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Re: Any Park Members?

I don't recall Sil but I'm glad to see you here at ECC, devils_pet!

Re: Any Park Members?

I think i remember speaking to Sil a couple of times. I went by the same name here.

Upgrade the United Nations and Help Change the Course of History

Letter to Humanity:

We, the people of the world, want to live in peace and harmony. We reject the wanton destruction of life and property caused by the inability to resolve our most threatening issues through peaceful means. An unprovoked, illegal invasion of a sovereign nation represents a direct threat to all countries and to people everywhere in the world, recognizing we are all interconnected and interdependent. We insist on adherence to a resolute international system of law and order where we resolve our challenges through level-headed, logical, and rational conversation, dialogue, and diplomacy. We insist on these principles because they are the only way to truly address our mutual challenges as a united and interconnected human family in the twenty-first century.

The world has been upended by Russia's illegal, brutal invasion and war of aggression against the non-threatening nation of Ukraine. Like it or not, we now live in a new "world order". For those who may not be aware, a war of aggression is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense, usually for territorial gain and subjugation. In the judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, "War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole".[1]

The question is, in what kind of world do we wish to live? A world where countries can threaten each other with annihilation is not the kind of world we wish to leave our children and grandchildren. Using a holistic combination of our heads and hearts, we must use our God-given gifts of logic and future-oriented thinking, consciously deciding to remain positive. We live in an infinite quantum universe where everything is possible, and it is irresponsible to be pessimistic in an infinite universe. We must act now for the sake of all people on the planet and all life forms that live in this world with us. The fantastic news is that we can seize this opportunity to change the course of history.

The United Nations is the best our world currently has for an international system of cooperation and collaboration, but it is currently failing in its primary mission of preventing the scourge of war. The organization is hamstrung by the outdated structure of the UN Security Council, which represents the world order as it was after World War II. It has only five permanent members, with any one of them having veto power. These five nations are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The UN system is ineffectual for preserving peace when one of the permanent members of the Security Council is actively waging an illegal war of aggression against a non-threatening country, with reportedly nearly 10,000 clear, documented examples of war crimes and crimes against humanity to date.[2] A key issue that will soon be fixed is reversing the current relationship between the UN General Assembly and The UN Security Council; the UN General Assembly is currently subordinate to the Security Council. Once this major long-standing flaw in the UN system is resolved, the UN's hands can be untied. Clearly, the UN system is broken and must be fixed/upgraded to meet the needs of the twenty-first century.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is also in a jam because nations wishing to join it, such as Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Georgia, are directly or indirectly being threatened by Russia. NATO must now do everything in its power to bring the total resources of every NATO nation to bear. Nothing less than civilization itself is at stake.

Multiple simultaneous crises happening worldwide underscore how urgently humanity needs people and institutions to come together NOW to solve our problems. The climate crisis, food and water shortages, worldwide poverty, the global pandemic, global financial instability, and other crises can only be resolved through peaceful means to achieve peaceful outcomes. A new world order is already here, but it is up to us to decide what that order will ultimately look like. Correcting one of the most serious and long-standing issues at the UN will be a powerful first step. Once the changes to the UN system are implemented, Ukraine is the first situation we can address and in so doing, realize that we are all much more aligned and united than we realize. Many more serious global challenges can begin to be addressed in new and different ways – working together we can make miracles happen.

NEW AND UPGRADED STRUCTURES:

We, the people of the world, insist on the creation of new structures that can evolve and function efficiently to address our mutual challenges. Just like a computer operating system needs to be upgraded from time to time, our institutions need to be upgraded to keep up with changing times. We the People insist that our governmental, institutional, civic, and business leaders take and/or support the following actions:

1. Create the next generation of the United Nations ("UN 2.0") where the UN Security Council is subordinate to the UN General Assembly.

2. Create a UN People's Assembly,[3] which is roughly analogous to the UN General Assembly, and is distinguished by being comprised of non-governmental individuals from around the world. The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) will continue to support the important work of the United Nations.

3. Insist that the UN 2.0, European Union, and NATO create a strong, clear, and unambiguous statement rejecting the illegal invasion of Ukraine, with backing by NATO, the European Union, the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, UN People's Assembly, and WFUNA, which is broadcast regularly in many languages on news stations and media outlets globally and through social media.

4. Bar Russia's involvement and admittance into the global community of nations in the new UN 2.0 until the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is stopped.

5. Make all decisions based on truth and agreed-upon facts. In cases where there is a healthy and honest debate about facts, there is an earnest attempt to find/verify truth versus fiction. Making objective truth important, holding it close and sacred is the foundation of what Mahatma Gandhi called satyagraha: "holding on to the truth", or simply "truth force". This principle, in conjunction with non-violent, peaceful protest, is how both Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were able to activate and mobilize millions of people. They harnessed the "truth force" to bring about massive social change and that is exactly what we need to do again today.

These changes require bold action NOW, before more countries decide that it is acceptable to resolve challenges via violent means and before more innocent people perish.

Some people may wonder if it's possible to quickly and easily make changes to the United Nations. The world order regressed backwards by 100 years the instant Vladimir Putin violently invaded Ukraine. The world order can be changed just as quickly when we recognize that the fate of the world needs our bold, united, collective action. When the people lead, the leaders follow.

ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE:

1. Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/UnitedNations2 ... there is greater power in numbers

2. Leaders of all countries: express full and comprehensive support for upgrading the UN using the above-identified action plan

3. Individuals from all walks of life:

a. Share this message on social media, adding hashtag #UpgradeTheUN

b. Talk about the critical importance of upgrading and resetting the UN amongst our friends, family and colleagues

c. Form groups of 5 to 7 people who come together to discuss ways to spread the message, contacting members of the media, creating and executing plans to contact key members of the community including corporate leaders, leaders in non-profit and non-governmental organizations, and so on. The goal is to deliberately stay laser-focused on fulfilling the mission of upgrading the UN at this critical time in history.

d. Create and share your own videos on social media, adding hashtag #UpgradeTheUN

e. If you are able to translate this plan into additional foreign languages, please send an email to [email protected]

f. To further participate, please join us at http://www.EarthCommCenter.com

Let us now step into our greatness as the gentle, peace-loving people that we are. If we're not able to do it for ourselves, let's do it for our children. Our future depends on all of us awakening now and deciding there is another way to live our lives. We are, indeed, the people for which the world has been waiting. The time has come for us to unite in the name of peace and sanity to create a world that works for everyone. Let's all make it a priority and pay this message forward. Let us come together NOW.

SHARE – LIKE – SHARE MORE – TALK ABOUT IT AT MEALTIME – TALK ABOUT IT EVERYWHERE

Initial signatories of the UN 2.0 action plan detailed above include but are not limited to:

Brent and Dea Hunter

Spirit Rising Productions

Mary Madeiras, Emmy Award-Winning Director/Writer

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts

John Hovell, Managing Director and Co-Founder, STRACTactical, LLC

Joey Madia

Reverend Michael Carter

[1] "War of aggression," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_aggression
[2] Jacob Knutson, "Ukraine's prosecutor general: Russia has committed nearly 10,000 war crimes," Axios, May 5, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/05/05/ukraine-invasion-venediktova-russia-war-crimes
[3] Also referred to as the UN Parliamentary Assembly or the Global People's Assembly

Re: What was the best part of The Park?

Thank you :)

I have heard of similar stories from other people also. Who knows how many people's lives were changes forever or positively affected thanks to The Park. 

It feels like those were more innocent times where a majority of the people you meet were good people and the internet was not as toxic as it is today.

For years I wondered how would it be possible to bring a place like that back? How would that be managed today to recreate the same atmosphere The Park had in those days. 

There were other places besides The Park, but none of them had the same feeling to them.

Re: What was the best part of The Park?

Such a beautiful story you've shared! So happy that this connection was made through The Park!

Re: What was the best part of The Park?

I lived in Canada and she lived in the US. We live in the US at the moment. Ours was not the case of somebody looking for love, or unable to find a partner in our own country, it just happened, we were friends for a while. I visited her while I was on vacation, she visited me one year, she had never seen snow and wanted to visit Canada, and so on. Eventually we got to know each other well and here we are all those years laters. The Park truly was a "magical" place.

Re: What was the best part of The Park?

Thanks SpiderMonkey, it's so touching to hear of your love story.  Just curious what country did you and she live in at the time?  Where are you both now?

I'm also so glad to hear that you discovered ECC!

Re: What was the best part of The Park?

It was fun in those early days, a lot of nice people and simple practical and catchy design. 

I meet my wife there, at the time we lived in different countries. We chatted a couple of times and then lost touch for over a year. Then one day I saw a user with the same nick of the girl I had meet a year prior, it turned out it was her, out of thousands of people on the internet in those days, a year later I run into the same person. The rest is history, 25 years later we are still together and have a family. 

This we owe to The Park.

Re: What was the best part of The Park?

Thanks pinkpetals, I agree that we all need a place like The Park (or ECC), to bring back a lot of the magic in meeting new people, learning new things, etc.

Re: What are you thankful for?

Great to meet you Pretty Woman!