“This is the beauty of peace – it is personal, and intimate, and at the same time, it is something bigger than each of us”.
True Roots co-founder Summer Lewis gave a speech at the Rotary International Assembly in San Diego, to an audience of 530 District Governors from around the world, partners, and Rotary Senior Leaders.
The audience of 1000+ were reminded that the multi-faceted nature of peace allows for multiple ways for each of us, through attitude as well as actions, to work toward achieving Positive Peace.
Summer highlighted Rotary’s peacebuilding approach to creating and sustaining peaceful societies, building conditions for a durable kind of peace rather than focusing on peace as the absence of violence.
By sharing her own story of how a Rotary Volunteer Service Grant set the ball rolling and led Summer to meet, learn about, partner with, and support grassroots organizations throughout her career, Summer represented True Roots’ advocacy of community-based, community-driven, practical projects for peace.
Viewers can watch the full speech below and should listen out for an important mention of how a former employee and former boss joined forces to launch a nonprofit consulting organization to help peacebuilders in doing their work.
Just as significant as the True Roots mention in the International Assembly talk are Summer’s recommendations for our individual efforts as peacebuilders – they constitute both pertinent guidance. This is an important reminder: each of us can instigate and sustain positive change for peace – though it’ll go further, and last longer, if we work together.