{"id":137047,"date":"2019-07-08T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=137047"},"modified":"2019-11-18T09:56:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T09:56:20","slug":"in-afghanistan-we-have-three-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/07\/in-afghanistan-we-have-three-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"In Afghanistan, We Have Three Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5 Jul 2019 – Dear fellow human beings,<\/em><\/p>\n

Some of us have wondered, \u201cAre people today too disconnected and frantic to calm down in order to solve global challenges together? Are we so polarized and self-absorbed that we cannot stop judging one another or insisting on our partisan ways?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In Kabul, our thoughts and feelings are diverse, complicated and flawed, so we centre our three dreams on relationships.<\/em><\/p>\n

We have felt much joy in creating this video-letter. We dedicate it to planet earth and to everyone in the human family. <\/em><\/p>\n

We hope that each of us can take tiny actions to free ourselves from the ravages of money and power. <\/em><\/p>\n

With love, from Afghanistan<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Afghanistan, We Have Three Dreams Video<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fmQTr9Tqejw&feature=youtu.be<\/p>\n

We\u2019re the Afghan Peace Volunteers in Kabul, and we have three dreams.<\/p>\n

Our three dreams are about reuniting with nature and 7.7 billion other human beings!<\/p>\n

Our dreams aren\u2019t prescriptions. They\u2019re music and movements, distilled from today\u2019s nightmares.<\/p>\n

What we hope to gain is love, not money or political power, because love will be good for all of us!<\/p>\n

We will re-boot the operating systems that have programmed us to chase after fake money and power.<\/p>\n

After years of rote exams, we have hardly learned anything about becoming finer human beings. So, we have resolved to educate ourselves to question everything, and to love everyone!<\/p>\n

We\u2019re like children whose instinct is to become friends. More than being dreamers, we\u2019re do-ers. So, we\u2019re building three earth GENeration dreams, GEN for Green, Equal and Nonviolent.<\/p>\n

We Dream of Green Earth Relationships!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We practise permaculture and use solar energy.<\/p>\n

Why? We\u2019re part of nature and can\u2019t survive without her. Our Mother Earth isn\u2019t a \u201cthing\u201d for us to utilize or set on fire, but a \u201cbeing\u201d for us to embrace.<\/p>\n

We Dream of Equal Earth Relationships!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We have started worker cooperatives because the world economy isn\u2019t fair for the planet or for 99% of humanity.<\/p>\n

Our community is self-governing. We don\u2019t need a Director. All of us are leaders, but we\u2019re not like today\u2019s cash-elected leaders who\u2019re some of the least desirable humans in the world.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re growing our web of Borderfree friends, because we\u2019re from the same human family, the same tree of life. We want to be friends with all Afghans, US citizens, Russians, the British, Chinese, Koreans, Pakistanis, Indians, Iranians, Sudanese, Venezuelans and every human being!<\/p>\n

Our human genome is 99.9% similar, so we reject racism, exceptionalism, male superiority, moralism and others, because all of these are neither scientific nor kind.<\/p>\n

We Dream of Nonviolent Earth Relationships!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We all want peace, but so far, we\u2019ve wanted peace only<\/strong> for our own countries, tribes, political and religious groups. So war has continued, and as a result, I\u2019ve lost my uncle Sakhi, and my close friend Tariq.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve more space in our hearts for love and peace than for war, so we\u2019re training ourselves to be nonviolent mediators. We\u2019ll reason and empathize with our leaders and extremists, and we will reach an agreement without using any physical force!<\/p>\n

War starts in our militarized minds, so picture the global war on terror as a smart phone. We think it\u2019s necessary and that it works well. But really?<\/p>\n

Some people think that, like a phone, war is necessary, But though war may work, it only works physically for a short while, and only works for a few individuals.<\/p>\n

For the rest of us, war costs us everything! It\u2019s time to throw it away!<\/p>\n

Killing one another unsettles our human psyche. So, to those who have divided us with trauma, distrust, sorrow and revenge, we say, \u201cWe\u2019re breaking free!\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, these three dreams are really one dream, because we can\u2019t fix the climate, without fixing inequality or war.<\/p>\n

Everyone and everything is related! We just can\u2019t separate ourselves from each other, from the earth, or from you!<\/p>\n

Okay, thanks for listening to our dreams. We\u2019ve taken up enough of your screen time. So let\u2019s get off screen, terminate our business as-as-usual, and pursue the authentic relationships all of us long for.<\/p>\n

Remember, we make up 64% of the Afghan population below 25. We\u2019re the new Earth GENeration. We\u2019re the music and the movements within you, so we hope to meet you someday!<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Friends… they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.\u201d<\/em>
\n— Henry David Thoreau<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr Hakim Young (Dr. Teck Young, Wee) is a medical doctor from Singapore who has done humanitarian and social enterprise work in Afghanistan for more than 10 years, including being a mentor to the Afghan Peace Volunteers<\/a>, an inter-ethnic group of young Afghans dedicated to building nonviolent alternatives to war.<\/a> He is the 2012 recipient of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize and the 2017 recipient of the Singapore Medical Association Merit Award for contributions in social service to communities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Submitted by TRANSCEND Member Kathy Kelly<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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