AN EARTH TRUSTEE APPEAL

From John McConnell -- the Man Who Started Earth Day

Internet Opportunity

Here is what you have been waiting for. People world-wide know we have a serious problem with pollution, poverty and violence. Internet provides an opportunity to remedy the problem.

Actions good or bad begin in the mind. The following Earth Trustee idea will change people's minds and fill the media and the world with solutions and hope for the future.  Here is an agenda that will appeal to people of every creed and culture.

Help the Earth Trustee effort. There is no special "Earth Trustee" organization to join (though any organizations can adopt and advocate the Earth Trustee policies and agenda). All you need to do is make a heartfelt decision to think and act as an Earth Trustee, striving each day to do things that will help people and planet. Share this idea with your closest friends and any organization of which you are a member. Ideas for pursuing this goal are at The Earth Trustee Web Site:  http://www.earthsite.org

Report your suggestions and solutions to Earth Trustee message boards or forums. Forward this page to friends and ask them to do the same. As they in turn share this good news it will soon spread through Internet and help bring world peace and a "new civilization of love."

For those who believe in the power of prayer the following is an exciting opportunity. It will also appeal to those who believe in the power of positive thinking.

EARTH TRUSTEE OPPORTUNITY

A Time to Test the Power of Faith and Love

Two thousand years ago a drama of tragedy and triumph planted new seeds of hope in human minds. Hope for brotherhood, freedom and love. Hope that the spirit could be more powerful than the sword.

Two hundred years ago, the hope had evolved into a world-view that made possible great experiments in democracy. But still the sword seemed more powerful than the spirit: the soldier who fought was more a hero than the man of reason who persuaded by understanding and good will. People were not yet ready or able to use the great powers of the spirit for good will and peace.

Today we have an opportunity to prove the power of that ancient hope and the possibility of its earthly fulfillment. Circumstances are propitious for a global test of its validity.

Today, a disillusioned world is groping for eternal verities. New potentials of the mind and spirit are being discovered., A new world-view is emerging -- a view of our planet as a nest in the stars, a home for "earthlings" who are beginning the great adventure of exploring the deep skies of space.

There is a new awareness of the importance of each individual and, at the same time, a realization that we share with all people a need for water and food, for beauty and for one another.

In the past, people were disconnected by space and time. Now, an event can transcend distances, can speed to every part of the world in a few seconds.

Now, in this great moment of opportunity, let us call for a test of the power of faith and prayer to change attitudes and actions -- to end wars and violence. Let us demonstrate that the power of the spirit can defeat the power of the sword. Let us circle the earth with an appeal that all who believe in the power of thought or prayer join at the same time and for the same purpose all over the world.

PEACE BELL

On the 1999 Earth Day, Saturday, March 20, 1999, the United Nations Peace Bell in New York rang at the moment Spring began (8:46 p.m. EST); a minute of prayer and commitment to act as Trustees of Earth in a global effort for Earth's rejuvenation. At the same time, Peace Bells in Moscow, Costa Rica and at the United Nations Center in Vienna rang.  This annual event has increasingly aided efforts for peace, justice and the care of Earth.

GLOBAL PRAYER: PETITIONS AND THANKSGIVING

To provide a better future in the new millennium, radio, web sites and TV should broadcast the DAILY ringing of Peace Bells at one or more of the following times: 0300, 1100 and 1900 GMT.  This will provide daily, global simultaneous silent prayers for peace wherever there is conflict. Resolution of conflict reports will be followed by prayers of thanksgiving. These Earth minutes can provide sounds of music and views of Earth from Space, or other images and sounds that inspire reflection and prayer. Message Boards on Internet can post local times around the world and state support - and results.

This will be a time to thank God for answered prayers -- and provide scholars and scientists, as well as the rest of us, evidence that prayer works. "Oh the faith that works by love, will move the mountains when we pray. Oh the faith that works by love, will turn the darkness into day."

MINUTE FOR PEACE BACKGROUND

The first observance of a global Minute for Peace was at the time of President John F. Kennedy's death. His efforts to see peace realized through the United Nations were ended in Dallas at 19:00 GMT, the very moment on the global clock when the United Nations Charter was signed eighteen years earlier. In the Minute for Peace broadcast given at the end of the mourning period (December 22, 1963), the words of President Kennedy were repeated:

(From Kennedy's speech at the United Nations, September 25, 1961):  "Never have the nations of the world had so much to lose or so much to gain. Together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in its flames. Save it we can--and save it we must -- and then shall we earn the eternal thanks of mankind and, as peacemakers, the eternal blessing of God."

Let each individual who believes in the power of prayer, of faith, of goodwill, join with others each day at the time of Minute for Peace, conscious of being linked with others throughout the world at that very moment as they pray for peace, or purpose peace in their hearts and minds.

To humanists, this will be a time to ponder peace, to celebrate peace with a new awareness of our common humanity.

To people of every religion it will be a means to realize the potentials of their faith, that if they agree at the same time, for the same purpose, they can ask what they will and it will be done. Each day during Minute for Peace, they will ask, in love, for peaceful progress in their lives and throughout the world.

These daily Minutes for Peace, or Earth Minutes, will be an opportunity to join in a spirit of love. For adversaries, it will encourage each to take the first step toward reconciliation. It will encourage many to proceed with faith that lasting peace will come, not by the sword, but by the power of the spirit, by the power of love unfeigned for those who appear to be, or may be, enemies.  We will then see a change in the global state of mind from conflict and fear to peace and goodwill; from Earth Kill to Earth Care.

To all, Earth Minutes for Peace will be a time for all people, as Earth Trustees, to dedicate and consecrate this ground we call our earth home to a new birth of freedom and good will, a new promise of peace to our children and to the whole human family.  We are one human family and together we can save our planet.

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NOTE:  To confirm and strengthen your resolve to act as an Earth Trustee, you can add your name to the Earth Trustee Registry at the initial Earth Trustee web site:  www.earthsite.org. Webmasters who support the Earth Trustee agenda on earthsite.org are invited to provide their own Earth Trustee pages or site to further the Earth Trustee goals.  There will be differences in approach but one common purpose and one annual coming together in heart and mind in the celebration of the Equinox Earth Day.