12-12-12 Peace Day

12-12-12 Peace Day

I propose that on 12-12-12 people gather with friends, family and acquaintances all over the world and both celebrate and invite peace, love and happiness. You can perform whatever ritual you wish in this regard. It doesn't have to be anything formal or organized to perfection. You can gather in prayer, have a bonfire & chant, meditate, sing, play guitar, dance, sit in silence. There are no rules about how to do this but there is one requirement. When we do this, we do it with a childlike mind that believes that it can make a difference. We cannot second guess the power of this. We have to believe once this has been completed that the space taken up in the world by peace, love and happiness will expand and transform the world. In essence, we have to believe in Santa again. Once our little ceremonies are over we will be required to go forth and believe that what we came together to accomplish was successful.    

Why the date 12-12-12? This date was chosen because this will be the last time when all 3 numerals of the date will be the same for a very long time. It just seems like if you are ever going to "carpe diem" this would be a great day for it. There will not be a time set for you to have your event that day. The time is up to you. If folks participate in different parts of the world we don’t want them to have to get up in the middle of the night to join in. The date is the important thing.

Several things have happened to me lately that looking back on them now seem to be the catalyst for coming up with this idea. 

My 5 year old niece stayed overnight a few weeks back. At some point in the evening she started handing out the few musical instruments we have strewn about. She handed out a banjo, a set of bones and a tambourine and commanded that we all play and sing. We all joined in making the most mixed up bunch of noise you have ever heard. The older of my two children was there and knows how to play yet he made no attempt to play for real. He banged along like the rest of us no talents. She made different ones of us take turns at singing as we all banged along to our own tune. When the concert was over she was delighted. I don’t think she could have been more pleased. I can’t tell you how it makes me feel when I think about how we all just turned loose and played so innocently. It was truly beautiful.

I watched a movie the other day called “The Fairy”. There is a rooftop dance scene towards the middle of the movie. They dance the craziest little dance filled with random poses and awkward movement. It took me back to the days when I really didn’t “know” how to dance and I just made whatever movement that felt right with the music. I started to want to dance that way again. It made me wonder why I ever stopped dancing that way. Really, why? It was mine, my tiny little way of being in the world with music that had no influence from anyone or anything.  

While walking with my husband Sunday he broke into a run and he looked back at me with an expression that said join me. I started running and before it was over we were running as fast as we could as if we were in a race. I am 45 years old so my running is never really more than a slow jog. It made me feel so youthful and reminded me of what it felt like to run as fast as I could as a child to the point that I felt my legs would tangle and fail me. It was a magical thing, so magical that I asked him to do it again after I got my breath back.  

Here is the thing. As children we believe so easily to the point it seems we don’t know what doubt is. That seems to be our normal/natural state. We believe once a year Santa is going to come down the chimney and bring us whatever present we ask him for. We believe the Easter bunny will bring us a basket. We believe that people can perform magic. We believe everyone is good and that we can do anything. If we come here programmed to think this way shouldn’t that be our natural state? It’s amazing how much trust we put into things when we are young. I wish I still had the power of unquestionable faith that I had then. I guess it’s inevitable and, I don’t know, a necessary transition for survival. Is that right? It doesn’t happen in real life so I’m not sure we know what would happen if we didn’t make that transition.

Today I was in the car alone and I started thinking how unifying it would be to do a tiny ritual type ceremony for peace, love and happiness with the faith of a child. I thought, “I’m gonna go home and tell Bryan about this.” Then I thought we should invite friends. Next I started thinking about how I could expand that circle to others until I ended wanting everyone in the world to be part of it. I realized that just through the network of blogging we could make this into our own movement using no money at all. So, I’m writing to as many blogs as I possibly can and I’m asking you all to do the same. You can copy this and send it to a friend and ask them to keep it going. 

I know I will run into dead ends and people who find this ridiculous. That is fine. No matter what becomes of this, no matter the number who join in, I promise you that on 12-12-12, if I am living, I will have my peace party. Anyone who has the desire to join me is welcome. 


Thank you so much for your time.

Namaste
Tonya