“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind” – Gandhi

Right now, there are hundreds of hostels worldwide hosting thousands of travellers of different nationalities, races, languages, ages, and political beliefs. Each and every hostel in the world serves as it’s own multicultural melting pot, forcing travellers to share rooms, bunk-beds, and bathrooms with people they may not rub shoulders with on an average day in their daily life. Amongst other reasons, this is why I love the hostel community.

There are also hundreds and thousands of people in the world who see the above as detrimental to their mission, political or religious beliefs, or national loyalty. If you’re a regular visitor to The Hostel Girl, I’m guessing you’re not one of them, but those that are will continue to wage wars on others for centuries to come, as they have done for centuries before.

Which brings us to Peace. Peace is to most people as faith is to non-believers; a difficult concept to grasp and near-impossible to achieve. Peace is to most people as heaven is to non-believers; nothing but a dream in the eyes of hopeful men and women.

Yet it’s funny how the most radical changes can spring from the dreams of a few people.

#SleepForPeace with HI USA

September 21st, this year and every year to come, marks the International Day of Peace. A call for all at war to put down their arms for one day only, and a chance for decisions made at war and at home to be considered in the eyes of a world focusing on the dream of Peace. Last year, Hostelling International USA (HI USA) decided to invite their hostel  community to consider war and Peace through a non-profit initiative they call Sleep for Peace, and this year more than HI USA hostels and international affiliates will take part in the passive protest once more.

Sleep For Peace

HI USA state on their ‘About’ page that they were ‘founded in 1934 to promote international understanding of the world and its people through hosteling‘ and the Sleep For Peace movement clearly shows how they continue in this spirit of international communication and education to this day. In fact, on a list of around ten responsibilities which HI USA lists on their job descriptions, the very top responsibility is cited as being:

To help all, especially the young, gain a greater understanding of the world and its people, through hostelling.

And so, in the spirit of international understanding, HI USA’s Sleep For Peace movement will show HI hostels across the USA putting on documentaries, workshops, talks, displays, special tours, presentations, concerts, and networking discussion events in order to highlight the issues surrounding Peace and help travellers to the hostels gain an insight in to the life of the city they’re staying in.

Officially, I’m giving this movement the Hostel Girl seal of approval; in the introduction to this article I expressed my love for the way in which the hostel community is open to all people, to mix and learn about the cultures of the cities they visit and the people they meet. Earlier this summer I interviewed the developer of the Hallways App, which also aims to bring travellers together as a community, and it seems that more and more people are beginning to understand that travelling isn’t just about party hostels and gap year drinking. Travelling, and the hostel community especially, is about educating the youth in cultural and political ways they would be unaware of tucked up in an office at home, and often inspires more thoughtful acts in the areas of community and peace in the future.

There’s my dream anyway.

What is the International Day of Peace?

In 1981, the United Nations passed a motion that on one day of every year they would ask all people everywhere to observe and focus on the issue of World Peace for 24 hours. A large part of the hope behind the initiative is that those in combat would agree to lay down arms for a brief time on this day, but the majority of observers of the International Day of Peace use it to educate others in the human right to Peace and developments that could be made to get closer to the ideal.

The UN Secretary, General Ban Ki-moon has released a video message introduction to The International Day of Peace 2014: The Right of Peoples to Peace:

Further Reading:

HI-USA: #SleepForPeace 2015

HI-USA: Will You #SleepForPeace?

Mehdy Ghannad: Sleep For Peace