My Reflection on the Lakbay para sa Kapayapaan sa Edsa
A big salute to those behind “Lakbay para sa Kapayapaan sa Edsa.” Hope this will serve as a reminder to all that each of us has a role in the peace building process. It has not been an easy path trying to finish the almost 4KM Peace Mural Painting. All of those who took part in this project made their own sacrifices and selflessly contributed to the project. Our experience here also reflects the challenges that we all have been facing in terms of the peace talks. But what do you think kept us going in the same way that we never stop believing and hoping for the success of the peace talks?
In the moments that we felt weak, we had people from all walks of life, from different faiths who became our strength. Along the rough road that we had, they were our pillars that remained strong and firm that made our foundation even stronger. In times that others were trying to put barriers for us not to be able to accomplish our goal, they were our voices and our positive forces that became our shield for us to stay focused on finishing the Philippines’ PORTRAIT OF PEACE. They are our modern day Peace Heroes who did not think twice of responding to our Call for Peace and have shown that they in their own ways and spheres of influence can take part in helping others realize how significant our role is as civil society towards achieving peace and development in the country. We all have our own differences, but if we put our differences aside and focus on our similarities and what can be beneficial to our people just like what we did in this project, stumbling blocks may be lessened along the way.
Others may be wondering about what we want to achieve in this kind of project as a product of joint effort of different institutions – government, non-government, corporations, civil society groups, youth organizations, groups catering to our brothers and sisters with disabilities and many more. But such beautiful stories of Filipinos have been created in this project; a new found family of artists and non-artists was formed and; a portrait was made reminding all of us about our positive values, our culture and our lifestyle that can build a more peaceful nation by influencing one person, one community at a time.
Our other brothers and sisters may ask about our action plan on maintaining our Portrait of Peace, our next steps after finishing the peace mural painting and perhaps wonder why are we doing this kind of project. As we have always been practicing the Culture of Bayanihan and this project is a product of Bayanihan between different institutions, we are all going to take part in maintaining our portrait, because this is not just the portrait of the organizers but this is the portrait of every Filipino who believe in Peace and is in support of building a Culture of Peace in the country. Similarly, we have our own various programs to complement and safeguard the peace process, we are also going to work together to safeguard the peace murals.
“Lakbay para sa Kapayapaan sa Edsa” is just one of our projects on helping build peace one child, one school and one community at a time. Asia America Initiative and its partners have been conducting different creative and innovative programs to mainstream peace. The organizers chose ART as one of our means of mainstreaming the peace building process because ART cuts across religions, it cuts across cultures. This is just one of our common grounds where we can express ourselves and at the same time, to help build a Culture of Peace through this kind of medium would have a psychological impact on us as we see the images. Such images we create serve as a visual reminder of the power of working together, the importance of our value system and our support to the Call for Peace regardless of our differences.
This project does not just end with painting. It’s just the start of a new adventure especially for our young generations who we want to influence in building a Culture of Peace in the country by knowing more about the religion of our other brothers and sisters, our culture, our history and the true meaning of the Peace Process. We are going to organize EduPeace Tours to make them more reflect on how they can contribute to peace themselves even at a young age.
This is just the beginning of creating new beautiful stories. Such stories that can leave footprints for others to follow. Such stories that can make a mark in other people’s lives. And such stories that we can all be proud of. Just like how great things were invented and were realized, sometimes it is in simple stories like the ones that we have created here, can possibly be the start of another big revolution – the PEACE REVOLUTION.
Lakbay para sa Kapayapaan sa Edsa 