REMARKS BY EKATERINA ZAGLADINA, PRESIDENT OF THE PERMANENT SECRETARIAT OF THE WORLD SUMMIT OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES, AT THE OPENING OF THE XVII WORLD SUMMIT OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES (V.1)
Mérida, Mexico, September 19, 2019
Dear Nobel Peace Prize laureates; Mr. Governor of the State of Yucatan, Mauricio Vila Dosal; Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard; authorities of Mexico, Yucatan and Merida; dear friends,
On behalf of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and our team of collaborators, I welcome you to this Seventeenth Summit.
This is the second time we met in a city in Latin America, after the successful Summit of Bogotá, and we are delighted to be today in Mexico, a nation worldwide recognized for its culture, its art and its thought.
This is the land where the legacy of the Maya, the Toltecs and the Aztecs merge with the Hispanic heritage; the land of Alfonso García Robles, Nobel Peace Prize in 1982; the land where peoples and cultures meet and enrich each other with their diversity.
What a joy to be here, in Merida, to talk about peace, to work for peace, to move towards peace!
The men, women and organizations gathered here, who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, represent the noblest values of humanity, those principles that allow us to have faith not only in a better future but also in a better present.
Here we are, dear friends, to LEAVE OUR MARK FOR PEACE, and this has a profound meaning that goes beyond debates, speeches and statements.
Leaving a mark for peace is understanding that all human beings are ONE and that we are responsible for each other.
Leaving a mark for peace is working to reduce poverty and inequality, and eradicate all forms of violence.
Leaving a mark for peace is to live spirituality thoroughly, understanding that we are transcendent beings and that our thoughts, words and actions affect our fellow men and women, our environment, and the entire universe.
Leaving a mark for peace is working for the evolution of our species, not only towards higher levels of physical well-being but, mainly, towards an enlightened awareness where love, forgiveness and oneness can be true.
Leaving a mark for peace is committing ourselves to continue moving along the path that our ancestors traveled and paving the way that our children will walk. Before them – our ancestors and our children – we must be accountable.
Because this life – this brief gap between birth and death – is a loan from the past and is a loan from the future that we must pay, with peace actions, in the present.
Leaving a mark for peace, finally, is to understand that we are not only ONE as human beings, but we are also ONE with all living creatures and with nature, who accompany us and sustain us in this vital journey.
That is why we must take care of our Earth. That is why we must respect and honor it.
Today I invite you to join together – not only the Nobel Peace Prize laureates but everyone present – to assume the commitment to make peace a way of life: the only one that can save us from destruction and lead us to more pure states of consciousness.
The inner peace that becomes external peace.
The peace that elevates the vibrations of the humanity, the planet and the universe.
The peace that can and should be built through Peace Education and the promotion of a Culture of Peace.
The peace that is already here, between us, in this meeting, in this Summit, illuminating softly, beautifully, from the deepest of our hearts, from the core of our souls.
Thank you all for being here today, leading by example and leaving a mark – leaving your mark! – for peace.
Thank you!
