, and keep us posted.

Use this calendar to focus your targeted energies, and combine them with others, as you meet The Challenge, and

Send Them Peace 

Our Target Calendar is in the Lateral Menu on the right. You can use the button there, at the top right of the Calendar "[   ]" to enlarge it to Full Screen, or click this link.

The calendar gives one time to prepare, and to better understand and acquire knowledge about why a certain Target has been selected. Invariably, a Target demonstates a marked deficiency in the domain of Peace and Human Compassion. The Challenge seeks to remedy that.  A given Target may be assigned to one or several consecutive days on the Calendar. It may be re-scheduled again at a later date. 

While mentioned elsewhere, the "knowledge acqusition" period, mentionned above, should accomplish giving you a very personal feel for the issues involved in a given Target. And it is good that not everyone will "pick up" the same information. But during your participation in The Challenge, do not try to think your way through solving each and every problem, in detail, program after program, as though you have a checklist in mind and are busy checking issues off like a Scout Leader. This, I believe, may be asking for failure and frustration. Instead, now that you have familiarized yourself with the issues, set them aside. Then from a very personal, very present, and very positive inner place of feeling Compassion for these sources of suffering, sense your Self, with confidence, but especially motivated by feeling rather than thought,... Send(ing) Them Peace.  Do not worry that a given Target does not display all, or even any, of the problems that the Guided Exo-Meditation, if you are using it, mentions. These are simply examples, and while frequently found in many Targets today, because war is currently wide spread, are there to simply give you an awareness of a space in our World, where Compassion is sorely lacking. Similarly, the "improved" situation, resulting from your intervention with others, need not be taken factually. The gift that each person brings to the Target, will not be identical. But it is very personal. Feel it that way as strongly as you can. Don't send strings of detailed "solution thoughts." Compared with the strength of your feelings, these are very weak. 

The first Target scheduled was Syria, active thru December 6th. From December 7th thru the 16th, The United States of America. After that, Dec 17th thru the 26th: Yemen, and focusing in particular on human trafficking and Women's Lives in Yemen. From December 27th thru January 5th, 2016, The Challenge addresed Violence Against Women. From January 6th - 15th, Burundi. From Jan. 16-25th, Cambodia. Here is the STP Overview for Cambodia, where corruption inside and outside government remains a major impediment to Compassion and Peaceful existence.  From January 26th - Feb. 4th, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Here, the STP Overview for the D.R.C. ). From Feb. 5th - Feb. 14, Violence Against Women. While this target was focused on recently, the needs remain quite impressive. Feb.15th - 24th, our STP Target was Afghanistan. Feb.25th - Mar.5th the Target is Bosnia & Herzegovina. Mar. 6th - Mar.15th : Myanmar (Burma). STP Overview for Myanmar.  Mar. 16th - Mar. 27th - Somalia. Through May 31,  The World. Click to read more about our approach to this major extension of The Challenge.  Israel - Target for June 1 to June 10 (STP Overview). Other targets will be added soon. Click the following link to begin your studies, or to acquire more knowledge about these Targets.

Current Target:   Our Entire World! Wow!, from May 1 thru Tuesday, May 15. Here is our STP Overview of this Target. Be confident, and if not today, join with others tomorrow in practicing The Challenge worldwide. To see when it starts where you are, click "Starts When?" or in the Menu above.

 Through dialogue and the right tools ...