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This book is dedicated to the children of Hornsby North
Public School.
We would like to commemorate the 20th anniversary
of the school’s great achievements in developing the “Peace
Education” book, and constructing the “Peace Garden”.
The teachers at the school implemented the peace program
very successfully and hence won the Sam Lewis Peace Award
For Teachers.
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Some of the illustrations and pictures in this book are
courtesy of the original book “Peace Education - Ideas for
young children - Hornsby North Public School”.
The front cover is designed by Monica Shakeri. The Lotus
flower is a symbol of peace and harmony. The raindrops
carrying the virtues of caring and peacefulness are the
essential food for this flower to grow and remain in full
bloom.
The other illustrations in the book are the magnificent work
of Laura Condren “our little artist”.
A great thank you to Mrs Satu Hessar for her editing work
and continuous encouragement.
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In the old city of Salem there lives a family with two
children. Only two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is
called Izmyne (because he always shouts “it’s mine”) and the
girl is called Gimme (because she always shouts “give me”).
This seems like a very small family but they sure make
very big noise.
The mother says, “it’s the children who make all the noises
and drive everyone mad”. It is true, to some extent. If you
happen to be invited to this house, or just go in uninvited
you may agree with the mum. These two children are
constantly fighting and arguing over any little thing. They
just don’t know how to get along.
All in all, they have created a war zone in the house. Poor
Mrs. Fedup (their mother) is constantly shouting and hurting
her throat in order to restore some peace and quiet but it
only resolves the problem for 30 seconds before another
attack takes place.
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The nighttime is even worse because Mr. Fed up joins
in with Mrs. Fed up in shouting and ordering the children.
Well, let me tell you; I have been their neighbour
for 10 years and even I have to shout sometimes to get their
attention and stop their war for a short time.
All in all, the situation has been very grim. I think
the children must be very tired of all these arguments and
nonsensical whinging about each other.
.
.
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In fact, Gimme (the little Miss Fedup) was telling my
daughter yesterday that she just wished she could stop
arguing with her brother and bring peace and tranquility to
their house. Some very big words for this little girl. My
daughter told me that she had asked Gimme to talk to her
grandfather and ask for his advice. After all he is a lot
wiser and older than us. And I must say that I did see
Gimme’s grandfather going into their house yesterday. So may
be he has completely resolved their problems. Hooray!
But no! This morning little Miss Fedup came into my
house and said that she would like to talk to me!!! So I
sat down and made her feel all-comfortable. She said “ last
night I was watching TV and there were talking about sending
Peace troops to other countries; they called them the
Peacemakers. So I thought that they could send some to our
house. We would sure do need them”.
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Gimme said that last night she had a very interesting
dream after watching that program on TV. And this is how she
explained her dream to me.
“ I dreamt that I had turned into a bird. I was
flying over our house, over your house, over our city and
everywhere. It was such a good feeling. I had never felt
like that before. I flew and flew, until I came to a very
big tree. Up on that tree I met an owl. I sat next to him
and looked at him because he looked so real. He ignored me
for a while and then he turned around and said “would you
like to come with me on a journey?”
I said “where to?”
He said “I am going to take you to the Tree of
Peace?”
I felt like all my prayers had been answered.
I said “for sure. I really could do with some peace”.
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Gimme continued: “The wise owl flew off in front of me and
ordered me to follow him. So I did and we flew off for a
long time until we came to another big tree, which had lots
and lots of fruit hanging from it. I was a bit curious. He
said that this is the first stop along our journey in search
of the Tree of Peace.
The wise owl then picked a big fruit and gave it to me to
eat. And then another, and another. He said that each of
these fruit was a tasty and healthy virtue. This one is the
love fruit. This one is the fruit of friendliness, the fruit
of helpfulness, the fruit of caring and so on.
He said that in fact, this whole tree is called the virtues
tree.
By this time I had eaten so many fruits that I could not eat
anymore.
So the wise owl said “ do not worry, my friend. This tree
will be here forever and you will be eating from this tree
for the rest of your life. But we need to move on now and
fly to our next stop”.
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"And so we flew off into the
big blue sky for a long time. Until from a distance, I could
see another big tree full of birds. All the birds seemed to
notice us and welcome us onto their tree. We landed safely.
Let me tell you that I had never seen so many birds
on one tree, all different colours, all different breeds,
and all different sizes.
They were sitting in big or small groups talking
about something! And most interestingly, there were nine
owls sitting right at the top of the tree watching everyone
like big leaders.
The wise owl that was my friend sat me on a branch
and said, “ Do you know what these birds are doing?”
I said, “I have no idea”.
So then he pointed to one group of birds and said,
“This group is learning about decision making. They
learn to come up with new ideas together. They learn to
negotiate with each other until they are all happy with
their decision.”
“This group” said the owl “is learning how to solve their
arguments and problems in a peaceful manner. And that other
group is learning how to talk to each other so that they do
not hurt each other’s feelings”.
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The wise owl said that these are the most important
skills in life and we all need to learn them. So then I
asked about the nine wise owls at the top. He said, “Those
are the nine friends from God who have come with Their
special teachings from Him to help us and guide us so we can
have this peaceful life”.
Then without saying another word the wise owl took
off and I followed him. We landed on another tree. The sun
was setting in the sky and it just looked like a perfect
sunset by the time we arrived. This was the best and most
beautiful part of my dream. I was sitting on this tree with
millions of other birds. Not a single sound. It was very
peaceful. Every one of the birds had their eyes closed. For
a minute I thought they were all sleeping. The wise owl came
near me and hushed in my ear. “This is the Tree of Peace.
This is our final destination. The birds are all praying and
meditating. They are thanking God for giving them all these
gifts because without Him there would be none of this”.
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“Suddenly” said Gimme “I heard my mother screaming
from downstairs telling me that I would be late for school.
So I woke up from my dream. Oh! I wish I was still there”.
“I think I have found the solution to our problem
now. We need some serious education for peace in our house.
And I know just the way”.
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Living in
harmony everyday
"The diversity
in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony,
as it is in music where many different notes blend together
in the making of a perfect chord. If you meet those of
different race and colour from yourself, do not mistrust
them and withdraw yourself into your shell of
conventionality, but rather be glad and show them kindness.
Think of them as different coloured roses growing in the
beautiful garden of humanity, and rejoice to be among them."
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