Logos on children’s clothing:
Speak Out
End violence against children
I am the voice of children too afraid to speak
#endviolenceZA
Ending Violence
Against
Women and Children
Onscreen text:
16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM
VIOLENCE FREE
Individual 1: [male]
To me, violence is basically hurting someone, whether it be physically or emotionally.
Individual 2: [female]
Violence is when you oppress someone—and it’s not only physically and emotionally, but like, psychologically and otherwise.
Onscreen text:
16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM IS AN INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES PLACE EVERY YEAR FROM NOV 25TH TO DEC 10TH
Prem Rawat:
When I say to people, “You need peace in your life,” don’t think of it as a luxury—but there is no other option. Without it, the very fabric of society will fall apart; the very fabric of humanity will fall apart.
Onscreen text:
PREM RAWAT
FOUNDER OF THE PREM RAWAT FOUNDATION
AND THE PEACE EDUCATION PROGRAM
Prem Rawat:
This is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.
Onscreen text:
ONE IN THREE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN WILL BE RAPED IN HER LIFETIME
Lumka Ngxoli:
Can you explain the importance of, you know, peace, especially over the period of 16 Days of Activism in South Africa?
Onscreen text:
LUMKA NGXOLI
JOURNALIST
SOUTH AFRICA
Prem Rawat:
See, we have all these symbologies. So, symbolically we come in and say, “Okay, we have sixteen days and we’re going to talk about this,” or “we’re going to make an effort.”
No, no, these kinds of efforts, whether it is violence against children, violence against women, violence against each other, this is a continuous effort and it requires a continuous effort. It cannot just happen for one day, sixteen days, thirty days; it’s an effort that has to happen all the time.
Onscreen text:
IN 1948, EXISTING POLICIES OF RACIAL SEGREGATION
BECAME OFFICIALLY ENFORCED
Individual: [male, voiceover]
I cannot get used to it. I must reject it.
Onscreen text:
apartheid
UNDER A SYSTEM CALLED APARTHEID, MEANING “SEPARATENESS”
DESPITE STRONG RESISTANCE AND OPPOSITION TO APARTHEID,
THESE LAWS REMAINED IN EFFECT FOR 50 YEARS
Onscreen, newspaper headline:
The WORLD
4 DEAD, 11 HURT
AS KIDS RIOT
Police clash with protest marchers
THE SOWETO UPRISING
Tumi Mahasha: [MC]
This is not just a Catholic Church but it’s also the church of the people.
Visible onscreen, sign:
BURY APARTHEID
Onscreen text:
THE SOWETO UPRISING WAS A SERIES OF PROTESTS LED BY
BLACK SCHOOLCHILDREN WHO FELT THEY DESERVED TO BE TAUGHT
EQUALLY TO WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS
IN 1976, 10,000 TO 20,000 BLACK STUDENTS PROTESTED AT ORLANDO STADIUM
THE POLICE BEGAN TO SHOOT DIRECTLY AT THE CHILDREN
Visible onscreen, inscription:
TO HONOUR THE YOUTH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY
Sign:
REGINA MUNDI
Tumi Mahasha: [MC]
Regina Mundi Catholic Church played a major role during the apartheid regime. The children gathered inside this church, hiding from police, police that were shooting, shooting inside the windows through the roof, telling the children to “leave this place.” At that time in life, they were fighting for their freedom.
Onscreen:
Joburg
a world class African city
Soweto
Onscreen text:
TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE APARTHEID
VIOLENT CRIME HAS NOT BEEN TAMED
Prem Rawat:
Open your heart to yourself. Only then will you be able to open it to others.
Onscreen text:
PREM SPEAKS AT REGINA MUNDI CHURCH
Prem Rawat:
When you cannot love you, you cannot love another person. We try to educate people, “Domestic violence is not good,” but who are you talking to? First, people need to discover their own love, their own courage. Then and only then can they offer courage and hope to others.
Father Bonkis: [onscreen]
First things first, I would like to thank you for giving me this clarity that you have given me.
Individual: [female]
I’m very hopeful because of the transformation that you have brought into my life. I was a young woman living with anger. I was aggressive. I was short-tempered. But since I was introduced to this program, my life has begun to change.
Prem Rawat:
There is bad in us; there is good in us. And it is incumbent upon, not only the individuals but the society, as much as they can, to promote that good in everyone, so that that good will prevail. This is the only way.
What is forgiveness? What is forgiveness? Is forgiveness to accept the mistake of a person? Think about it—is a mistake this person makes—you, and most people think that forgiveness is to accept his mistake and forgive him for his mistake.
And that’s not forgiveness. Forgiveness is the day you realize you no longer want to be affected by that person’s mistake. Forgiveness is not setting the perpetrator free, but forgiveness is setting yourself free [Audience: Yeah, right, yes!] from the perpetrator.
And that’s the reason people have such a hard time forgiving. Because, to me, people ask me, “Somebody did that to your daughter; somebody did that to your wife; somebody did to that to your sister, would you forgive them?” And I, answer is “No.”
But I have to forgive myself because I want to be free. I don’t want this person who has already done harm to my family to continue doing harm to me. So I set myself free of him—and that’s what forgiveness is.
What is needed, not only in South Africa but in the world today? There are—just recently when I was in Japan, I had a meeting with a professor, and the professor’s specialty is “peace, happiness, betterment of people.” So, when he read one of my books, he wanted to meet me.
So, I went and I sat down and we talked for a long time—and a lot of fun. And the conclusion of that meeting—“We, as human beings, need four things in our lives.” Four things. One, we need hope. If we don’t have hope, it’s no good. We need hope.
Two, we need gratitude—we need to be thankful. We need to be thankful to be alive; we need to be thankful for our friends; we need to be thankful for people we love; we need to be thankful for the sun; we need to be thankful for the earth; we need to be thankful for the river; we need to be thankful for the wheat; we need to be thankful for the seasons.
We need to be thankful for this breath that we receive every day; it’s a gift! We need gratitude. What is gratitude? You accept. You accept. When you accept something, you have gratitude. When you don’t accept—when you don’t accept the sun; when you don’t accept the seasons; when you don’t accept this life; when you don’t accept this breath, you cannot have gratitude.
So, this gratitude is important. Self-reliance is important—if you want to be whole; if you want to be happy? What do I mean by “self-reliance”? People care about other people, of what those people think about you. Am I right? [Individuals: Yeah. Yes.]
Not good—drive you crazy. [Individuals: Uh-huh! Yes.] Completely drive you crazy. “What does he think about me? What does he think about me? What does he think about me? What does he think of—does he like me? Does he like me; doesn’t he like me?” You know?
What do you think about yourself? Do you like you? No, because you don’t know you. Sorry! You know everybody else. You wear the green dress—because you know your aunt loves the color green. But what color do you love? Do you know?
And the most important thing is to have peace in your life. So, what is peace? What is peace—is it something that is created? Or does it already exist?
If we have to create peace, (and this is what everybody thinks has to happen: “We have to create peace”). No! This is how it works, my friends. First, you find peace in you. And because you have found peace in you, you make peace with yourself. Then you make peace with this world—and then you get “world peace.” But it begins with you. It begins with you!
And what we have lost is our civility. Now, all the little fish want to be like the big fish—and that’s all they care about: “I want to be a big fish. I want to be a big fish.” And when they cannot be a big fish, even for a moment they are willing to take a gun; they are willing to take a knife so that, in those few minutes, they can be the big fish. They can have what they want. This is erosion of civilization.
If you want civility, to be civilized, then you must decide you don’t want to play the game of the jungle rule—ever. And this is a decision that every human being on the face of this earth has to make. There, the civilizations will be preserved where the civilized rule will also be preserved.
Then we can begin to focus on hope! Then we can begin to focus on gratitude! Then we can focus on self-reliance. Then we can focus in knowing ourselves. And when this will manifest, you will feel peace in your own heart. This is hope—this is about hope.
Do you know, all of you, at one time in your life, failed many times—but you did not accept the failure. You know when that was? When you were learning how to walk. When you were learning how to walk, your legs were not strong enough; your muscle was not strong enough yet. You got up—and you went like this and bonk—you fell. Did you accept failure?
You failed—but you did not accept failure. You did not need a motivational speaker—did you? [Individual: No, I never did.] You did not go read books. You did not climb on top of a monastery? No. What did you do? You tried again.
And when you tried, you failed. And when you failed, you still did not accept failure—and you kept going, and you kept going, only because you did not accept failure. You kept failing but you did not accept failure.
And one day you got up—and you walked! And when you walked, what did you accomplish—walking? No, you unlocked the whole world for yourself. Now you could go wherever you wanted to go!
This is how you need to be today—“Fail but don’t accept the failure. Get up again—and take another step.” Your mother could not lecture you: “Oh, you should get up, you know; don’t be—because it’s okay; it’s okay; we all fall.” You wouldn’t understand. You just did it.
I see so many young people who have lost hope! Don’t they remember when they were learning how to walk? They had a sense of purpose; they had a power; they had a feeling. And they had wisdom of all the sages and wise men of this universe: “Fail but do not accept failure.”
And that strategy of “Okay to fail, but not okay to accept failure” saw success, because you could walk—and only because of that reason.
People should not, in their lives, accept failure. You have so much hope, not out there, but in here! Your heart is full of hope; open it. Open it. Open your heart to yourself. Only then will you be able to open it to others.