The International Day of Peace
Peace Day - September 21
A worldwide movement to create
a Global Ceasefire and nonviolent
A day of Global Culture of Peace.

By David and Renate Jakupca,
American Cultural Ambassadors and Peace Ambassadors
International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA)
Worlds Children Peace Monument

Dear Members of ICEA and Colleagues and Friends in Peace,

The International Day of Peace, established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly, was first inaugurated on the third Tuesday of September, 1982. Beginning on the 20th anniversary in 2002, the UN General Assembly set 21 September as the now permanent date for the International Day of Peace.

ICEALITY of BEING HUMAN
Human beings are special, unlike any other kind of animal. What make them special is their learning, training and development in ICEAlity. Human beings who have been trained, educated or developed are called “enlightened beings”. They know how to conduct a good life for themselves and also help their society fare securely in peace and happiness.

To be truly involved in this education, human beings, especially children and young people, who are new members of the human race should acquire the six fundamental qualities of ICEAlity for a good life, or the virtues of education. These are guarantees of a life moving toward a full sustainable human development, to peoples becoming truly enlightened in a Global Culture of Peace. They are:

1.

 
Having a “good friend” (a person of social environment that is helpful to ones life development) , seeking out sources of wisdom and good examples. This is to live with or be close to good people, beginning with one’s parents as good friends in the family; to know who to associate with and to socialize with good people will influence and encourage each other to betterment in conduct, mentally and wisdom.
It is especially (that association which encourages one to) learn and develop communication and relations with fellow human beings through goodwill, to have the fait to follow good examples, and to know how to utilize external resources, be they people, books, or other communications media, for seeking knowledge and virtue for one’s life development, problem solving and constructive action.

2.
Virtue of morality, or having discipline as root for one’s life development. This is to know how to organize life-style, activities, work, and environment so that they provide opportunities for personal growth, at least to have a basic level of morality. That is. To have proper conduct in one’s relationship with the social environment by living helpfully and not exploitatively with one’s fellow human beings, and in one’s relationship with the material environment by using the four necessities, as food, clothing, shelter and medicine) as well as technological appliances and equipment in a way that supports the quality of one’s life and is favorable to one’s education, to constructive action and to the state of balance in nature.

3.
Virtue of aspiration: having a heart that aspires to learning and constrictive action. This is to be one who is driven by desire for knowledge, goodness, action, constructiveness, achievement and excellence, by the desire to help all the things and people one meets or is involved with to attain a good state, not obsessively thinking only of getting what one wants and seeking pleasure through consuming. Instead, one knows how to use one’s faculties, such as the eyes and ears, in learning and creating, especially through the environmental arts, to derive joy from doing good things, by using one’s brain and hands for constructive ends.

4.
Dedicating of oneself through ICEAlity: dedicating oneself to training for the realization of one’s full human potential. This is to always bear in mind the truth that human beings by nature are beings that can be trained, and must be trained, and that once trained are the most excellent of beings. Then to resolve to train oneself so that one views and develop one’s intelligence and abilities, to pay heed to ones continuing improvement toward the realization of one’s full potential through a comprehensive development that encompasses behavior, mentality and wisdom. 

5.
Virtue of Understanding: Adhering to the principle of conditionally seeing things according to cause and effect. This is to be established in good and reasoned principles of thought and belief. A principle leading to consideration believing that action is the most powerful determinant of one’s fate, it is also having behavior and mental states that are under the control of reason; even though one aspires to the highest achievement and excellence, one realizes what is possible with the limitations of the causes and conditions that exist and that one has created; in success, one does not forget oneself, and in failure, one is not despondent, one maintains one’s mental clarity and independence, not being impulsive, over reactive or petty, and also not allowing oneself to drift along the stream of public hysteria or false values.

6.
Virtue of Wise Reflection: thinking wisely so as to realize benefit and see the truth. This is to know how to think, to know how to investigate, to be able to see all things as they really are within the system of causes and conditions, by intelligently examining, investigating, tracing, analyzing and researching to see the truth of a given situation, or to see the perspective that will enable one to benefit from it. By doing one is also able to solve problems and do things successfully through intelligent methods that allow one to be self-reliant and at the same time become a refuge to other people.

The ideal person, or perfect human being, can be counted as a truly valuable member of the human race, and can be called a complete person, able to lead his or hers community and society into a Culture of Peace and well being.

PEACE Friends -
David and Renate Jakupca

The Worlds Children Peace Monument

WCPM is located at Coe Lake Park in Berea, Ohio It was designed and built by David Jakupca as a project of the International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA) in cooperation with the United Nations Culture of Peace Program. As new WCPM Stones are added to gardens around the world, it will, in time, become the largest monument dedicated to Global Peace. The sculpture serves as a milestone for the ICEAlity of the Environmental Art Movement indigenous to the Great Cleveland Area, that is to "Assist in understanding of the relationship between Humans and their Environment through the Arts to build a sustainable culture of Peace". The WCPM was officially inaugurated in 2003 at the 3rd World Peace Conference held in Verbania, Italy by American Cultural Ambassadors David and Renate Jakupca where they received an Italian Medal of Arts. They were also recognized by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and in 2006 appointed Universal Peace Ambassadors. The WCPM is organized in support of the UN Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World and the UN Millenium Development Goals.

 


Annie Lennox - Performing for the Peace One Day Celebration in New York on September 9th, 2008 (Photo: Business Wire)

ARK in BEREA -- Peace One Day announced today that a star-studded concert celebrating Peace Day 2008 will be held at the Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York City on September 9th, 2008. Grammy-award winning singers Annie Lennox and Bryan Adams will perform acoustic sets alongside international sensation Natasha Bedingfield. Video messages of Peace from celebrities and artists including Jude Law and Lenny Kravitz, speeches from international luminaries and clips from the acclaimed documentary, The Day After Peace, will add to a remarkable night of entertainment. The New York concert will be filmed and a TV special will be broadcast globally.

Proceeds from the Peace One Day Celebration are earmarked to assist the non-profit organizations ongoing mission to raise awareness of Peace Day, September 21st annually, and manifest life-saving activities on the Day. As a direct outcome of Peace One Days campaigning in 2007, parties in Afghanistan recognized Peace Day resulting in 1.4 million Afghanistan children being vaccinated against polio. Last year, 100 million people in 200 countries were engaged in Peace Day activities and in 14 of those countries, efforts were targeted towards providing life-saving activities and medical services on the Day.

The work of Peace One Day encourages and inspires people to think about what we can all do, both at individual and 'collective' levels. There are better and alternative means to conflict resolution than 'killing and maiming the enemy'. Political leaders and power brokers have too much invested in the industry of war, rather than implementing peaceful solutions. What is life without peace? Peace is for the highest good, and as a global community it is one of the things we need to value above everything.  To find Peace yourself think of 'ICEAlity' .

We now have a remarkable chance to each do our part to commit to peaceful activities on Peace Day and this day has been proven to save lives, said Jeremy Gilley, Founder of Peace One Day and writer, producer and director of The Day After Peace. I am excited to be in New York to celebrate this important day with internationally acclaimed singers like Annie Lennox, Bryan Adams and Natasha Bedingfield.

www.peaceoneday.org
www.THEICEA.Org

Additional performers and presenters will be announced at a later date.

The Peace One Day Celebration in New York City is officially sponsored by BEN & JERRYS, EXECUTION and PUMA and is produced by Peace One Day in association with 19 Entertainment, AEG and CAA Foundation.

Tickets are on sale Thursday at noon at Ticketmaster.com, 212-307-7171 and at the Nokia Theater Box Office and are priced at $74.50 and $59.50.

Peace One Day

Peace One Day is a non-profit organisation founded in 1999 by Jeremy Gilley. As a result of Jeremy and Peace One Day's efforts, September 21st is now officially designated by every member state of The United Nations as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence, a chance for every human being on earth to express the same desire...to live together peacefully, as one.

The new documentary, The Day After Peace, charts this remarkable 10-year journey taken by Jeremy Gilley to establish an annual Day of peace on September 21st. After the official motion is unanimously sanctioned by the UN, Gilley turns his efforts to implementing the ideals of Peace Day, galvanizing countries and governments to recognize this as an official day of ceasefire and non-violence. Celebrity support from the likes of Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller and corporate support from Puma, Coca-Cola, Ben & Jerry's and Ecover enhances the momentum. After Jeremy asks Jude Law to accompany him to Afghanistan, Jeremys persistence is rewarded when UNICEF suggests using the Day to attempt a mass vaccination against Polio in one of the toughest conflict areas in the world.

Peace One Day:
Mich Ahern, Publicist
office +44-207-456-9180
mobile +44-7908-507-672
mich.ahern@peaceoneday.org

or

19 ENTERTAINMENT
Roger Widynowski, VP of Music/TV Publicity
US/310-461-1788
rogerw@19entertainment.com

or

Dera Roslan & Campion PR
Cristina Parvu, 212-966-4600
Cristina@drcpublicrelations.com

or in OHIO

International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA)
Universal Peace Ambassadors David and Renate Jakupca
arkinberea-ambassadors@yahoo.com