On May 22, 2013 I wrote an article called “Bless this Memorial Day.” It was written in remembrance of those servicewomen and men that have sacrificed their time, their emotional well-being, their health, and their lives. It also recognized all the courageous families that are so deeply impacted by their loved one’s military service. After recounting the story of two men that were killed in Afghanistan, Capt. Bruce McFarlane and Lance Cpl. Steven Stevens, I suggested that peace should be part of their legacy. It seemed to me that would be the perfect way to honor their sacrifice and give it enduring meaning. As I was ending the article I used the phrase “Peace Now” three times in the last two sentences.
The next morning I was reflecting on the phrase “Peace Now.” I asked myself, “Why don’t have we have Peace Now?” Just sitting and drinking coffee at that moment, I intuitively knew that the vast majority of our world’s people want peace. Out of 7.2 billion estimated human beings on our planet, I was confident that at least 7 Billion felt within themselves that peace is our natural state of being. This realization spoke to me with a certainty that increased my empathy and created a deep motivation to do something. I then closed my eyes and envisioned an earth where we all live, work, laugh, cry and celebrate together and where peace would be the foundation of a world-wide community based in love and compassion.
Later that day, I purchased the web domain name www.peacenow.com, I did not know what .com meant to others, but it meant community to me. With that in mind, I was taking my first step toward all of you with a tiny seed of an idea about change.
Sometime after that, I was talking to my friend, Brian Bouggy about the Memorial Day article, my new found belief that all of us want peace, and how I had purchased a web name called “peace now.” I read the article to him, and with the enthusiasm that can only be felt for something larger than one self, I exclaimed “Peace Now is possible more easily today than ever before. We have the internet! From 1 billion homes, from 1 billion hearts, from 196 countries we could create Peace Now!”
Brian was immediately supportive and, being a lawyer, said that he would do the legal filings so Peace Now could become a home where our global family could create an online community. He gracefully did this at no cost and became the second official peace ambassador. I then telephoned one of the strongest, capable, compassionate and beautiful ladies I know and after a brief conversation; Lisa Donovan became the third peace ambassador.
On Saturday the 25th of May 2013, I traveled from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Los Angeles, California, to meet with the talented team that had co-created a book I had just self-published, “The Best 10 Years of Your Life, But Lets Plan On 20”. As I finalized meetings, my dream, my new passion, and my vision were welcomed with love, energy and commitment. Suddenly “me” was replaced by “we”, which is a much more satisfying word. We all then added PeaceNow to our agendas and every day was filled with passion and excitement. New people were introduced, fresh ideas were discussed and as we left every meeting, hugs were exchanged with hearty enthusiasm.
Lisa Elia, Daniel Brewster, Ben Cziller and Beverly Jean soon believed, too. Our collective vision was quickly gaining strength and our expanding family could now all sit around a table. I decided to extend my stay another week as we started to put forth an ambitious plan.
Over the next 60 days, we created concrete goals and pushed ourselves to make progress every day. We soon realized that when you say the word “peace” it evokes wonderful emotions of cooperation and shared interest, but there is no action in the word alone. With PeaceNow, on the other hand, peace starts in the present moment and invites the world to join in.
Inspired by our platform, web pages were designed, our peace symbol was created, and challenges were steadily overcome. Our Facebook page went up on June 25th and John Viscount officially started writing and editing and sharing his vast experience a few days afterwards.
Research was done to see what applications would enable each Peace Ambassador to be creatively involved with our movement. PeaceNow is an Internet-based community and our top priority is offering the resources and technical capabilities that allow you to blog, share, create content, and be actively engaged. We want this to be the best trip you will ever take – a life changing journey to the beautiful destination of global peace that no previous generation has ever experienced.
As of July 31, 2013 there were 2,741 peace seekers that have liked us on Facebook. What was the number of Peace Ambassadors when you joined our community? Together we are now part of the growing story and the history books will someday say that we made the decision for PeaceNow that created a more loving world for future generations.
Scotty Bruer, Founder of PeaceNow