BlogBlast For Peace: How A Movement Began

It's been called everything from a cyberspace revolution to organic to a waste of time. To some it is a phenomenon. To many, a bloggers day to connect and represent. To others just an ordinary spot on the calendar. But to all who blogged for peace - it is a voice for change.

To me it is a passion.

In October 2006, I wrote an article on my blog semi-venting about the state of our world and pondering how I could do anything about it. North Korea's testing of nuclear weapons caught the attention of the world and on the same day a small plane flew into a New York apartment building stirring memories of terror. The news was unsettling. Frightful. Sobering. So I threw out a challenge to my handful of readers that perhaps, if we all wrote our names across our world and loudly, oh so loudly, proclaimed "Dona nobis pacem" (translated from the Latin "Grant Us Peace") that maybe, just maybe, we could see change, at least in our own little spheres. I asked that we post it on the same day with the same title in a display of unity. In less than sixty days, hundreds of bloggers had done just that. Before I could wrap my brain around it, little blue peace globes began spinning out of control across the blogosphere. I found them everywhere. It was amazing! From cat bloggers, dog bloggers, gerbils, birds, moms, dads, rockers, preachers, soldiers, mothers, gay, straight, liberal and conservative. The Peace Globe Movement aka BlogBlast For Peace began.

Our sixth launch takes flight

November 5, 2009.

Will you be there?

Today there are forty-six countries participating and thousands of blog posts about the movement and its influence. Wait a minute. Movement? Me? You? We? We started a movement? How? And more importantly, why? People wrote to me, "I never thought I had a voice until now."

I kept hearing that over and over. And this -

"There is a roof over my head, food in my

refrigerator- and in my belly... For me, life is good, and full of fun and

games. For some people, none of life is fun and games.....On November 5th a call for peace will rise from the blogosphere. I plan to show my gratitude for my

life and privileges I deem common place, by asking that those privileges become

common place the world over." (Quilldancer)

Luxor The Cat purred, “I always picture us linked together by our individual globes, our heartfelt wishes spreading out over the blogosphere in a wave of love and light and hope for the future."

Ambitiously naive? Hardly.

Not even for a cat.

I began to read, one at a time, the carefully crafted posts, marveling at the creativity and individuality sprawled on the simple blue graphic - the pithy and the poignant - humbled by the pure intent behind the words. A wish for peace. I was so moved I found myself weeping at my computer. From Zimbabwe, Scotland, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Bolivia, South Africa, California.....they all had something to say about peace; what it meant to them personally, what it means in their part of the globe, and what it means to us collectively.

Suddenly my blog neighbor half a world away moved into my neighborhood. Blog communities globally melded. We were a sight to behold. For one day our hearts bled passionate words of hope - all over the world.

Our language and circumstance strikingly different, our yearning for peace the same.

Indeed. A movement began. It is my privilege to represent the peace bloggers.

One blogger in Canada wrote, “.....if social connections exist and what we write has power, why can’t a group of people posting a similar graphic calling for peace - whatever the word peace means to you - wield similar power?"

I no longer doubt it. Voices of peace can't war. We launched, quite literally, a revolution of words. Stealth. Steady. Marking our world with a promise.

And oh.so.loud.

I have changed since the beginning of Dona Nobis Pacem in the blogosphere. I am changing still. Revolution? Of the kindest kind. It is a turning. An attitude shift. A metamorphosis. An evolution – one in which the power of our words manifests intrinsic change and expands our compassion for and understanding of people everywhere, dictates a respect for diversity, and calls me – and my neighbors – to a place of peace.

This is the hope I have for myself. It is my hope for you.

The voices of our time matter.

Won't you add yours to the growing number of peace bloggers?

Click here to find out how

Mimi Lenox
AWOP Contributor
Author of Mimi Writes Blog


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Peace Y'all