THE DAY I WAS TOLD I WAS A LIAR - UNPACKING WHITE PRIVILEGE

Yindyamarra is the Wiradjuri people’s word for respect - a respect for all things that you practice in your daily life.

Several years ago, as the guest speaker at a charitable function, I was told I was a liar.
 
I had been invited to speak, at a well-known charity driven-social service organisation, on my work in Indigenous studies, with a view to them potentially working alongside a local Indigenous group.
 
Deep in sharing my research on the Stolen Generations, a time period from 1920-1970s, where it is estimated that over 100,000 indigenous children were taken from their families, a raised voice came from the back of the room. “It’s all lies.”
 
“Sorry, what?” I paused, very confused. “It’s all lies,” the voice repeated with conviction. I was then informed that “the do-gooders of the south had come up to the north and ruined it for everyone.” The room broke out in a strange rustling rabble, that almost usurped my speech. I continued as best I could.  
 
Interestingly, the so called ‘lies’ I was telling were coming straight from the Australian Government’s “Bringing Them Home” Report – the 1997 Australian Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.
 
I cannot begin to tell you the emotions that raced through me that night. I left feeling very wronged, almost as though someone had physically hurt me. Then this thought came: Wow – If I feel this deeply affected by being called a liar on one night, imagine having lived with this every day.
A glimpse of White Privilege began to emerge. 

Blessings and Yindyamarra as we all begin to open our eyes together,

Marg

www.margarethepworth.com

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Recently GAN held the White Privilege - Let’s Unpack It online forum. You can view the recording here

"MARG, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'BEING A GLOBAL CITIZEN?' " My recent interview by the editor of LitGleam

My interview appeared in the recent April 2020 edition of India’s LitGleam Magazine

Yes! Excitement! I was recently interviewed for the Indian magazine, LitGleam. A beautifully current magazine. LitGleam is not an online magazine, so I am sharing my responses to their questions, posed by their Editor, R. Nithya, here. Of course, if you are in India, you can subscribe to LitGleam yourself! I think you will be very happy you did!

QUESTION ONE:

Nithya: Your recent book “The Gandhi Experiment” focuses on teaching teenagers to become global citizens. What do you mean by that and why is it needed? What is your idea of being a “global citizen”?
Margaret: My journey into teaching teenagers to become global citizens grew out of a realisation
from my decades of experience in teaching. It began to dawn on me that if we say we are teaching kindness, caring, empathy, respect, tolerance and understanding, then why does it appear to have not translated into the adult world – especially the world of big business, where greed, over-competitiveness and corruption are rife? Why are the messages not sticking? Why do we still have so many problems ‘out there’?

I began both an inner and outward journey – going ‘in’ to learn more and ‘out’ to teach these learnings. I found myself at the Gandhi Sabarmati ashram, meditating in the very same place Gandhi-ji prayed morning and night. This very clear thought came to me then: ‘There are too many people experimenting with war and violence. We need more people experimenting with peace and non-violence.’ Essentially, that is where The Gandhi Experiment began.

I now teach the connection between inner change / personal change and global change. I take young people ‘out there’ to grapple with the big global issues. They love getting their minds around big picture questions –”What is the root cause of war? How can we apply ‘Einstein’s theory of Why? Why? Why?’ to drill down into this?” “Give me ten ways to stop a terrorist group, using non-violence.” “Where is the biggest garbage patch in our world? What? It is in the ocean? Well how on earth did it get there?”

Then I bring it back all to ‘me’ – What is my role,my behaviour, my relationships? How does my behaviour and my attitude connect to global issues? When we learn why we should never use fear to control our home, our school, our community, our country, we see the direct connection between ‘me’ and all issues around me. We begin to also understand that the small changes we can make close to home become the large solutions for positive change in our world.This is transformative education.

To be a Global Citizen means you can still be very proud of your country, yet you understand yourself to be a citizen with rights and responsibilities that transcend borders. Through The Gandhi Experiment, I teach tools and strategies for Ahimsa, non-violence to others, to ourselves and to the planet. Violence extends well beyond physical violence. Emotional violence can cause mental health issues; keeping people in poverty is a form of economic violence; climate change is a violence to the planet.

As a Global Citizen, what is ‘my’ role in co-creating a non-violent planet?

“We begin to also understand that the small changes we can make close to home become the large solutions for positive change in our world.This is transformative education. ”

If we are seeking wisdom, Einstein told us, ‘The thinking that got us into the problem is not the thinking that will get us out of the problem.’ We need to change the way we think, and therefore the way we act and behave. The dominant paradigm of ‘When I win, you lose,’ must change to ‘When I win, you win too.’

Question Two to follow soon!

Cheery blessings,

Marg

Margaret Hepworth is the founder of The Gandhi Experiment

www.margarethepworth.com

margaret@margarethepworth.com

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WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM CHINESE TEENAGERS WHEN WE REACH OUT TO THEM?

NB: Photo of happy teenagers taken by me on my last visit to China in 2018

A few weeks ago I ran my 'Global Citizenship – It Starts with us!' workshop online for over 260 teenagers in China. I had been wondering what they would know and feel about Global Citizenship as a concept. Their immediate responses showed me they are aware, awake and stepping up to be humanitarians.
Their deep concerns were for our planet. "That everyone should take real measures to help others no matter who and where they come from." That "We need to take responsibility for our environment." And that "Global Citizenship is a hope for the future."
We agreed to have open and courageous conversations. They told me of their fear of being blamed for Coronavirus. They were well aware of the racism already billowing. It is terribly unfair to subject teenagers to such degradation. I invite you if you ever hear racist comments, to stop them in their tracks immediately.
These teens spoke about the wet markets. They understood the danger. I taught them two new words: Ahimsa – 'non-violence and respect for all living things' and 'specie-ism' – pertaining to the arrogance of humans to all other species on our planet. We shared ideas on how we could change our attitudes, to create a greater humanity. One we can be proud of.
 
I have come away with such respect and hope for what these young people can achieve. I am proud of their intentions and willing to support them as they move forward. I hope you are too.

“ That everyone should take real measures to help others no matter who and where they come from. ”

Cheery blessings,

Marg

Margaret Hepworth teaches Global Citizenship and Non-Violence to young people in schools and youth forums.

She can be contacted on margaret@margarethepworth.com

www.margarethepworth.com

MOVING CONFERENCES, IDEAS AND SHARED LEARNING ONLINE

When the Coronavirus shut down the Educators Today, Society Tomorrow conference in India, the ETST team moved it online. 

I have been a part of this group for several years now, traveling to India to facilitate at their conferences; to run workshops for teachers and students organized through them; and to meet extraordinary people, adults and teens, who amaze me!
When it was suggested they move the conference online, it seemed to them a daunting prospect. Yet by engaging the right people who created an online Open Space platform, with tenacious attitudes, oh, and a lot of younger people who saved people such as me from technological disaster, the outcome has been superb!
We left alight with passion and energy and new ideas for our students. We are now examining ways to carry this forward into many classrooms. Action for change! 

My own contribution was to run a session I call "The Most Beautiful Planet."
 
Only the day before, I had taken 67 Indian teenagers on an online journey to find the 'Most Beautiful Planet.' 
This lesson on Global Citizenship is designed to expand young minds through high creativity and imagination, then bring all of this to a place of constructive action. A place for real change. For them to understand they have a role in this. For the kids to see, feel and sense beauty and hope, then create and apply very real steps towards building this. 
These teens were so engaged, willing to contribute and wanting more. It was wonderful to hear so many excited voices, sharing sensible and achievable ideas.
I taught this lesson to the teachers at the ETST conference, to become a shared concept across global classrooms.
 
Recently social media has flooded us with inspiring videos and quotes about the 'new normal' when we emerge from the Coronavirus crisis. The question is, well how do we actually do that? And will we actually do that?
Will we commit to creating 'the most beautiful planet'?

Through these lessons we are already putting that into action. Young people with inspiring attitudes are emerging. 

“Through these lessons we are already putting that into action. Young people with inspiring attitudes are emerging.”

If you are interested in learning more about my workshops, or running one for your students and/or teachers, then write to me margaret@margarethepworth.com

Cheery blessings,

Marg

Margaret Hepworth is the founder of The Gandhi Experiment, a former Assistant Principal and a teacher for over 30 years.

www.margarethepworth.com

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE FORCED TO SLOW DOWN?

Social distancing meditation with my son James

For such a long time we have felt that life is too fast paced. The world is moving too quickly. If only we could we could just slow down.

Well, here we are, in the time of Corona. Slowed.

What happens when we are forced to slow down?

Firstly comes the realisation. The pace of the world never changed; the rotation of the earth never sped up; the sun’s heart never skipped a beat; the moon steps slowly, at its same consistent rise.

It was never nature that sped up. It was us! We made our lives too fast. So fast we had trouble keeping up with ourselves.

Our second realisation is this. In moving so quickly, we only ever create band-aid solutions to virtually all our problems. Our health-care; our self-nourishment; arguments with our kids; conflict with our partners, friends and family. Our selfish grab and steal on the environment.

Band-aid solutions.

Finally, we realise there are other ways. Lateral, plausible, creative and beautiful solutions.

Now in Lockdown, take the time to open to new ways of doing things.

Teach your children to meditate. Teach them how to sit comfortably in silence. At the rate we were going, whirling and swirling them into the next activity, and the next and the next, without pause for breath, we were setting them up to become fast-paced, breathless adults.

Now is the time to give them time.

Do we still need the Band-aids? Yes, we do. Yet we will place them alongside long term, solution focussed visions of our world.

I realise as I write, for some in the time of Corona, life hasn’t slowed down. For our doctors and nurses, our health professionals, our emergency services, and many working to feed us and keep us safe and healthy, their pace has got faster and faster, almost out of their control. For many of the world’s poor, life has become an even steeper trajectory of pain.

So, we slow down for them. We slow down with them. We slow down to reflect, to find solutions, to understand how we can contribute to a better world.

“ When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’ doesn’t make any sense.” Rumi

When the goose arrived to meditate!

‘The Conundrum of Inner Listening’ is Chapter Five in The Gandhi Experiment - Teaching our teenagers (and us) how to become global citizens. Purchase now as an e-book to learn how to slow down.

Cheery blessings,

Marg

www.margarethepworth.com

margaret@margarethepworth.com

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THE VOICE OF TRUTH SPEAKS AT A PEACEFUL PROTEST CAMP.

At the Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy they ask you not to take photos of the sacred trees. Here, instead, is an artist’s impression.

This post is written in response to the Australian government’s plans to cut down 3000 trees, including 250 sacred and old-growth trees, to build a stretch of ‘duplicate highway’ on the Western Highway, Victoria, Australia.

 4 September, 2019

Yesterday I heard the voices of truth speak at the peaceful protest camp of the Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy.

As I drove down the Western Highway, nearing the camp site, I could see a small group of casually dressed people engaged in earnest discussion with another group clearly defined by their fluoro-Visy vests, trucks behind them, at the ready. VicRoads.

What happened next is the power of peaceful protest. The ability to remain calm and explain facts. To everyone’s credit, this calmness pervaded on both sides. Finally, it was when one of the women supporting the Djab Wurrung protest pointed out, ‘You haven’t done your due diligence,’ that the group in Visy vests moved away.

The trees were safe for another day.

It seems that well-informed protester is right. Due diligence has not been done. It has been well reported both in The Age and other sources, that a 128 page report citing the importance of the cultural heritage of this area has been overlooked and disregarded by the Federal Government who approved the stretch of ‘Duplicate Highway’ set to remove 3000 trees, including 250 sacred trees and old-growth trees 600-800 years old.

Later that same day I heard Aunty Sandra, a Djab Wurrung Elder, being interviewed by the ABC. Again, calmly explaining the sacred cultural relevance of this area. She spoke of the sheer frustration that the government has not chosen an alternative route that is cheaper and does less damage. A former VicRoads adviser has openly stated, the current marked route can be avoided.

How many times has Aunty Sandra had to explain this?  Over and over and over? How many times will it take before they listen? And yet somehow she maintains her dignity.

Calmness has a pervasive power. It is through calmness and stillness that the voice of truth can be heard.

That is not to say anger does not have its place. We are angry at what is going on. We are angry that something that seems so obvious was ever put forward in the first place. We are angry that given a new set of facts, given viable alternatives, the government still seems hell-bent on cutting down these 800 year old trees, destroying nature and culture. An environmental threat and a sign of an ongoing cultural invasion.

Yet anger does not need to translate to violence. This is what I teach my students - it’s ok to be angry. It’s your subsequent actions and behaviour – how you handle yourself- that counts.

If we look to the past, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr – social activists who never caved into violence. They utilised ahimsa – respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others – to achieve the seemingly unachievable. Nelson Mandela moved from a more violent stance to an understanding of the power of non-violence, realising the truth at its core.

Back at the Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy, out there on the Western Highway, Victoria, it’s not over yet. Pressure needs to be applied. Go to  https://www.facebook.com/Dwembassy/  to find out how you can call / email / write a letter to the relevant ministers to put a stop to this needless action.

Come and visit the Djab Wurrung peaceful protest camp and help maintain that crucially needed presence.

The camp maintains a calm presence to ensure these trees live.

Truth – Voice – Treaty

If you would like to know more about this issue, a very comprehensive article written by Sophie Cunningham, author of City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest, can be found here: https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/july/1561989600/sophie-cunningham/djab-wurrung-birthing-tree

A FEW BUSY WEEKS IN ALL THINGS PEACE-BUILDING

My team of visiting professors from Shihezi University, P.R.China - ‘thinkers’ at Monash University

The last few weeks have been an extremely busy, yet productive and rewarding time for me.

I have:

• Headed up an education program running out of Melbourne University for 16 Chinese professors from Shihezi University;

• MCd the Afghan Komak Awards and danced my way into the night, Afghan style;

The Team organising the KOMAK Awards, celebrating achievements in our Afghan Community.

• Facilitated workshops on Global Citizenship and Leadership Within at the Wyndham Community and Education Centre's inspiring multi-faith camp;

“I really enjoyed the part where we got to learn about conflict resolution, which helped me a lot.”

• Run a Positive Thinking workshop for African women through African Family Services.

And in between all this, I have met other pretty extraordinary people.

Phew! 

So I needed time to stop and smell the roses! I was lucky enough to do so at my friends' house up in the Melbourne hills, at Sassafrass.

Stop and smell the roses

This one smells like peachy heaven!

My own learning has been deep.

"For me, the special moment came, when in our final workshop, 'Almost Impossible Thoughts', each Shihezi University professor, all from science backgrounds, stood up to share what they would be taking home. They spoke of how they had come to a sense of a shared global humanity, giving very specific examples of how they would develop their own research projects to help shape a more positive future for all." 

HANDS UP FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS! These young boys are speaking up!

HANDS UP FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS! These boys are speaking up!

This was incredibly heart-warming.

Having discussed and shared activities in my Leadership Within workshop, it was time for an Open Space activity. The idea was to allow these Yr 6 Heidelberg Primary students to lead their own discussion groups through topics of their own choosing, and then to create actionable and solution- focussed steps.

Students stepped forward to lead groups on topics such as 'Ending poverty,' 'Raising student voices', 'Equality,' 'World Peace,' 'Reducing bullying,' and 'Animal Rights'.

Then one young boy stood up. 'I want to lead a group on Women's Rights.'

'Excellent', says I, beaming at him.

When we had all the topics sorted - 11 in all, the rest of the year level got to choose which group they would go to.

Six boys joined the Women's Rights group. It became an all boys group, and I wish you could have all been privy to the mature, rational and inspiring conversation that ensued.

Congratulations to the teachers and parents of these boys for raising such consciously aware individuals.

Cheery blessings,

Marg

Margaret Hepworth is the founder of The Gandhi Experiment. Margaret facilitates Global Citizenship and Leadership Within workshops across Melbourne schools and internationally.

SHOULD WE CHANGE THE DATE OF AUSTRALIA DAY? A QUESTION THAT SPEAKS TO NATIONS ACROSS OUR GLOBE.

Should we change the date of Australia Day?

William Ricketts Sanctuary Photo credit Margaret Hepworth

A question that speaks to the heart of who we are as Australians. A question that is relevant to all nations across the globe.

Are we an inclusive nation?

Many, many years ago as a teenager in secondary school, I learnt in our History class, that the Protestant Irish celebrated a holiday, parading through the streets, on a day that marked an Irish Catholic massacre. Even as a young girl at that time, I could feel the lack of empathy. I wondered why they did this and couldn’t they simply celebrate their special day on another date? There appeared to be a lack of willingness to understand and resolve. The ‘victors’ dancing on a day of sorrow for the ‘other.’

I am a teacher of some 30 years now, having taught English, Humanities and Indigenous Studies throughout that lengthy time. Interestingly, one of the main focuses for our pre-service teachers, i.e. our next generation of teachers in Australia, is to learn to teach the value of inclusivity and to model this through their teaching methodologies.

Inclusivity is highlighted in our National Curriculum as being of primary importance for our young people to grow as healthy, well-adjusted individuals. Then surely we also need to look to celebrating this value as an Australian nation.

I recently went on a tour of so called ‘orphanages’ that held aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations, a period of time that ran (approximately) from 1910-to early 1970s. I am sure I do not need to tell you these children were not orphans. I was horrified by the tour; the horror came from the ‘what was still being said now’. It felt like we were back in the 1930s and that the prevailing attitude of that time was still being carried by this tour guide. I was deeply concerned and I don’t even want to refer to the words she used to describe Aborigines. She also presented some of the stories that were told to Aboriginal children to stop them looking for their mothers as though they were truths.

I want people to know that in certain places in our country, this is how our history is still being told.

I spoke privately with the tour guide afterwards, inviting her to listen to another way that this story could be told; inviting her into a narrative that needs to be shared and deeply understood if real change is to occur. Finally, I added, “You have an amazing opportunity here for real learning, education and for healing to occur, if you can open to a different perspective.”

It is my belief that we have this same opportunity for learning and healing by changing the date of Australia Day.

Our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, recently declared that local councils will be forced to hold Australia Day ceremonies on January 26, even if the councillors personally believe this should not be happening.  Many see this as an unusual and authoritarian stance. In my own experience as a teacher of many years, we would be better to apply critical thinking and utilise Collaborative Debating to open up the topic to exploration. In this way, we do not tell people what to think, yet we invite them to think.

Let’s be very clear, Australia Day falls on January 26. This is the day that Captain Arthur Phillip stabbed a flag in the soil of, what they had named, Sydney Cove. If we want to be pedantic, on that day they claimed the colony of New South Wales, and a penal colony at that. Not a nation, not Australia!

There is nothing pedantic in stating and understanding that this was the beginning of a genocide for the peoples of the British Government’s “Terra Nullius.”

If we continue to celebrate on a day that many of the First Peoples and others regard as a day of mourning but as a nation, we can’t see or understand or empathise – then that is an ongoing tragedy. Where is the inclusivity we are teaching, put into practice? It is time to change.

William Ricketts Sanctuary Photo credit Margaret Hepworth

I have been running Collaborative Debating workshops over the past couple of years in schools in Melbourne. This topic: “Should we change the date for Australia Day?” is a popular choice. The responses from secondary students have been nothing short of extraordinary and I wish more adults were in these workshops to hear these young people talk.

I want to be very clear here – I don’t tell these kids what to think. We set up a Collaborative Debate, which has a framework that invites respect, listening and participation from all involved, including the audience. Speakers may even acknowledge that they have changed their mind throughout the debate. They may even apologise to the other side! And halfway through what are always very active, robust debates, we have a mindful moment of stilled silence, allowing new wisdoms and insights to enter the debate. Can you imagine politicians doing this?

Students have told me: “Saying sorry doesn’t mean we are ever going to change.”

What these young people understand is it is all about what the date represents and it will take a change in attitude for real change to occur. For most, they want to see the date changed as a mark of respect and so it allows them to freely celebrate all the wonderful positives about our country, together. Australians all let us rejoice.

“because of the damage it represents that none of us can ignore”

16 year old participant in a school Collaborative Debate

Some students have suggested, “Not changing the date yet changing our attitude.” They say we should keep this date but not to be celebrated, instead to “have it like ANZAC day”, as a commemorative day. Then to have a separate day of celebration, inclusive for all. At one school, after this same decision had been made, one boy put up his hand. He spoke vehemently, from the heart. He said that he could understand a commemorative day, and yet, with what had occurred through our history, the biggest way we could show we were taking action in regards to commemorating, was to change the date, “because of the damage it represents that none of us can ignore.” He received thunderous applause.

In all cases, the final decision from the majority of these secondary students was to change the date of Australia Day.

This year I want to walk the Songlines in Western Australia. I want to learn. One truth that we commonly forget in this country is that the Aborigines actually aided many white ‘settlers’ and early explorers. It is thanks to local tribes, that many of these people survived.

I am hoping they will now include me, teach me, and that in doing so I will not only survive, I will thrive.

Do we need to change the date of Australia Day? 

I believe it is a question that speaks to the hearts and minds not just of our country, but reaches out to hearts and minds across the globe, to any country who claims to value inclusivity, empathy and equality as values that pillar their nation. After centuries of colonisation / invasion, the ‘victors’ across the world are still unable to empathize or listen deeply. Perhaps this shows they are still carrying the hallmarks of colonialism, even whilst proclaiming we have progressed into a 'modern world.'

Inclusivity is a value that could change the world. I believe Australia has an amazing opportunity to be an exemplar to other nations with similar histories who continue to undermine their First Peoples or other marginalized groups.

I am not telling you what to think. Yet I am inviting you to think.

Margaret Hepworth

Founder The Gandhi Experiment

William Ricketts Sanctuary Photo credit Margaret Hepworth

Speaker / Author / Educator Margaret Hepworth is an expert in teenage motivations & behaviours; a thought leader in peace education; the founder of The Gandhi Experiment;  an English and Humanities teacher of 30 years; author of The Gandhi Experiment – teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens; recipient of the 2016 Sir John Monash Award for Inspirational Women's Leadership; creator of Collaborative Debating ©. www.thegandhiexperiment.com

Margaret@margarethepworth.com  

The Gandhi Experiment - Teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens Purchase here

Maragret is the ‘go to’ for Collaborative Debating. For workshops you can contact her on Margaret@margarethepworth.com

'SCENE ONE; SCENE TWO' - A ROLE PLAY TEACHING HOW TO MAKE BETTER CHOICES

‘Scene One; Scene Two’ - a role play about making better choices.

These young students, Yr 4-6 (age 10-13yrs old) are completely rocking my role play on anger management and the choices we can make when we are upset, frustrated and angry. 
The role play intentionally utilises the learning preferences for audio, visual and kinesthetic learners, so that everyone is readily engaged and learns the messages. 
I crafted this role play to follow a pattern that works:

1. To ‘take them out beyond themselves’ 
2. To bring it back 'to me', to 'my school' and 'my home' environments
3. To understand I might get angry, yet I can calm down and choose a different response
4. To see that both violence and kindness have a ripple effect- and I can be a part of either one.

5. It is a choice. My response is important not just to me but to others around me as well. 

These kids are amazing improvisers, acting completely off the cuff, acting out one scenario and then going into 'rewind' to act out a different response- and having a ball doing so! My heartfelt thanks to them. 

‘Global Citizenship - It starts with us!’ is one of The Gandhi Experiment’s signature student workshops

Feeling great after our workshop

"MANDELA DID NOT CARRY BITTERNESS." LESSONS FROM MADIBA AND SELLO HATANG

Sello Hatang, CEO Nelson Mandela Foundation, speaks at the opening of Mandela, My Life exhibition, Melbourne Museum.

“Mandela did not carry bitterness.”

There were many ‘aha’ moments listening to Sello Hatang, the quietly measured, impressive speaker - CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation - at the opening of the Mandela, My Life exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. I had the privilege to meet and hear Sello speak again, the very next day, to a more intimate audience at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission where I was working with the Mandela 365 organisation, the Commission and 20 young African Ambassadors seeking to become advocates for their communities.

Sello’s ‘ahas’ were coming thick and fast: stories of Mandela – his ability to remain humble in the face of potentially usurping adoration; his willingness to travel the journey that we should all be travelling; and that Mandela saw hope as a gift.

God knows how he held on to that hope, spending 27 long years in jail.

Yet this is the ‘aha’ that resonated with me that day and left me wanting to unpack it – to discover its secrets for education: “Mandela did not carry bitterness.”

In my leadership workshops with community groups, I call on Mandela as a role model. Only two weeks earlier, with this very same group, I had placed the name ‘Mandela’ on the whiteboard, circled it, and invited the group to explore the values that this man exhibited. They swiftly came up with a weighty list: courage, inclusiveness, empathy, the ability to self-reflect, forgiveness, tenacity – that ability to persevere in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. And more.

Then came the real challenge: ‘You see, any one of us knows how to answer this question – to throw a list of impressive qualities up there that reflect really great leadership. Any one of our current world leaders could do this. Yet, the real questions are these – ‘Do I carry these qualities? Have I really learned how to be humble? To genuinely feel equal – with everyone? To treat everyone with respect? How am I going to learn to do these things? How am I going to work on not only my capacity to ‘get the job done’, but also on my character?’

But one of Sello’s observations had not been on our list. ‘Mandela did not carry bitterness.’

I guess you could argue that this is another way of saying Mandela had the ability to forgive. Not just say it; really do it. Forgive. Yet, for me, this statement was beginning to reveal to us clues we all need if we want to build a more forgiving world. Not carrying bitterness is one of the keys to learning how to forgive. It is the what comes before forgiveness. And forgiveness is paramount in a world that needs healing.

‘Mandela did not carry bitterness.’ Let’s unpack this a little. You will note the statement does not say Mandela never got angry; Mandela never got bitter / upset / frustrated. What it says is that he did not maintain it.

Was this innate for Mandela? Was he born like this? I am not sure and certainly he may have been somewhat wired that way. However, his early years and actions with the ANC would suggest otherwise. Or was it a learnt trait? And if so, if he could do this, then surely so can we all.

Thank you Sello Hatang for your insights into an incredible man. He told that small, attentive group, ‘We must find the Mandela within ourselves. We must be the legacy.’

What is the relevance of this to today’s world. Imagine the inter-generational / inter-racial / inter-communal / inter-cultural hatred that could literally be halted in its tracks, right here, right now, if we were all better able to not carry bitterness.

The CEO of the Mandela Foundation, Sello Hatang, has put it out there. Yet the mantle has passed to us. How do we teach ourselves and our young people not to carry bitterness?

I, for one, am going to keep exploring this. I believe it already exists in the lessons of my forum activity, The Best Forgiveness Role Play Ever, yet I will seek to emphasise it, draw out the learning so that we may all benefit. And I will keep you posted as to new ideas and tools that will come. And of course, the outcomes!

Cheery blessings to all,

Marg

Margaret Hepworth is the founder of The Gandhi Experiment. She travels widely, running forums in teaching non-violence as a conscious choice.

‘The Best Forgiveness Role Play Ever’ can be found in Margaret’s new book: The Gandhi Experiment - Teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens www.thegandhiexperiment.com Available at all amazon stores and bookstores worldwide

‘Fortitude’ - a compelling short story on Mandela, courage and expansive thought, can be found at https://thegandhiexperiment.teachable.com

MARTIN LUTHER KING MLK50: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Many years ago, my family were touring the US, when we entered a solemn doorway, the entrance to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Housed above us was the very Hotel room and balcony where Martin Luther King Jnr had been assassinated fifty years ago - April 4, 1968.

As we paused at the ticket booth, my young daughter, only 7 years old at the the time, looked up at the tall custodian, his welcoming hand holding our tickets. She asked, ‘Did Martin Luther King achieve his dream?’

As her parents, we were astounded. She really had been listening to our stories of the Dreamer and The Dream, the man with a vision as enormous as this country we were travelling across! She really was taking in the significance of the place we were about to enter! And...was it ok to ask him that?

The tall custodian stood back. Then he laughed, loud and heartily. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Look at us now! Just look at us now!’ But suddenly the laughter halted. He looked into her deeply. His voice quietened. ‘We still have a long way to go. But look at us now.’

On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death, we would do well to pause, take stock and reflect. Years on -  why, oh why do we still have a long way to go? Why haven’t we got it right by now? Surely, oh surely, it just can’t be that difficult. Yet here we still are, in a world that needs to learn a better way.

There are choices people make in times of conflict and post conflict. To implement violence is a choice. Revenge is a choice. Yet those people who have held to the mission of non-violence, even through extreme circumstances, are those who have become the most respected; held within people’s hearts, globally. As we all well know, Martin Luther King was one such person.

The alternative choice, of non-violence, is often the less easy path. Yet to choose non-violence creates transformational change – both within and without. The conscious choice of non-violence reaches out to the hearts, minds and souls of others. This is the bolder choice.

Martin Luther King led a battle ‘fought not with guns and violence, but with ideas and beliefs.’ (Colin Powell). Millions fought alongside him.

Choosing violence is sure to bring change. Dead people, wounded people. Perhaps a change of leadership. People seeking revenge. None of this is transformational. It speaks to the ordinary, to the base, to reacting not responding. Of unconsciousness, not consciousness.

What we are seeking now is the extraordinary.

So we ask ourselves, how did he do it?

On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death, let us remember his fight against poverty, against racism, against war, against a lack of freedom in all its forms. Let us remember his fight for equality. Now let each one of us fulfil his legacy.

Mira, a young Palestinian-Australian student in one of my Global Citizenship forums sent me an email. She wrote of a renewed attitude, an alternative to revenge: ‘If I did the same, I am no better than them, whether I have a right to revenge or not...My new (almost) Impossible thought is peace for my people and forgiveness to the people who hurt us, because I know not all of them wanted to.  I want peace and rights to my people and my family and future generations of Palestinians and Israelis...I have yet to forgive them, but I have no interest in revenge anymore, but instead to work towards forgiveness, but most of all, peace.

Change begins with me. Change begins with us. Mira, at 16 years old, is living the legacy of Martin Luther King.

Martin Luther King’s dream was a dream for all humanity. Thinking back on our visit to the National Civil Rights Museum, and on my young daughter’s innocent enquiry, I am reminded of what Martin Luther King's god-daughter tells us:

‘You can kill the dreamer, but you can’t kill the dream.’

Thank you Martin Luther King for your courage, your honesty, your tenacity and your highly respectable leadership. And for your encouragement of us all. 

Margaret Hepworth

www.thegandhiexperiment.com

#ArmMeWith HOW DO WE MAKE THE VOICE OF PEACE EDUCATION LOUDER THAN THE VOICE THAT RAISES GUNS?

Global Citizenship - it starts with us! teacher training workshop, Mumbai.

Opinion piece.

See all these teachers? Amazing people. Every one of them committed to values education. Every one of them seeking to implement more peace and values education, embedding it into the academic curriculum.

And yes, that’s me in the centre – having just run a livley teacher-training workshop, Global Citizenship – it starts with us! for Principals and teachers in Mumbai.

Yet, now I sit with my head in my hands. Deflated. A physical and emotional response to the suggestion that teachers in America be armed with guns.

Thankfully, as I scan social media, I discover two American teachers, Brittany Wheaton and Olivia Bertels,  - and I take time to observe these are American teachers -  have created the #ArmMeWith movement. Essentially, they are saying, Arm Me With the equipment, resources and stability to teach, NOT GUNS! And teachers all across America are joining in.

Here is what I have read thus far:

Arm me with smaller classes

Arm me with books, not guns

Arm me with mental health resources

Arm me with anti-bullying programs

Arm me with suicide awareness

Arm me with libraries with books (What? They don’t have a library in their school?)

This one speaks volumes: I don’t need a gun; I need a raise.

Arm me with school supplies. I should not be single-handedly keeping Target in business

And Arm me with politicians who value my students over guns

It is difficult to point the finger overseas and let it rest there. Only two weeks ago, I visited a vital organisation here in Melbourne which works with youth at risk. I listened as their CEO spoke of how they are struggling to continue their programs with funding cuts. I returned home to turn on the news. The headline - 'Australia unveils plan to become one of world’s top 10 arms exporters' - also left me with my head in my hands. I will not have guns used in unearthly conflict with ‘Made in Australia’ stamped upon the barrel and by extrapolation, upon my own sweating brow.

If you think we are already ‘doing enough of this stuff’ in schools – you know, the ‘peacey stuff’, then ask yourself why a man who thinks it is ok for teachers to carry concealed weapons got into power. Stop. Think. He didn’t vote himself in.

In fact, we need more of the ‘peacey-stuff.’ The stuff that helps kids unravel hate and discrimination. In particular, an education that unravels fear.

Recently, I was chatting with a primary school student. It was just a light-hearted, friendly chat. Out of nowhere came this question from the child, ‘Did you know you can only go to America for one day.’ I smiled inwardly at the child’s cute lack of knowledge about global travel. I asked casually, yet curiously, ‘Oh, why is that?’ ‘Well,’ replied the 9 year old, ‘It isn’t safe to go there.’

The time to do more is well overdue.

For me, my Arm Me With wish?

#ArmMeWith the funds to continue teaching non-violence, in all its forms. To allow peace and values education to gain wider reach and depth. For the work to flourish, just as our kids should be flourishing.

Look back to the photo above. Trust in the solidarity of educators who are change-makers and peace-builders.

Speaker / Author / Educator Margaret Hepworth is an expert in teenage motivations & behaviours; a thought leader in peace education; the founder of The Gandhi Experiment;  an English and Humanities teacher of 30 years; author of The Gandhi Experiment – teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens; recipient of the 2016 Sir John Monash Award for Inspirational Women's Leadership; creator of Collaborative Debating ©. www.thegandhiexperiment.com

Margaret@margarethepworth.com  

'The Gandhi Experiment - Teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens' Purchase here

Please note: The views expressed are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily of anyone pictured or mentioned. 

“Arm me with politicians who value my students over guns”

— Teacher from the #ArmMeWith movement

GANDHI'S PRAYER FOR PEACE - LET'S PUT IT TO GOOD USE!

At the Gandhi Smriti, Delhi.

Photo credit Margaret Hepworth

This is Gandhi’s Prayer for Peace.

On the anniversary of Gandhi's death, it seems highly appropriate to call upon his prayer for peace now.

Rather than simply reading his prayer-poem and thinking 'oh isn't that nice', let's put it to super good use as a way of seeing those we view as 'the other' in a different perspective. We are about to read the prayer-poem a number of times, in a number of ways.

As you read, hear the words, the sound and feel the vibration.

1.) Read the poem.

Sit quietly for one minute with the thoughts of the poem. Be aware of what comes to mind. Your thoughts may be directly related to the words of the poem or may take you somewhere else. Be very aware of where, or to whom, these thoughts take you.

“GANDHI’S PRAYER FOR PEACE
I offer you peace
I offer you love
I offer you friendship
I see your beauty
I hear your need
I feel your feelings
My wisdom flows from the highest source
I salute that source in you
Let us work together
For unity and peace.”

2.) The scene in this poem is as though two people are sitting face to face, looking directly into each other’s eyes. Read the poem again, perhaps several times. Each time you read it, imagine two people who may be currently seen as oppositional, saying this poem to each other. For example, an Israeli and a Palestinian, a white supremacist with a Chinese-American, one world leader to another, a logger with a ‘greenie.’ Imagine what may have happened if the British had said this to the Native Americans, or the French to the Vietnamese, the Romans to the Jews of Bethlehem.

3.) Braver still, can you say the poem to someone you know? If not out loud, say it in your head, imagining someone you are currently experiencing difficulty with; where a relationship has turned sour. This may be your partner, your teenager, your mother or father, a work colleague perhaps.

Be mindful of your thoughts; be aware of the way your body responds; be conscious of your feelings.

4.) Finally, we all know that we are often in conflict with ourselves. Internally, one part of us arguing with another part of ourselves. Read the prayer-poem again, this time allowing the parts of you in conflict to speak to each other. 

Again, be aware of how you are feeling now.

It is simple, yet complex. Just as in life.

You can find these lessons and more in my book 'The Gandhi Experiment - Teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens.’

Enjoy your experiments with peace,

Margaret

WILL YOU WHISPER PEACE WITH ME?

Part One:

Are Gandhi's teachings still relevant in today's world?

William Ricketts Sanctuary Vic - Photo taken by Margaret Hepworth

‘Too many people are experimenting with war and violence. We need more people experimenting with peace and non-violence.’ This clear thought came to me when visiting Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram (memorial) a few years ago. Gandhi had a workable methodology for countering violence with non-violence. Today, we need to teach solution focused activities for positive change. So now I experiment with lessons in peace-building – through The Gandhi Experiment.

In my student workshop, Global Citizenship – it starts with us! I ask my teenage participants, ‘What are our current big global issues?’ It doesn’t matter which country I am in, Australia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia – or wherever these participants are from – Kashmir, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Malaysia, Afghanistan -  they name the same things: war and conflict; poverty; domestic violence; asylum seekers and displaced peoples; global warming; greed; over-competitiveness; terrorism; inequality; corruption; discrimination – religious, gender-based, Islamophobia. On occasion they even name a world leader as a global issue!

Every item in their list is a form of violence – violence to others and violence to our planet. And then comes the realization – at a deep and intrinsic level, these all pertain to violence to ourselves.

At The Gandhi Experiment, we don’t study Gandhi, the man himself, per se. What we do examine is the essence of his messages. To keep it simple, easily learnt and applied, I teach our teenagers what I call the ‘three plus one model’. Essentially, Gandhi stood on three platforms:

1.   In conflict situations, always choose non-violence as a conscious choice.

2.     ‘Satyagraha’, Gandhi’s word for your 'truth-force' or 'soul-force.' Yet when ‘my truth’ does not match ‘your truth’, we always revert to the first platform, to choose a non-violent method to sort out our differences.

3.     The third one is oh-so-relevant to us all today. Gandhi would sit and pray each morning and night. Thoughts would come in; insights and wisdoms that paved the way forward. Then, Gandhi would get off his backside and take action. There it is, the third platform - action. How often do we sit around the dinner table, whinging and whining, blaming the rest of the word for all its problems? Yet we fail to take the actions required to meet real change head on.

And the ‘Plus one’? The over-arching theme that encompasses all three of the ‘platforms’ is to profoundly understand that ‘Change begins with me.’

Gandhi is often quoted as having said the famous line, ‘Be the change you want to see in this world.’ Now a little digging research will tell you, he didn’t say exactly that. To paraphrase, what he did say was, ‘If you can change yourself, the world around you will change.’

Sit for a moment and breath that thought in to your being. If, in mid-screaming match with your teenager or in a heated dispute with a co-worker - what is the change that you can make to effect the change you want to see in this world? If you can change your own behavior, then the world around you will change as well.

“What is the change that you can make to effect the change you want to see in this world?”

 

It doesn’t mean giving in, or giving up. But it does mean giving – respect, understanding and listening – even at your most troublesome times. And sometimes it means giving all of these things to yourself – respect, understanding and deep listening.

I apply the learning through Gandhian philosophy, making it relevant to today’s context. Here are just a few examples:

1.     ‘Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong’ underpins The Best Forgiveness Role Play Ever.

2.     ‘The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed’ underpins the Dinner Party to Save the World.

3.     Respect at all times – even for your enemy. ‘It’s always been a mystery to me how people can respect themselves when they humiliate other humans’ underpins Collaborative Debating. I once had a young man, 15 years old, who said to me, ‘We should ask your enemy, what is your truth?’ A young Gandhi in the making.

4.     ‘The enemy is fear. We think it is hate, but it is fear,’ underpins a break-out workshop I run with adults: ‘Why should you never use fear to control a classroom? Why should you never use fear to control your home? Why should you never use fear to control a country?’

And so, so much more.

I often ask myself, why is it that our kids seem to know more about Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein than they do about Mohandas Gandhi? Why aren’t we taking the lessons of Gandhi, Mandela and King and using them more effectively in our classrooms? Let’s don’t study them as people of history; let’s study them as lessons for the present. It’s time for us to put these lessons into action.

Peace building is an attribute of the strong.

Will you whisper peace with me?

www.thegandhiexperiment.com     margaret@margarethepworth.com