If Only Today You Knew…
The Things That Make for Peace
By Dr. James McGinnis with Kevin LaNave
St. Louis, MO: Institute for Peace and Justice, 2002
Review by Pat Hoertdoerfer
Children, Family and Intergenerational Programs Director, UUA
Boston, MA

Because of the magnitude of the events of September 11, 2001, the US “War on Terrorism” and Iraq and their potential to lead the world even more quickly down the path of violence, educator and peace activist James McGinnis gathered additional resources for the "Alternatives to Violence" Christian Education & Elementary School Kit. This notebook of resources includes new units on “Images of Peacemaking and the Pledge” and “Dealing with the Violence of Terrorism & War.” These educational materials offer activities and readings to help children understand the Pledge of Nonviolence and the visions of peace in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and to deal with their fears, the human consequences of terrorism and war, and the “spiral of violence.” Information on the UN Decade on the Culture of Peace and Nonviolence (2000-2010) brings activities to help children generate alternatives to violence at all levels of human interaction.

Pledge and the Dimensions of Peacemaking

The Pledge of Nonviolence explicitly incorporates four dimensions of peacemaking:

• It involves making peace or being in harmony with ourselves – respecting ourselves, honestly sharing our feelings and needs, and forgiving ourselves when necessary.
  
• It challenges us to be in harmony with or compassionate toward other humans – interpersonal peacemaking. The first four components of the Pledge stress this and includes in recreating nonviolently and standing up for other individuals when they are being treated unfairly.
  
• The Pledge asks us to be compassionate and in harmony with the rest of creation and to see ourselves interdependent with, and spokespersons for, all species of life.
  
• The Pledge challenges us to be peacemakers in the society and institutions of which we are a part, challenging institutional violence and working to change public policies that promote violence.
  
• Finally, the Pledge points toward a fifth dimension--being in harmony with God and becoming instruments of God’s peace, compassion, and harmony in the world around us.

Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference
Helping Your Family Live with Integrity, Value Simplicity, and Care for Others
by Susan V. Vogt
Chicago, IL: Loyola Press, 2002

In this thoughtful guide, Vogt acknowledges that there are no guarantees in parenting while offering creative and realistic parenting strategies. Based on the author’s years of experience as parent and family-life educator, along with reflections by her children, and stories of other families, she inspires, equips, and comforts parents in the awesome task of raising socially conscious children, kids who will make a difference. All chapters (Identity, Time, Materialism, Ecology, Media, Health, Peacemaking, Spirituality, Global Awareness, Diversity, Service, Motivation) include reflection questions for parents. This book has practical value for every UU parent.

You can order these resources from the Institute for Peace and Justice (www.ipj-ppj.org).