LIVING IN HARMONY - Chapter Four

Empowering Children to Become World Harmony Builders

...Good Things about Ourselves - Our Virtues

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Chapter Inspiration:

-One path alone leads to a life of peace: the path of virtue.‖ -Juvenal

-From virtue comes every other good of man.‖ -Socrates

- Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy.‖-Ludwig van Beethoven

-The very nature of kindness is to spread. f you are kind to others, today they will be kind to you, and tomorrow to somebody else.‖ -Sri Chinmoy

-A large part of virtue consists in good habits.‖ -William Paley

-Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo, virtue is at hand.‖ Confucius

Chapter Story:

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1820. Her parents were brought to the United States in chains. They were members of the Ashanti nation - a warrior nation in West Africa.
When Harriet was only five, she was rented out as a worker, and for the next 25 years she lived in slavery. Harriet often worked with the male slaves, cutting wood and doing other kinds of hard labor. She was strong, and by the age of 29, she had had more than enough of slavery. She lived only ninety miles from freedom. When she learned that she had been sold, and was going to be sent to the deep South, she decided to attempt an escape. She was told of a local white woman who helped runaways, and this woman helped her by giving her two slips of paper, each containing the name of a family who would help her on the road northward. Her trip was successful. Over the next eleven years, Harriet made nineteen trips back into slave-holding territory, to help others escape through the Underground Railway. She brought more than 300 slaves to freedom, risking her life for every one of them.
Harriet was a deeply spiritual woman. She knew that God was protecting her, and she remained courageous, believing that she ventured only where God sent her. She often had prophetic dreams about the future. Harriet Tubman lived and died without material wealth, yet she possessed the unlimited wealth of the spirit. She lectured against slavery throughout the North.

During the Civil War, she worked as a spy going deep into the South to gather information on the Confederate army‘s movements. She led a platoon of black soldiers in three steampowered gunboats on a mission which freed 800 slaves. After that, she worked tirelessly as a nurse, and when the Civil War was over in 1865, she joined the Women‘s Rights movement. She died in 1913 at the age of 93.

Chapter Overview:

A virtue is a positive quality or attribute that we have inside of us. It is like a variety or a type of goodness, for example, courage, energy, or patience. We can‘t see a virtue but we can see the expression of virtues. For example, we can‘t see kindness inside someone, but we can see someone helping a friend when they fall down on the playground. We all have different virtues to share. Some of us have a lot of ambition, while others are very honest.
If we want to have more virtues we can learn about them and try to practice them. Virtues live inside our invisible hearts. They make each one of us very special, because they are like gifts that we have. We can share our gifts, share our virtues, with the world, and we can help others to gain more virtues. When we share our virtues we can make the world a happier and more harmonious place. There is no end to the virtues we can gain and practice. Everybody has virtues. Some people have had a longer time to learn and practice virtues. When people have learned and practiced virtues for a long time, they can become leaders who help to guide others about virtues.

Chapter Lessons:

As a class, choose some of the virtues listed here that you think are most important - learn more about them through the lessons - and try to practice them. After one week or when the teacher feels everyone is ready take an honest secret vote on who is the girl and boy in the class who has the most kindness or courage (use the virtue the class decided was most important). Do your best to choose the person who really shows that virtue the most - remember that the person may not be the most popular person in class. When the World Harmony Run arrives in August the chosen girl and boy will be honored with the ‘Torch Bearer Award' for the positive inspiration they have given to those around them through their own lives and deeds.

Lesson #1 - Kindness
Kindness is about helping others. Kindness means we open our hearts. Kindness means imagining what it is like for someone else.
Think of one kind thing that you have seen this week. Share that with the class. Who was being kind? How did that person show their kindness? Were they being kind to you or to someone else?
Now think of one act of kindness that you did in your life. What kind thing did you do? How did you help someone or how did it make someone feel?

Using our imagination can be a big help when we are trying to be kind. Think of someone you know who might need help. Who is it that might need your help? What kind of help do you think they might need? Next, think of one kind thing that you can do today, or later this week, to help that person. If you cannot help that person yourself, then maybe you can talk to someone else who can help that person instead.
Write in your journal or diary about kindness.

Lesson #2 - Honesty
Honesty means telling the truth. It also means telling others how you really feel. Sometimes telling the truth can be scary because we think we might get into trouble or hurt someone‘s feelings. Do you try to tell the truth? Can you think of a time when you did not tell the truth? Why didn‘t you want to tell the truth? What happened when you didn‘t tell the truth? Most often, if we don‘t tell the truth, the situation becomes worse and we have more problems than before.
Can you also think of a time when you did tell the truth, even though it might have been hard or scary? What happened when you told the truth? Did you feel better? It is not easy to be honest and tell the truth, but if we practice, we can make it into a positive habit. There is an old aphorism that says: -Honesty is the best policy.‖ To be honest is to be wise, because being honest can save us a lot of trouble. Being honest is also an important virtue to practice because it is a major part of being a good person.

Lesson #3 - Courage
Courage means following your conscience - that little voice inside of you that tells you what is right and what is wrong. Courage means standing up for fairness and justice. It means speaking out for what you feel is right even if others are telling you something different. Courage means not being afraid to be different.
Courage happens in different ways. Harriet Tubman had courage because she risked her life to help others. Modern Superheroes, and heroes from ancient myths and stories, show courage because they solve big problems and bring freedom and safety to kingdoms or whole lands.
Yet courage is something that everyone can practice. Courage is a virtue that helps us to be good citizens and to improve our community and our world. With your class share stories about courage that you know or that you have heard. They can be stories about any kind of courage, but it is good to have stories showing the different kinds of courage. Write about your favorite story that was shared in class.

Lesson #4 - Forgiveness
Forgiveness means letting go of bad feelings we might have about another person. Maybe someone has pushed us down on the playground or has hurt our feelings by telling us that they won‘t be our friend anymore. It is important to tell them how we feel when this happens - to tell them we are sad or hurt that they did what they did. Then, once we talk to the person about what happened, and once they acknowledge what they did by saying they are sorry, then we
can practice forgiveness. Forgiveness means being willing to forget what happened and to make a fresh start with the person.
It is easier to practice forgiveness if we remember that everybody makes mistakes, and if we recall a mistake that we ourselves have made recently. We all make mistakes. Mistakes are an important part of life. They help us to learn and to grow into better people. So forgiveness helps us to move past mistakes into learning and growth.

Think of a situation in the past or the present that could be an opportunity to practice forgiveness. What is the thing that happened to you? Did you talk about your feelings with that person, or did that person already apologize? If one or both of these things has already happened, then you can move to the step of forgiveness. If you want to, you can even say to the person, -I forgive you for what you did.‖ This sends a clear and powerful message to the person that you care enough about your friendship to let go of the past and move on to the future together. Make a cartoon about a situation between two people who practice forgiveness.

Lesson #5 - Gratitude
Gratitude is like saying ‗thank you,‘ for the things that are special to us, the things that make us feel happy, the things that make us who we are. We can express gratitude by saying ‗thank you,‘ directly to the people we love or to someone who has given us something special. We can say ‗thank you‘ to God or to the universe for the good things we have in our life. Or, you can say ‗thank you,‘ just to yourself for being you! We have many gifts in our lives, if we just think about it. Gifts can be special people, things that are precious to us, good feelings or even new ideas.
Can you name one or two of the gifts you are grateful for in your life? Share one of them with the class. Make a list of all the things you are grateful for. Watch out! It might become a pretty long list. Then decorate your list with some art materials to make a beautiful memento of your gratitude lesson. You can hang it on your wall at home or give it to someone special in your life. Gratitude is a special virtue to practice because it can help us to gain appreciation for the gifts in our lives. If we practice gratitude each day it can also help us to develop our other virtues - especially contentment.

Lesson #6 - Determination
Determination means never giving up. Sometimes we have to try to do something many times before we can do it. Determination also means working for something continually over a long period of time in order to reach a goal. When we want to learn something new or achieve something special we have to try very hard and to practice in order to do that thing. When we have determination and we finally accomplish that special thing, we get a deep feeling of satisfaction. Satisfaction is like a deep happiness or thrill inside of us. We need determination to learn new things, and to grow in our lives. Can you think of a time when you showed determination? Can you think of someone special in your life or someone from history who showed determination?

Lesson #7 - Contentment

Contentment means being happy right now with who you are and what you have. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was a great leader who taught that contentment is a very helpful virtue to practice if you want to have a happy life. When you look at a statue of Buddha, he always looks very content.
Close your eyes for a few moments and just feel contentment right here and right now. Just take a few breaths and be happy inside yourself. You have everything inside you that you need to be happy. If you get a new toy or a new game, you might get excited, but then once you get used to it, you might not feel as excited.
You might even want to get another toy at that point. But contentment you can always have, no matter what. You don‘t need to get anything new or have anything more, you can just close your eyes and feel contentment. When you get new toys it is natural to have fun with them. You can enjoy contentment all the time, whether you get a new toy or not. Draw a picture of yourself feeling contentment or write a poem about contentment.

Discussion Questions:

a) Talk with your class about quotation #1. Why do you think Juvenal says that virtue is the only path to peace? What do people have to have inside of them in order to be peaceful and to spread harmony in the world?

b) In quotation #2 Socrates says that all other good things come to us if we practice virtues, and in quotation #3 Beethoven says that learning virtues is the only way to be happy. How do you think practicing virtues might help you to gain happiness? What kinds of good things might happen if you practice your virtues every day and every week?

c) In quotation #6 Confucius tells us that practicing virtues is easy once you decide to do it. In fact, he says that if we decide to practice virtues then we are already a better person. Have you decided to try to practice virtues? Can you share what virtues you have noticed classmates, teachers, other school workers, your parents, or your grandparents practicing?

Supplemental Activities:

• With your class, make a list of all the virtues you can think of. Remember that virtues are positive qualities that make us good and decent human beings. You can make the virtues into a class mural for display on the wall or the bulletin board.
• Fables, fairy tales and other stories are great ways to learn about virtues and to remember to practice them. With your teacher‘s help, find stories that teach lessons about virtues and share them with the class.
• Once you have heard several stories about virtues, why not write your own?
You can make it a fable, a fairy tale, a myth, a real life story or anything else you want. Just make sure you first decide what virtue your story is going to teach about.
• Which virtue are you going to start practicing first? Maybe if you write it down on a note card and decorate your note card, it will help you to remember the virtue you are practicing. You can do the same for all the virtues you have studied and want to practice.

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Example of Harmony Run where Virtues are Highlighted:

 Halifax  10 June 2010 -  for full report of 10 june go to: http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/canada/news/2010/0610

The run banner carried on 10 June shows support for the Year 2010 goals.

The logo for year contains many different color strands. Although the strands join together at one end to make a distinct shape they still keep their unique color. This was especially appreciated at the different schools today. 

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Enfield Elementary School

The choir with 12 African drums performed the World Harmony Run song with many subtle variations.

 

Virtues - Gifts of Character

We each were given cards with Virtues:

52 virtues.  Since in 2010 the UN and UNESCO are celebrating and appreciating cultural diversity, many of the values expressed have special relevance this year.. (For example: friendliness, respect, understanding. This theme was further explored at the following schools)

 

• The children shared the torch after a lovely ceremony. 

With the passing of the torch, did you notice the different Virtue Gift illustration signs on the wall?

• The choir had a chance to see the torch up close. 

• As sweet Enthusiasm looks on from behind!

• And some came for a photo with the banner and art work that had been prepared for display just behind.