Today we honor those who sacrificed their lives to keep the world open and free. Peace and freedom is a never ending project that requires commitment on all levels and, unfortunately, sometimes unavoidable wars.
As a kid, I loved Astrid Lindgren’s books. Not so much Pippi Longstocking and her early series, but her grand fairy tales “The Brothers Lionheart“, “Mio, My Son” and “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter“. They are set in times of snow white messenger pigeons, black tyrants with evil dragons and plundering robbers who could have been Robin Hood’s distant cousins. Although set in a fairy tale time and landscape, they are universal and time-less, covering all human traits like good and evil, brave and cowardly, humorous and serious and love and hate. The kids in them experience horrible things but learn to overcome their fears to do what is necessary to save the world from evil and eternal darkness. “Then Jonathan said there were things you have to do, even if they are dangerous. ‘Otherwise you aren’t a human being, but just a bit if filth.’ ” – from “The Brothers Lionheart”
Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid LindgrenMio, My Son by Astrid LindgrenThe Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
Seeing on the news what is going on in the Middle East today makes these books more important than ever. When I read them as a kid, and again just a couple of years ago for my own kids, I could not imagine that I would see scenes from the books on the news. But that is where the world is today and we are more dependent than ever on having brave men and women defend the freedom we want to keep enjoying.
If you haven’t read these books already, now is the time!
For a long time, we’ve been fascinated with creativity. What is it? How can we get better at “being creative”? How do we encourage and inspire others to explore their creativity – employees, kids and others? Is creativity something you are born with or can you learn it?
Love is red, sometimes pink, but what color is peace?
White peace dove on a tie dye background, both from wikimedia.org
We all know that a peace dove is white. Some say that peace is yellow. The forth advent candle, representing peace, is often purple. Love and peace go together, so if love is red or pink, so must peace. A healthy nature and Mother Earth is related to peace, so for some, peace is green. Others say that peace is as infinite as the sky and the ocean, so it must be blue. How about turquoise?
funflector® safety reflectors “Love & Peace” in several colors.
Tomorrow, October 9th, the amazing Imagine Peace Tower will be beaming again to celebrate John Lennon’s birthday. It’s light beam reaches far up in the sky and is powerful enough to penetrate the lowest clouds. The interaction with the clouds make it an ever changing piece of art and reminder that peace is never static.
The memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, was inaugurated on this day in 2007. It is built on the tiny island of Viðey just outside Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It is said that the location was chosen for it’s beauty and access to clean power, produced with geothermal heat. The 15 powerful searchlights are boosted by prisms that act as mirrors, extending the light beam well beyond 10,000 feet on clear nights.
Turquoise heart and peace sign safety reflector.
Few of us will have the opportunity to go there on Saturday, but we can watch it live at 7/8/9 pm in Western Europe and 1/2/3/4 pm in America and make our wish on twitter:@IPTower I wish…
At funflector.com, we also have our own way of saying “I love You, Imagine Peace” and a different way of beaming light – with a funflector® safety reflector of course! We are so excited that our first batch of “Love & Peace” reflectors has arrived. The first order go to an alert California customer, who ordered via our web shop. The second order goes to Whatsit & Dohickey Co. It is a fun toy and game store in Libertyville, IL, full of brain teasers, board games and other neat stuff.
Beth is our inspiration for the heart and peace sign safety reflector. Beth is a mom in my neighborhood and was one of the first ones I had the good fortune to get to know soon after we moved in. After a couple of years of chatting on school mornings after the kids took off with the bus, we know each other pretty well. She is friendly, helpful and always in a good mood. With those qualities, it is not too surprising that she knows and is liked by almost everyone in town. I’ve often thought that if everyone was as friendly and helpful as Beth, the world would certainly be a more peaceful place to live in. Beth, who always signs off her emails with “Love & Peace”, has inspired our newest funflector™ shape with the same name.
“Love & Peace” peace sign and heart safety reflector
The Peace Sign and Promoting Peace
The peace sign was created in 1958 by Gerald Holtom for the British Nuclear Disarmament movement. The “peace dove footprint” was inspired by the semaphore letters N and D for Nuclear Disarmament. It was brought to the US where it became a symbol for the anti-war movement in the 60’s. Eventually it became so popular that it was used for pure decoration as well.
As it was in the sixties, the peace sign is today also a fashion statement and found on everything from backpacks, notebooks and clothes to diamond rings and garden decoration. Googling “peace symbol fashion” gives over 24 million images to view…
The least one can hope is that the peace signs seen every day on clothes and accessories will remind people to be a little bit more like Beth. If you are friendly and patient with people around you and inspire them to do the same, the world can only get better—right? The next step is to buy fair trade food and other items. People who get paid for their work have money to buy food for themselves and their families don’t need to become violent to get it. If you want to get engaged even more, there are many organizations working for peace in different ways that would love to take you on board. Whatever you do, don’t loose sight of the peace dream!
“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.” – John Lennon
The “Love & Peace” funflector™
The “Love & Peace” reflector will be available in pink and turquoise and be here just in time for you to wear on the International Day of Peace, September 21. That is also the time of year when the days gets a lot shorter every day and you suddenly find yourself out and about in the dark. With a reflector or two hanging on jackets and backpacks, you’ll be safer when that happens.
Beth and her 7th grade daughter have been waiting patiently since they saw the first sketches by our designer back in May and they will certainly be the first ones to get our newest reflector!
Elisabeth
P.S. Check out some of these web sites if you want to learn more about the peace sign and work done for peace or just want to enjoy some creative expressions of the peace sign:
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As a kid, I loved Astrid Lindgren’s books. Not so much Pippi Longstocking and her early series, but her grand fairy tales “The Brothers Lionheart“, “Mio, My Son” and “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter“. They are set in times of snow white messenger pigeons, black tyrants with evil dragons and plundering robbers who could have been Robin Hood’s distant cousins. Although set in a fairy tale time and landscape, they are universal and time-less, covering all human traits like good and evil, brave and cowardly, humorous and serious and love and hate. The kids in them experience horrible things but learn to overcome their fears to do what is necessary to save the world from evil and eternal darkness. “Then Jonathan said there were things you have to do, even if they are dangerous. ‘Otherwise you aren’t a human being, but just a bit if filth.’ ” – from “The Brothers Lionheart”
