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Day of Peace in Stuttgart, Germany
Written by Ute Lemme, UPF-Stuttgart
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Stuttgart, Germany - UPF-Stuttgart organized an event for the UN International Day of Peace on September 18. During the event we collected donations for disaster relief in Pakistan.About 40 guests from different faiths and international backgrounds gathered to join in a wonderful event organized by the UPF chapter in Stuttgart. As MC for the day, Hubert Arnoldi, director of UPF in Stuttgart, welcomed the guests, among them seven enthusiastic young people such as Maike Tijsterman, who as an opening played a beautiful piano composition by the Italian Ludovico Einaudi, called "White Clouds."
Then Mr. Arnoldi gave a brief introduction on the UN International Day of Peace and this year's motto: "Peace= Future". He then read the German translation of the speech given by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and invited everyone present to give a donation for the disaster relief in Pakistan. Two videos, the “UN Secretary General's message for the International Day of Peace” and the “Peace One Day Concert Winning Song,” were also presented.
The main speech of the event was given by Dr. Hellmut Schmidt, a leader of "Religions for Peace in Stuttgart" and member of the Bahá'í faith, on the topic: "The Meaning of Religions for World Peace." In his speech he referred to the "Proclamation by the Bahá'í to the people of the world" dating from the year 1985. Even though there are many organizations worldwide working for peace and even if they succeeded in banning and abolishing weapons, this alone would not mean that lasting peace was achieved. Real peace must be a peace that starts from "within," thus making religions the most important instrument in creating a peaceful world.
Unfortunately, the influence of religions in today's world is diminishing. The pursuit of material things and well-being alone leads people to becoming more egoistic. Thus, peace education must start from a very young age. Hindrances to creating peace include racism, excessive nationalism, religious fanaticism, and the oppression of women... A new world order is needed, a solemn treaty binding all the countries of the world in a commitment to peace and in solidarity against anyone breaking those rules. A necessary and important step towards this goal will be that leaders and representatives of the world's religions constantly gather to confer on these points.
As an interlude, Miss Katrin Daudert played two songs on the piano, one by a French the other one by an American composer.
The next speaker, Dr. Qais Saidi, leader of the Mandaeans in Germany (a religious minority originating in the Middle East), displayed his "Art for Peace." He explained that the word "Si lom" is the word for peace in more than 20 languages spoken in Asia and Africa – even though the pronunciation is sometimes slightly modified.
In some religions such as Islam it is forbidden to portray images of persons; thus, artfully-composed writing, calligraphy, became a special art. Dr. Saidi introduced two of his impressive pictures to us, in which the word for peace forms a central element. In another one of his pictures the letters for "One Family under God" are the basis for this beautiful art. In two other paintings Aramaic letters were included. To everyone's big surprise, Dr. Saidi then gave those three paintings of Arabic calligraphy as a present to UPF-Stuttgart.
Mr. Arnoldi concluded the official part of the event with a Bahá'í prayer for peace. He then appointed two new Ambassadors for Peace. In recognition and acknowledgement of their private as well as public dedication to peace, Dr. Hellmut Schmidt and Mr. Walter Schmidt received this special award given by the Universal Peace Federation. Rounding up the event, Miss Minori Harlander played a piano composition by John Osborne.
As cake and coffee were served later on, the participants were happy to share with one another in private as well as watch a dance performed by two girls, Katrin and Minori.
The appeal for donations for the Pakistan disaster relief resulted in 150 €. Even though it was a small amount, it was given from the heart. It was sent to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) of the United Nations Foundation the next day.
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