The following document is an introduction to a project that combines state of the art communications technology with state of the art human achievement technology to dramatically accelerate our progress toward peace. Funding partners and organizations compatible with the purpose of this initiative are being invited to assist in the next phase of this initiative.

The purpose of this initiative is peace.

Peace is Possible . . . think about it.

The “Peace is the Only Gold/Global Education Initiative” is designed to inspire, mobilize and align the best and highest capabilities of all those who want to live in peace. All the necessary components and conditions are present and available to us to inspire people everywhere who want to live in peace to team with people worldwide who are doing their part to create a world at peace. Our timeline targets the culmination of the United Nations declared “Decade for the Building of Cultures of Peace 2000-2010” as the time when it will be declared that we have won the gold medal for humankind– peace in our lifetime.

THE STRATEGY

Our strategy is to dramatically accelerate our progress toward peace by inspiring, mobilizing and aligning the highest capabilities of all those who want to live in peace.

The strategy to achieve the gold medal of peace in our lifetime builds on the existing work that has been done by thousands of individuals and organizations committed to creating a better and more peaceful world. This “Peace is the Only Gold/Global Education Initiative” is designed to inspire, mobilize and align all those who want to live in peace. Annual efforts culminate on the International Day of Peace each year as a day of global recognition and celebration of our heretofore-unheralded progress toward peace. The International Day of Peace each year highlights reports on the status of peace, identifies the ongoing strategies and initiatives leading toward peace and celebrates the individuals and organizations that are leading the way.

While there has always been criticism of the Olympic Games both ancient and modern, the Modern Olympic Games is still seen by many throughout the world as a moment in time to watch the best and highest of human capabilities played out on the world stage. Because of current world events, it is an opportune time for Olympians the world over to join together to assist people in directing their highest capabilities to winning the gold medal for humankind and fulfilling the original purpose of the Modern Olympic Games. Olympians in Northern California are envisioning fulfilling the first article of the Olympic Charter as stated by the founder, Pierre deCoubertain, that the purpose of the Olympic Games is…”to educate youth through sports to create a better and more peaceful world.”

The primary audience for the “Peace is the Only Gold/Global Education Initiative” is young people:

• Who want to achieve their potential
• Who want to live in a world at peace.

The Initiative has five key components:

1. “Thrival Kit”-thinking skills and wisdom traditions
2. Olympians -as “magnetic- attractors” to engage youth
3. Implementation Teams -to support the dreams and efforts of young people
4. Internet Access- to link people and projects
5. Annual United Nations/International Day of Peace Global Celebration

1. Thrival Kit:

The Thrival Kit provides young people with key ” thrival skills”. These are skills used by successful people from many disciplines the world over that allow ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Below are key components of the Thrival Kit:

• The Collected Wisdom of Olympians Past and Present: This component entails requesting from Olympians around the world the answers to five questions to identify the skills and tools that allow ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. We will gather their responses and make them available for people around the world to access their messages, knowledge and skills. We know that people around the world respect and believe in Olympians and their ability to achieve lofty goals. The Olympian’s messages will be crafted to inspire people to take action to achieve their personal goals and to positively impact their local communities and world events.

• Thinking Skills: This component of the Thrival Kit is designed to provide Olympians with a systematic way to deliver proven, effective and empowering success skills and tools to young people. The skills proposed for inclusion are the following:

• Systems Thinking
• Scenario Planning,
• Six Thinking Hats,
• An Ordinary Olympian from Oakland’s Thinking,
• Multiple Intelligences,
• learning styles
• related accelerated learning tools

• In essence, we will be providing young people with practical life skills/tools that will empower them to achieve their goals and become leaders in their communities.

• Perennial Wisdom Traditions: This component of the curriculum is being designed to gather the wisdom traditions of the world and make them easily accessible to young people. We believe that each culture has teachings and traditions that are of great value to the rest of the world. Our goal is to engage Olympians worldwide in identifying their wisdom traditions and to capture this wisdom with the intention of learning from one another and benefiting from the best teachings available throughout history and from around the world.

2. Olympians as Magnetic-Attractors:

Olympians at the Olympic Games and Olympians from previous Games through national alumnae organizations will receive a gift “Thrival Kit” from the Northern California Olympians. This gift will be taken back to the youth of their respective countries, communities, regions, and made available through existing youth service organizations. Olympians become the “magnetic -attractors” to make available in their geographic area, educational materials that provide young people with the same skills Olympians and other successful people use to achieve extraordinary results.

3. Implementation Teams:

Olympians upon returning home will be joined by an implementation team that will let all young people and youth service providers know that this gift is being made available to them. With one phone call Olympians will be able to mobilize local community service organizations to provide support for Olympians and local youth who will team with regional public relations/publicity companies. Together, they create ad campaigns that result in schools, youth recreation and sports programs and other youth service organizations requesting the “Thrival Kit” materials. Organizations in the community will have a process for working together to insure that young people have the tools and opportunities to achieve the goals they have set for themselves and to network with people worldwide working together for peace.

4. Internet Access:

Any youth service organization engaging these materials will be assured the hardware, software and communications capabilities to access a global network of young people who are using these same skills to achieve their potential. At the international project level, technology companies will be partnering to insure that the young people who want to use these same skills to positively impact the world around them will have the ability to contact, communicate and collaborate with other young people around the world who are using these same skills to create a better and more peaceful world.

5. Annual United Nations/International Day of Peace Global Celebration:

Representatives of young people from around the world will be afforded the opportunity to present a report card to the United Nations each year to:

• Report on the status of peace in each region/country,
• Cite key positive trends and areas for improvement with programs already engaged on addressing those problem areas.
• Identify individuals and organizations to be recognized and celebrated for their leadership in our progress toward peace

These globally connected, empowered youth will be asked to provide us with the “report card” and to deliver it at the opening session of the United Nations each year. It will encompass young people’s assessments from around the world of how we are doing in our progress toward creating a world at peace. This “report card” will use universally recognized measures of peace/ measurements of key indicators that people the world over agree are important indicators of peace/non-peace. The report card will also use measures of peace established by young people to assess the degree of peace in their homes, communities, regions and countries. The final day of Peace Week activities each year is for:

• Recognition of those individuals, organizations and countries that are leading the way in creating a better and more peaceful world and
• Global celebrations of our progress toward peace.

RESULTS

As a result of this “Peace is the Only Gold/Global Education Initiative” young people the world over will have the skills, tools and support structures necessary to make their personal dreams come true and they will have the inspiration and infrastructure to allow them to work as a team with people worldwide who are engaging our highest capabilities to create a world at peace.

Our strategy integrates the use of technology, the media, public relations companies, corporate partners, private foundations, international governmental and non-governmental organizations and community service organizations worldwide, Olympians and youth service organization to accomplish the stated objective of peace.

The world’s problems are very complex and no one has all the answers. However, everyone has a piece of the answer and everyone can do something in his or her daily life to move us one step closer to peace. The “Peace is the Only Gold/Global Education Initiative” is designed to inspire mobilize and provide the infrastructure to support people everywhere to do their part each day for peace, and to align their thinking and actions with others the world over who are doing their part for peace.

Peace is Possible . . . think about it.