“My challenge to you tonight is to heed this CALL TO PEACE, and to answer it in your own powerful, resounding way. Invent new ways to serve the world and its citizens. You don’t have to be overseas to bring us closer to world peace; you can plant the seeds of world peace in your own back yard. Do anything you can dream up; and never stop doing!”
Our Quote of the Week is a challenge to all of us to build a more peaceful world. As Sargent Shriver points out, one of the key ways we can do that is to give of ourselves through service. As we make our way through the holiday season, we can think of no message that is more relevant and more needed.
Sargent Shriver made this call to peace and service in his 2002 Speech at the National Peace Corps Association’s 41st Annual Celebration Dinner. The speech demonstrates both his understanding of our contemporary world and the continued commitment to service, peacebuilding, and diplomacy that he showed when he led the Peace Corps, the War on Poverty, and when he served as US Ambassador to France. We invite you to read this sober yet inspiring speech. As many of us prepare to spend the holidays with friends and family, let’s remember those around the world who are struggling or oppressed: by hunger, by injustice, by conflict, or other struggles. We all have a sphere of influence; let’s use it to make the world a more peaceful place through our service to others.
Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or simply the changing of the seasons, we wish you peace and joy.
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