HumanKindMedia

Make a way out of no way

It's Martin Luther King Day.

"When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. --Martin Luther King. Jr., Address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 8/16/67

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize Acceptance, 1964

Look out, Wichita! Here comes Dayton

Liz and I are over-the-top excited about our cool little Frappr map, which, last time I checked, has logged more than 1,000 visitors (we subtracted our visits). Though we still don't understand everything about how Frappr maps work, we now know that the Wichita area really only had a couple of visitors -- we're pretty sure the rest of the many "unknown location" dots that appeared there were visitors who clicked on the map but didn't actually sign in or leave a picture. If there are any Frappr experts out there, here's a job for you: design an FAQ for Frappr (whom we really love for making this map).

Some wonderful visitors added themselves but their dots disappeared later; we think people whose dots stay put include their names (or aliases) and a picture when they sign up. So if you don't mind, sign up again, and add a name (or alias) and any image you like, even a pic of your pet. A little extra effort for peace, but how cool is it to see yourself and so many others in this funky, fabulous peace demonstration? To look for your friends, pick a region and zoom way in. You can see streets and rivers, and our readers in Arhus by the sea in Denmark. (I would love to have a look at that view!) I was sad when Texas, Washington, New York, and lots of London dots showed up for a few days, then disappeared. But hello and welcome, Tokyo and India!

Global Peace Tiles, and why peace is a part of every post

Though we're moving on to some new topics soon, we just wanted to let you know we'll never stop talking about peace.

When we talk about ending extreme poverty, we're talking about creating healthier communities able to work for peace. When we say we want to raise the status of women around the world, we're saying we want everyone to have the means to live in peace. When we experiment with the power of new media to connect all humans around the world, we're doing it in order to create and strengthen relationships, knowing that will lead us all closer to peace. And if you haven't made your mark yet on our "peace demonstration" map, please do! (Guess what: The map now has more than 500 members! Go you! Frappr doesn't show all the members at once, however; we're working with them to see what we can do about that.)

Peace and Connection: HumanKind Challenge #3

Okay, here it is: We've got something really, really cool for you today! You and I (and you and you and you) are about to demonstrate, in clear, vibrant detail, the global desire for peace and connection. We're asking each of you to put a virtual pin on this funky -- but functional! -- Frappr map, and click on "Email this" at the bottom of this post to send the invitation to your friends and relatives FAR and NEAR, til the map is full of people around the world who are all saying, "Yes, we want to consider new possibilities for peace."

Think of it as a new kind of peace demonstration. (When we thought of that a week ago we could barely contain ourselves. Get it? It's a peace demonstration!) It's a show of hands around the world, visible connections among many people all voicing that single intention that we've been talking about at HumanKind: to consider the possibilities for more peace in our families, workplaces, communities, countries, and our shared global community. (If you're new to HumanKind, check out "Why we started" on the right side of this page.)

Don't hold back, do the dance!

Busy, stressed, over-stimulated, under-appreciated, or just feeling the need to dance for no reason at all? Don't hold back! Jump out of your chair! DO THE DANCE!

Know someone who would love to do the dance? Pass it on.

Many thanks to Brad and Matty and KarmaTube for so many good videos.

We're taking a couple days off to celebrate Christmas with our families, but we'll have a sweet something for you on Monday, and we're back full force on Wednesday with an awesome surprise. Seriously, we cannot wait to show you this super cool thing. In fact, we can barely keep ourselves from telling you what it is! You'd better stop reading before we slip up. Get away from the computer! Do the dance!

Peace: It's not just your imagination

In a small art museum at a university near my house, I came across a piece of “Grapefruit” – not the fruit, but an art exhibit from the ’60s comprised mostly of word paintings. You stand at the wall, read the words, and have your experience. It’s pretty amazing.

At that point I had been thinking about starting HumanKind Media for about three months, dreaming daily of healing the world by tipping the balance in favor of the idea of it, by getting enough humans to imagine, to believe that they could.

So when at the exit I noticed a bowl of buttons that said “Imagine peace,” I took one. Also near the exit was an article about how this exhibit, Yoko Ono’s “Grapefruit,” first shown in New York, was said by John Lennon to be the inspiration for the immortal “Imagine.”

Hometown Baghdad

When I'm reading a news story about Iraq, I always wonder what the heck the normal people there are experiencing and I wish they knew that I, and everyone I know, don't mean them harm. I'm thinking of the people who own the stores, who live in the houses, who argue passionately about religion and politics, and who at the end of the day just want to be able to go to the market or to school without feeling terrified. What's their story? Why does it seem missing from the rest of the news? I start to wonder if the only way to know is to go to Baghdad and find out.

Then I think of car bombs, kidnappings, and beheadings, and I feel terrified. Even reporters with whole news organizations behind them aren't getting many of those stories out. Those stories must be impossible to get! Those people must be impossible to interview!

But an amazing thing has been happening to me since the start of HumanKind. Almost as soon as I write off something as impossible, I hear that someone is doing it. "Hometown Baghdad" is a web-based TV show that follows three Iraqi young men -- Adel, Ahmed and Saif -- through daily life during some of the worst of the violence. A production company in New York City called Chat the Planet has been editing and airing the footage, filmed by Iraqis, and hundreds of thousands of people have been watching it online and now consider themselves to have three Iraqi friends. The series premiered in March 2007 with the matter-of-fact "Brains On Campus" and the last episode went live in June. I was going to write some of my favorites in here, but there are too many. You'll just have to find your own.

Peace: the majority finds its voice

When I first had the realization that probably every impossible problem on planet Earth had a solution, I admit I remained skeptical about one in particular: peace. I wasn't doubting the premise that humans can be peaceful (more on this another time), but I couldn't imagine Arabs and Israelis ever making peace, ergo I couldn't imagine how a peaceful world could exist.

But because Liz and I had so boldly declared that media could and should tell stories about possibilities, I kept my radar up for people and organizations who hadn't given up on that particular problem and were actively engaged in solving it.

After discovering OneVoice, I am no longer a skeptic. I'm hopeful and in a high state of curiosity to see when it will work, not how.

Peace: Connecting to self, connecting to others

Before you read this post, take a second and check out this mind-boggling visual reminder of the immensity of the universe (thanks to Kirk Rogers).

Got that? If you're like me, after you pick up your jaw off the floor, you experience a fleeting feeling of hopelessness that sounds something like this: What's the point? What's the point of the hurts and achievements that I find so important? What's the point of anything I do when in this immense universe I am so small?

With that much perspective, the stuff we sweat the most and assign so much meaning to -- our late bills, our irritations, our cherished things and our longings -- don't seem so meaningful, do they? I'm beginning to believe that the real possibility for us to create meaning -- the one thing of value we might actually leave behind -- is the connections we make with others.

Extraordinary ideas for the giving season and beyond

Spending all this time lately thinking about the cool ways people give of themselves to change the world is changing the way I experience the holiday season. It's making me want to give more than just a tie to Uncle Fritz or the latest video games to my teenage sons. (Sorry, boys.)

The media is of course awash with gift-giving ideas right now, but if you want something different, we'd like to share some of the cool things we've run across. These are gifts that enrich even the people who (luckily) have everything. Plus they add to your global citizen street cred.

First up: the White Envelope Project, inspired by two parents who made it a tradition to give their children a white envelope each year with a note inside, saying a gift was made to a nonprofit. It wasn't in lieu of other presents, but it became the most anticipated one. The kids grew up and founded this organization to spread their parents' idea for giving. (Good job, parents.)