January 1st was Global Family Day :

Getting Closer

Aditha DISSANAYAKE

Here is the time to join the prayer

“We are one global family,all colors, all races, one world united.We dance for peace and the healing of our planet earth. Peace for all nations.
Peace for our communities.
Peace within ourselves.
Let us connect heart to heart.
Through our diversity we recognize our unity.
Through our compassion we recognize peace.
Our love is the power to transform the world.
Let us send it out...
NOW!”

As we begin a brand new “New Year”, and resolve to lose the extra kilos we gathered over the holidays, over tables filled with food reminiscent of the Franklin's, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales(“Of fish and flesh, and that so plenteous/It seemed to snow therein both food and drink/Of every dainty that a man could think,”) it is all too easy to forget our own brethren scattered around the world, who could not afford holiday banquets and are undernourished. To them, kevum, kiribath, Breudher, Christmas cakes and worrying about the extra kilos gained at numerous new year get-togethers, are daydreams.

Undoubtedly, this is a fact that is especially poignant today, in the wake of January 1st, which was Global Family Day. Dedicated to celebrating the reality that we are all one family and must strive together for a better world, the day focuses mostly on the quest to ease world hunger. Especially so, because, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, more than one billion people worldwide are chronically hungry and do not eat enough to get the energy they need to lead active lives.

Thus, contrary to the popular belief, Global Family Day is not so much about appreciation of the family unit, as it is about embracing the world as one single home in which all of us are brothers and sisters. Why clarify this point? Because one comment that frequently turns up whenever the subject is discussed suggests, “We don't need an official day—I appreciate my family all year round.”

While this is a laudable and important concept, in one way it entirely misses the point of Global Family Day.

One Day in Peace

A quick look at the history of this day, says it all. The United Nations initially established January 1, 2000, as “One Day in Peace” in response to a number of grassroots organizations across the globe which were calling for an internationally recognized day for the cessation of violence and war. As the day moved to an annual observance its name was influenced by the wording of various national resolutions and eventually “One Day in Peace” morphed into “One Day of Peace and Sharing” and then to the more elaborate “Global Family Day: One Day of Peace and Sharing.”

Whatever one calls the day, however, the underlying intent is the same: To recognize the fact that humanity is one family and that envy, exploitation, fear, discrimination and violence between nations are pointless and self-destructive. In the words of the U.S. organization for Global Family Day, the idea is to encourage “global traditions which can in turn help us overcome the challenges of poverty, hunger and violence which face our global family in the years ahead.” In other words, the goal is to replace war and poverty with peace and prosperity.

So, if your first thoughts, when you saw the words Global Family Day focused on celebrating and loving your family, do make this slight adjustment. The day is about family but not only your family, it is also about being united with the rest of the human race, through peaceful loving ways. As President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama said, ‘We must find a way to live together as one human family'. We need to be united if we are going to battle the world's problems together.

Value of sharing

The most important word to remember, then, in the wake of the Global Family Day is: share! Here is the time for families to come together and share food in small and simple ceremonies, make personal pledges and promote the message of peace around the world.

Here is the time too, to recall Michael Jackson's lyrics: “What more can I give.” The time to ask yourself: “How many people will have to die before we will take a stand? How many children will have to cry, before we do all we can? How many times can we turn our heads, And pretend we cannot see? Healing the wounds of our broken earth.. What have I got that I can give? We are one global world.”

But surely John Lennon deserves the last word: “I am he, as you are me, and we are all together.”

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History - Global Family Day

Originally supported in the United States by Linda Grover, the original idea itself is difficult to pin down because many grassroots efforts around the world had independently sprung up to target this date as a day for peace and had worked separately to prevail on local governments and the U.N. to establish such a day.

These efforts included a 1996 children's book “One Day In Peace, January 1, 2000” by Steve Diamond and Robert Alan Silverstein, which was translated into 22 languages. [1] As a result, nearly 140 nations were poised to respond to the November 1997 declaration of the U.N. General Assembly that the first year of the new millennium should launch an “International Decade for the Culture of Peace & Nonviolence for the Children of the World” which would be ushered in by “One Day of Peace.”

Finally, in November 1999, the U.N. issued a formal invitation for world participation. As the independent grassroots organizations around the world joined the effort, one notable outcome was a special ceremony initiated by Gerry Eitner between Israeli and Palestinian families, at a refugee camp in Nablus. Later that year, the United States Congress followed the U.N. initiative and unanimously voted to establish the first day of every year as a special time of peace and sharing.

To date, more than 20 heads of state and many ambassadors have endorsed what has now become known as Global Family Day. The day focuses on Albert Einstein's belief: “Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

How to become one Global Family

These are some important components towards a new level of consciousness and appreciation for unity on Earth.

1. Whole-centered consciousness: a sense of being part of the whole human community and of the systems of life on Earth.

2. Respect for all life.

3. Balance and integration: appreciation of the value of both sides of a polarity.

4. Valuing of peace: development of conflict-resolution capabilities.

5. Personal responsibility: willingness to act with integrity, in keeping with the greater good.

6. Social responsibility: willingness to act on behalf of the well-being of the Earth and of society as a whole.

7. Support for development of the human potential: encouragement of education, creativity and self-development.

8. De-massifying of society: increased opportunity for individuality and breaking down of rigid patterns of thought and behavior.

9. Heightened connectivity: co-creation with others and collaboration in the service of common goals.

10. Expanded awareness: increased intuitive knowing and sensitivity.

11. Embracing of the spiritual: willingness to be guided by spiritual principles and contact.

12. Re-structuring of social institutions to reflect the changes in values: cooperation and all-win solutions.

Marilyn Taylor, founder of The Link-up for Transformation