Targets
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.
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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