International Day of Peace
On the 21st of September, we embrace the International Day of Peace. By focusing on the importance of international peace we are reminded of the necessity of collectively continuing to collaborate against the surging flow of injustice, crime and unrest that this year has challenged us with. The year 2021 has proven itself to be as hopeful as it has been discouraging. Thanks to advancing science and the invaluable collaboration of doctors and scientists, the planet and its inhabitants have begun the healing process from COVID-19 through vaccination. However, as many of us desperately hang on to the hopes of resurgence to global health and safety, we must remember that access to the life-changing vaccine has proven unequal for many vulnerable communities around the world. Thus, attention to the equality of vaccine distribution must be paid.
Access to health and safety and human rights has continued to be unequal for many people around the world. The rise in authoritarianism in many regions and states across the globe continues to threaten the security of human rights for many. Similarly, Afghan locals, especially women, are currently facing various forms of oppression and disheartening uncertainties regarding future plans and freedom. We are constantly reminded of how fragile our peace is. Peace has the ability to grant us a myriad of freedoms, powers and privileges. Choosing travel as an opportunity to practice our freedoms through responsible, anti-oppressive, and sustainable experiences within these spaces is an important way of advocating for better, ethical, and equal opportunities for all members of this planet.
Although 2021 has reminded us how delicate and crucial our symbiotic coexistence with one another, nature, and animals are, it has also offered a space to rethink normal.
Recently, Instructor and Author Dr. Anu Taranath used her platform during our Summer Pilot Program to pose two questions:
What does the world that we inhabit mean for you and I to move through it with more intentionality?
and
How might we do that with the least amount of friction and the most amount of connections between us?
Moving with Intention: It is through our transformative journeys that we learn how to creatively build and regenerate the way we choose to live, while reshaping what is “normal” in order to help one another recover. “Be the change that you want to see in the world”, a popular phrase coined by peace activist Mahatma Gandhi, stays relevant in these spaces today. In times of uncertainty, despair, and violence, nourishing resilience building by practicing how to stay grounded while allowing space for self-recognition and internal growth throughout our own lives remains of utter importance.
Connections Between Us: This year, 2021, has allowed us space to: rethink the way we move about in our physical and virtual spaces, rethink the way we interact with one another and our planet, and be mindful of the influence we have on each other. Throughout our own travel journeys, learning how to bring peace along with us in order to connect to our planet, build tolerance, and bridge gaps of misunderstandings is a transformative avenue to healing and rekindling joy.
International Day of Peace serves as a reminder that every day is a chance to hone our positions of power and engage in mindful and anti-oppressive behaviors. RISE Travel Institute pledges to hone its position of power by providing quality education for the travel community, equipping travelers and students with the skills needed to gauge their own influences in the travel space and bridge their own gaps of awareness in order to support sustainable experiences for all members of this planet. Pilot Program Instructor Mary Pat Champeau gracefully reminds us that, “Awareness, education and mindful action can turn our travel experience into a force for creating a more Responsible, Impactful, Sustainable and Ethical world for humans, animals and the ecosystems of your destination”. It is with international peace in mind that RISE Travel Institute exists, every stakeholder of our collective existence deserves the richness this five-letter word represents: peace.
About the Author:
Natalie Amezcua
Content Writer and Strategist
Natalie (she/her/hers) is a humane educator and solutionary writer from Los Angeles. She’s been a long-time resident of Asia, teaching for several years in both rural and metropolitan cities of South Korea and China. Travel has offered transformative journeys that have reshaped her passions for influencing social justice for both human and nonhuman animals through community education and solutionary writing in creative and nontraditional spaces.
