Mosquito tactics talks to Dalai Lama about peace education.

Mosquito tactics had the opportunity to be present when his highnes Dalai Lama held his speech about peace in Raykjavik, Island. The question we asked was:

Is peace education important? And on which level should it be implemented, on an elementary level or as a university course?

–Well, I think that in the schools of the modern society we pay too much attention on the development of our intellect and forget about the importance of on teaching about morality, ethics and compassion. We should focus more on the significance of having a good heart, then automaticly we will educate our students about the importance of being a kind person. Our own hearts and the compassion within them are important for creating a positive way of thinking, for creating a happy family, happy communities and happy individuals.

When you say peace education I would like to respond with saying that the use of the word non-violence is better than the word peace even thou they both have the same meaning. This because the word non-violence has a stronger impact and expresses an action of compassion. With more love and compassion attitudes and actions change into being non-violent.

Whether one uses non-violence or violence is very much based on the motivation behind the act. With a negative motivation the use of nice words and a smile can be an act of violence because your motivation behind the act is to cheat and maybe even harm someone else. On the other hand good parents and teachers sometimes have to take some harsh actions in order to help their children and students. Harsh words that appear as violent may be non-violente because the motivation behind the act is one of compassion made out of sence of concern.

Non-violence and compassion are acually ancient indian thoughts, so therefore I consider myself as an messenger of ancient indian thought.

At one occasion I met with George W. Bush while he was the president of the United States. I told him “I love you, but I don’t agree with some of your policies”. This is a good example of an act of non-violence.

We should promote the concept of non-violence and teach our students how to get such an attitude that as soon as they see a conflict they'll emediately respond on solving the problem with a dialog. And this should be tought right from the beginning, in the kindergaden.

Thanks to Hanna Mia Brekkan Jonstam (NJR, CISV Sweden) for asking the question.