Peace One Day

Peace Online

Tagged with: peace day, pod digital

I remember once being on a plane with a leading expert on the history of war.  For hours, I sat and listened as he recounted tales of warfare throughout the centuries.  And yet, I could not help but sense that the historian, himself, still possessed a profound sense of optimism for a better future.  Finally, I leaned over and asked him, “Why is it that – despite all that you know, all that you have studied throughout your career – you continue to have hope?”

 “I have hope,” he began, and then paused briefly, as if to ensure that he had my complete attention, before starting again.  “I have hope because of technology.” 

As my co-passenger went on to explain, new digital technologies are providing us with an opportunity for intercultural cooperation on a scale never before possible.  And it is this intercultural cooperation that is necessary for the continued survival of humanity.

I immediately understood what he meant – and not just in an intuitive sense but in a very real, very practical one, as well.  I needed only think about the millions and millions of emails that Peace One Day had already sent as proof of this.  Or of the Peace One Day website, where anyone who has the capability to go online can have free access to digital editions of our teaching resources for classroom instruction. 

As a filmmaker, I’ve also come to appreciate how digital media helps us to express ourselves, to tell our own story.   When I was making film in the earlier stages of my career, I needed a producer’s ‘go ahead’ or else the film would never be distributed, and nobody would have the opportunity to see it.  Now, with digital technologies, I can express myself freely, without anyone controlling me.  I can give nearly instant access to millions of people to experience my work.  To an artist intent on creating the kind of change necessary to make history, rather than simply recording it, this is everything.

It is also why I feel confident that Peace One Day’s continued push into digital is one of the most important means we have for empowering others to make peace.  In our effort to unite the world, to reach out to three billion people by 2012, Peace One Day will carry out what is effectively one of the largest global networking exercises ever.  And as part of it, we will encourage others to make their own voices heard, to share their own pictures, to tell their own stories. 21 September is the starting point. 
It is up to individuals - to you - to lead the way. It's in your hands.

In Peace,

Jeremy

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