Send Them Peace

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.