Love Each One Proposal Davis Project for Peace 2010 Emily Carlton Ginger Waugh Stanley Moore Hunger statistics tell us that nearly 50 million people in our own country struggled last year to have enough food. One fourth of this population were children. American suicide rates state that over 30,000 people kill themselves each year, and for each death, about 15 people attempted and failed. Nearly half of American marriages will end in a divorce. Some people have never heard the words, I love you. Need is all around us, and our society is often too busy or self consumed to see it or understand it. You don’t need to start the Red Cross to make change in the world. You don’t need to go to Africa or plant a well. Sometimes you just need listen to someone who needs a friend. We feel that in a fast paced world of crowds and instant gratification, we no longer take the time to reach out to individuals who populate our everyday lives. Mother Teresa said, “Peace begins with a smile.” Many of her thoughts tell us to love one person at a time. It’s really all we can do. She had said, “every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” We believe that peace begins with actions of love, even ones that may seem as insignificant as a smile. ===OUR PURPOSE========== The purpose of this project for peace is to love the individual, and challenge others to do the same. On a journey across the United States, we plan to reach out to others with our time, resources and hearts with the attitude that they are important. This could be through a coffee, a conversation, a dollar, a sandwich, a smile, or even paying to fix someone’s car. We call these random acts of kindness “Actions of Love”, and will conduct them all along the way. By meeting people across the entire US and reaching out to them in very ordinary ways, we hope to do something extraordinary. We want to listen to people. On some stops, we plan on setting up “a dollar for your thoughts” booth, where we can ask people questions about what love and peace mean to them. We have been researching a number of social artists, such as Berit Norgaard, Ashley Neese, and Lori Gordon, who are all interested in art operating as a part of society. They believe that art can be used as a tool to suggest creative solutions for positive change in our daily lives. We want to put this theory into action. We will also be volunteering at various shelters, boys and girls clubs, retirement homes, and outreach centers across the country. We will fold laundry, paint murals, serve meals, mow lawns, or simply listen to someone’s story. The aim: to express love through simple actions; to invest time into others on a personal level. We believe this is the key to peace in our society; the answer to hurt in our everyday world. Ultimately, the goal of our project is to then share this message with others. All along the way we will be documenting individuals we meet through audio recordings, photography, drawings we collect, written stories, and videos. This information will be shared with others through three main outlets. 1- the Love Each One Blog. (www.loveeachone.blogspot.com) will be the main way for us to connect back with the people we’ve worked with and an opportunity to get everyone in on
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