Ember's Examples of People of Peace

There are some core concepts that Ember tries to teach students every chance we get. Understanding these ideas goes a long way towards helping prepare students to have influence both in the highly-fragmented-micro-cultures within their own culture as well as when they travel to a wholly different culture. One of these important concepts is the person of peace.

Here's a few examples from our experiences:
+ Pen Lucy, Baltimore
When we there for one day working on a community impact project, there was a guy there who got out his push mower and mowed 5 or 6 of his neighbors lawns. He obviously knew all his neighbors and what was going on in the community.

+ Londrina, Brasil
One of our hosts' good friends was a lady that knew every set of parents in the local middle school. Through her connections, we worked on a community project to fix up and old park.

+ Darly Park, Baltimore
D was one of 5 residents who had lived in this neighborhood for many many years. She was our resident guide, helping us help her community.

+ Queen Creek, AZ
G knew everyone in her apartment village - and I mean everyone. She clearly had a great deal of influence, helping a local church be able to host a kids club in the apartment complex as well as knowing everyone's names. We saw that most evidently when the police showed up.

+ Coney Island, NY
We had lunch at Tom's Diner, one of the first businesses to get re-established after Hurricane Sandy. I think I could point out who Tom was - he was the one who greeted all the locals by name.

Person of peace is an important tool that students [even middle school students] can easily grasp. Teach it well and hopefully the people you shepherd are able to influence the influencers, not just followers.