Sunday, June 25, 10:30am
Hotel Posada de La Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15
Free

You and the Potential for Peace in Our Time, UU Service - spirit

by Jon Sievert

At this Sunday’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Service, Rotarian peace activist Tom Schneider explores the state of global peace and how we as individuals working together can help promote it.

Actually, things are not quite as bad globally as the headlines scream at us everyday. Except for the dangerous escalation in the Middle East, the global trend for war is down over the last few decades. Schneider relates that the primary initiative for Rotary International is promoting world peace.

“Rotary has determined that every Rotary project is a peace project,” says Schneider, who is leading an effort to have a peace pole erected in Parque Juarez as a reminder that all of us can be ambassadors for peace. He will share information about the Forgiveness Project in Columbia, as well as about conflict management, conflict resolution, and the sustainability of peace.

Here in San Miguel, Schneider and Rotary have been involved with Camino de la Paz in sponsoring celebrations of the United Nations International Day of Peace on September 21 for the past three years. In April 2015, Rotary and Camino de la Paz hosted a Peace and Prosperity Conference with speakers from the Institute of Economics and Peace. This organization develops metrics to analyze peace and quantify its economic benefits. It was oriented to businesses to show that peace is profitable.

The IEP’s Global Peace Index rates the peacefulness of countries around the world. Iceland is number one, Canada currently ranks seventh, the US 101st, and Mexico 138th of the 162 countries they rate. Syria is the most dangerous country in the world. The IEP also publishes a Mexican Peace Index on a state-by-state basis. Unfortunately, Guanajuato’s peace fell between 2015 and 2017. Schneider will elaborate on positive peace factors that all can contribute to in their individual ways.

Schneider volunteered with the Children’s World Peace Organization before helping to found Camino de la Paz. He is the local English-speaking Rotary Club’s vice president of public relations and peace.

The service pianist is Paula Peace. Special Music for the day is provided by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tony DiNuzzo and singer/multi-instrumentalist Bunny Andrews.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15 and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs for hospitality and discussion afterwards. Wheelchair accessible. For additional information, visit www.uufsma.org.