5th ANNUAL UNITY DAY USA 5th Annual Unity day USA, Sunday, September 6, 2009
Picture Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157624431182967/
Unity Day USA was born at the heels of the 9/11 tragedy, to express that each one of the 301 Million of us Americans are united together to stand up for the safety, security, peace and cohesiveness of America.
We are a part of the mosaic and each one of us needs to remain connected with the other to make us one people and one nation under God’s protection. It is an initiative of American Muslims to add their positive contribution to America in uniting the people on the day of disharmony.
On that tragic day, September 11, 2001, I was on the Radio addressing the public in Dallas and making sense out of the chaos that happened that day. I was on air from 10Am through 5:00 PM straight;
• My first goal was to bring a sense of clarity and direction to the public. Then pave the way for a sense of purpose, a sense of what needs to be done. I repeated the same thing on its anniversary.
• By the end of the day a clear sense of direction was developed followed by: I) Multi-faith prayers ii) blood donation ii) donation of funds. The Blood centers had to close down due to the people’s overwhelming response.
• The fog was clearing up – I) Osama bin Laden was the bad guy ii) Muslims had nothing to do with Osama iii) Declaration of war against Osama.
Spiritual leaders from all faiths joined the talk show; Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Jewish, Sikh and Zoroastrian. Area City Mayors, community and business leaders joined in an effort to bring a sense of direction.
For the First four years I did the radio show talking about the effect of 9/11 on society, economy and refreshing and galvanizing the interfaith movement. On the 5th anniversary this Unity Day was born. It is my love for my country to make this day a national day, an initiative of Muslims.
To make our homeland a safe, secure, peaceful and a prosperous place we have to relentlessly pursue it. The work has to be done by you and I, and not look for some one else to do this for us; the American way. One of the many things we can do is to have a face to face with people of different faiths, ethnicities, races and other uniqueness', let’s build a threshold of acceptance for others and start dropping our phobias.
We the people of the United States of America of every faith, race, ethnicity, culture and background are here today, to express our desire to co-exist in peace, and pray for the unity, safety and well being of our nation.
The Civic Leaders included Mayors of Irving, Carrollton, Richardson, Grand Prairie and council members from many cities participated. The fire and police Chiefs, the County chief among others. Each one of the Mayors spoke for a brief 3 minutes about the need to co-exist.
Faith Leadership - Each faith tradition shared a line of wisdom from their tradition. Unity Day USA is about re-affirming our faith in the goodness in humans, and the longing for harmony and co-existence. Faiths included Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Earth Based Tradition, Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Jewish, Sikh, Wicca and Zoroastrian faiths.
The purpose of Unity day is bring together Americans of all hues and rededicated our pledge for the peace, prosperity and unity of our nation.
Recognitions - Several members of the community were recognized for their contributions in making this world a better place.
The Audience participated with joy, about 35 of them got on the stage in groups of three, and each group read the wisdom of religions mentioned above, written in 100 words.
PLEDGE OF PEACE
I will speak up when there is injustice.
I will speak up when truth is not spoken.
I will do my best to make my words and my actions to mitigate conflicts.
I will do my best to do my share in nurturing goodwill for the benefit of all.
I will do my share of peace work, without looking for others to do their share.
I will do my best to accept and respect the God given uniqueness of each individual.
I will do my best to live and let others live their way.
Thank you.
I am committed to Unity day USA.
Mike Ghouse
http://www.mikeghouse.net/
WHEN: 5:00 PM, Sunday, September 6, 2009
WHERE: Unity Church of Dallas, 6525 Forest Lane,Dallas Texas. 75230.
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