Consider this: Three hundred and thirty-five dojos participated in Peace Week, from forty-three countries. According to Google, World Peace Day was observed in such diverse locales as the Punjab province, Addis Ababa, and Kathmandu. Nearly three hundred news articles reported on the event during the last week alone. It’s something to think about.

O-Sensei:

Those who think deeply about Aikido feel that they must participate in the establishment of a universal system of truth and justice. It is our duty to serve as messengers and guides for world peace and universal brotherhood.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear… That old law about “an eye for an eye” leaves everybody blind… The time is always right to do the right thing… Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Mahatma Gandhi:

It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.