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The Arc Benders: Young People Leading the Way in Creating a Just and Peaceful World (A Beloved Community Modeled After the Teaching of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr) with the Director of "Alive Fort Wayne" Rev. Angelo Mante and student members of the Peacemaker Academy Samantha Morris and Timothy Poindexter
Episode 6516th July 2023 • Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble • Bishop Julius C. Trimble
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Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

The Arc Benders: Young People Leading the Way in Creating a Just and Peaceful World

In episode 065 of "To Be Encouraged," host Bishop Julius C. Trimble and co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller are joined by the Director of "Alive Fort Wayne (www.alivefw.org) Rev. Angelo Mante and by members of that organizations summer youth leadership training program Peacemaker Academy Timothy Poindexter and Samantha Morris,

The episode explores the power of forgiveness, the significance of peacemaking, and the transformative impact of intentional community. Here are three key takeaways from the episode:

1. Forgiveness is a Healing Process:

The episode emphasizes that forgiveness is not about condoning the harmful actions of others, but rather an act of self-liberation. Unforgiveness is compared to drinking poison and expecting the enemy to suffer. The process of forgiveness includes telling one's story, naming the harm, considering forgiveness, and either renewing or releasing the relationship. Telling one's story and naming the harm is essential in moving towards forgiveness and healing.

2. Peacemaking: Creating Positive Change:

The episode highlights the remarkable work being done through the Peacemaker Academy, a three-week program that focuses on teaching nonviolence and addressing trauma. The program, spearheaded by Rev. Angelo Mante, has exceeded expectations, positively impacting students in Southside High School in Fort Wayne. The academy includes activities such as guest speakers, field trips, and peace circles, where students can share personal experiences and bond with each other. The program's success has caught the attention of the district for potential expansion to other schools.

3. Beloved Community and Intentional Relationships:

The episode emphasizes the importance of creating intentional communities, known as beloved communities. By embracing the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the speakers recognize that peace is not merely the absence of tension but the presence of justice. They discuss the need to work towards a world where everyone is seen as God's children and can come together to create peace, unity, and understanding. The power of intentional relationships and smaller clusters fosters a sense of belonging and promotes a positive and peaceful future.

Conclusion:

This episode of "To Be Encouraged" highlights the transformative power of forgiveness, the significance of peacemaking, and the importance of intentional community. Listeners are encouraged to embrace forgiveness as a healing process, actively participate in creating positive change through peacemaking initiatives, and work towards the establishment of beloved communities. By doing so, individuals can contribute to a more peaceful, just, and inclusive world.

For More Information on Alive Ft Wayne and Rev. Angelo Mante and the Peacemaker Academy go to (www.alivefw.org)

Episode Time Stamps

timestamped

00:01:36 Moved from Atlanta to Fort Wayne in 2009. Cousin's murder in 2016 prompted move back. Started Peacemaker Academy in 2017.

00:08:22 Empowered to lead by confronting inner trauma.

00:10:13 Intense summer program expands; peacemakers making impact.

00:14:06 Nonviolence education: principles, curriculum, and student learning.

00:16:46 Dr. King's principles and steps for nonviolence.

00:20:03 Intervention program for troubled student yields success.

00:24:07 "Church sometimes misunderstands peace; peacemaking essential."

00:26:09 Beloved community cuts through divisions in world.

00:33:09 Process of forgiveness: story, harm, release.

00:34:42 Forgiveness creates freedom from anger and resentment.

00:39:18 Appeal to share podcast, create peace, pray.

00:41:24 Encouraging podcast with Bishop Trimble. Join us.

Transcripts

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Hello, good people. Welcome to to be encouraged with

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Bishop Julius C Trimble. The podcast, we will look to offer an

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encouraging word to an often discouraged world. Our

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special guest today on the podcast is Reverend Angelo

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Martin from the Alive Fort Wayne organization,

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which has to do with making peace in their community in Fort

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Wayne. And what particular program they have is the Peace Maker

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Academy, which is a leadership development program

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for high school students at Fort Wayne. And a couple of students are with us

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today. They are Samantha Morris and Timothy Poindexter. So,

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Bishop, would you help us welcome these folks to our podcast here

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today? Welcome angelo and

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Samantha and Timothy. And thank you for sharing

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this time with us. We know people will be blessed and encouraged be

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enlightened as a result of your sharing. So thank you so very much. Angel,

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can you just briefly introduce our two students yourself and the

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two students who are with us, and they can say just a word about themselves?

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Yeah, I'm Angelo. I'm the executive director of Alive here in Fort Wayne.

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And to my left is

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Samantha Morris, and to my right is Timothy

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Poindexter. They are high school students here in Fort Wayne, and they

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are part of our Peacemaker Academy this summer. And you'll give us just a little

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bit of context about how elia

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Fort Wayne came into being and then

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evolved into the Peacemaker Academy. A little context there then. I want to get a

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little context from Samantha and Timothy as well, but just

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a little background here. I'm from Fort Wayne, born and raised,

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but we left to go down to Atlanta

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back in 2009. I attended Candler

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School of Theology down there, and we started

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planting roots after I graduated in Georgia. And

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we went down with one child, and we had a few more when we were

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there, and we were planning to stay there

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for the long term. But in 2016,

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I got a message early in the morning on September

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13 that my first cousin here in Fort Wayne was murdered.

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He was shot and killed, in fact, just a few blocks from where we're sitting

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right now. And I didn't have a little brother

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growing up. He was the closest thing that I had to a little brother. So

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this is really something that it was

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devastating. And I had friends that I lost

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growing up to gun violence, but never a family member.

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And it's something that even to this day, for our

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family, is really difficult, to say the least.

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He had three kids. He was 30 years old, and he was

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killed. And I'm spending some time with his

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oldest today after the academy.

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So after that happened, we felt called to move

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back to Fort Wayne. We prayed about

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it, and we were already following the trajectory of violence here in the

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city even before that happened to my cousin. But when that happened and

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I came back and I officiated the funeral. And even as I was

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preaching at the funeral, I knew it was time to come back home.

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So the next year we were here in

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the summer, we moved back in June

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of 2017. And that first year we spent a

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lot of time just learning, getting to know other families who've been affected by

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violence, meeting with churches,

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pastors, nonprofit leaders in the community

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that were trying to do something about this issue of violence and trying to figure

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out where we fit into that. Where we started

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was we were coming alongside families who had been

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affected by violence, and especially children. There's

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so many kids in communities everywhere

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who fall through the cracks, who've been affected by violence.

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We started coming alongside them, connecting them to resources. We

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started the support group, but the more that we did that work, the

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more we felt that we really needed to do more around

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prevention and intervention, something that would lead to less families

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needing support like that in the first place. And so we

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got connected to this Kingian nonviolence

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network. I went down to Selma for some violence

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trainings, and through that network, I got connected

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to this school in Chicago that was doing some really cool work

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around violence education in their school

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in the North Lawndale neighborhood. And so

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out of that emerged this vision, fort a

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Peacemaker Academy. They were making a huge difference in their school

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and reducing violence. And so we said, hey, why not here? Let's

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try something here in Fort Wayne. We started with Southside High School here in Fort

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Wayne. The whole idea of the academy, it's a three week experience in the

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summer for students, where we teach them nonviolence de escalation work

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on our trauma and inner piece, but

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then we go forth from the summer and walk with them throughout

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the course of the year to help them build peace in their

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school. And so this is the first year we have a few students

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from other schools, but South Side is still

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our primary focus right now. But this is the third year that we've

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been doing this, and we never anticipated how fast that

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this would take off. Awesome. You got a couple of those students with us right

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now. And Samantha Morris, once you introduce yourself, tell us

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a little bit about yourself, where you're a high school students and what got you

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involved with Peacemaker Academy. Yeah. So I'm going to be a

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senior at Northrop High School. And what

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got me involved with Peacemakers was my dad is like a pastor at

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the church. It's hosting it this year, and so I've heard a lot about

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it through that and the impact it had at Southside.

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And I've seen a lot of violence within my school and community, and I wanted

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to take Peacemakers to my school to help fix

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that and at least provide some relief for them. And Timothy Point

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Dexter share us a little bit about your story, what you're in school, and tell

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us how you got connected with Peacemaker Academy. Well, my name

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is Timothy, and I'm going to be a junior at

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Southside High School next year. And how I got introduced to

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Peacemakers was I have a friend who went to Peacemakers. He went to the

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academy a year before me, and he told me about it, and I

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was interested. So I started off by going to the club, and I really liked

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talking to the people that were there. So that's how I was introduced to the

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Peacemaker. Well, Bishop, I know you had several things

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you wanted to ask these students and

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Angelo about here. Just want to ask Timothy and Samantha and

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maybe start with Timothy Peacemaker

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Academy. I looked at the website and

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watched some of the videos. It says it

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empowers young leaders. I want to know how this

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experience is really empowering you as a

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leader and maybe some of the

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backstory, how you've grown as a leader

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and the benefit you see from participating in Peacemaker

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Academy. And the same question for Samantha.

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Well, peacemakers for me has definitely impacted me a

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lot. It's definitely taught me how to use my

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mouth instead of my fist to stop violence. Well, using my

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fist wouldn't stop violence. It would create more violence. So

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that's why I am learning from here how to use my words,

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because at this place, it teaches you using your words is

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more courageous than fighting someone

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and how when you talk to people, it can resolve more

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than what you would do in a fight. Often it seems like

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a fight doesn't have a conclusion, because if one

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person gets the upper hand, then

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nothing is really resolved. So it seems

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like Peacemaker Academy in terms of empowering

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leadership, there's a process, and I know both

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of you have gone through the various steps related to

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nonviolence. So thank you so much.

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Samantha, I didn't mean to cut you off before you got

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started. For me, I think it's empowered me to be a better leader in that

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I've learned to deal with a lot of my own inner violence and trauma

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and things like that. So it's allowed me to kind of project that outwards to

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my family, to my friends, and hopefully to my school when we start

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school back up. I've just learned a lot about how

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to deal with not only the violence around me,

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but within my own life. And I think that's really provided me a

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lot of balance and peace that I can then

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use within my leadership skills to help change the community

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of my school. Does the academy provide an environment for you to

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share more of your stories or what you're going through? I know you mentioned

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Timothy, you mentioned the club. Can you help our

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audience understand what are Peacemaker

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clubs? Okay, so after school

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on Thursdays, there would be a club in one of the classrooms

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where they'd have snacks. We go and

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we sit in a circle and then they'd start off by ringing a bell

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to get us all calmed down and get in the mood to talk. And

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then they pick a subject and we talk to each other about

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it. And it felt like peaceful. It felt

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open because it felt like you were being judged. It just felt

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like you could actually talk to people, which does help.

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And I really liked it. It was comfortable talking to the other people

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at the Peacemakers Club. Angelo,

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you've talked about what are the highlights that people I know, they have so

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many experiences. What do people come away from Peacemaker

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Academy saying how this experience has impacted

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them? How does this flow over into the school

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environment? Because I understand that you've got administrators now on board,

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people. This is kind of picking up steam.

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Yeah. It's amazing

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how much we're able to fit into three weeks.

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We're in our third week right now. We have a couple of days left and

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we are exhausted. But it's a good exhaustion. There's just

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so much. We have speakers come in.

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We had deputy chief of police that came in yesterday.

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We do field trips. We went to Turner

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Chapel. We have a really strong relationship partnership with

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them. It's the first black church established here in Fort

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Wayne. It's an AME congregation and learning the

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history about the AME and the history

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of that particular congregation here in Fort

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Wayne. We spent time at the rescue mission

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here. We ate with the residents, homeless

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men, and then learned from some of their staff. And there's

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just so much that we do in addition to the curriculum that we teach

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here. We're going to do an evaluation in a couple of days,

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give the students an evaluation of the summer

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program. But the first two years, all the different things that we

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do, what's come out on top as

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the highlight of the summer experience is are the peace

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circles. The peace circles, that's something that anybody can it is not

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complicated. We start each

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day, as Samantha said, in a circle.

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We normally start off with a more light hearted question and then we go deeper.

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So I think on the second day, the deep question was how

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have you been impacted by violence? Students don't have to share. They can

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pass. On that second day, most everybody

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shared some really deep stuff and that's what bonds us

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almost immediately. And of all the things we do, that

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elevates to the top of the list for students in the summer experience. Now,

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as far as how everything is going in the schools,

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that's what this is all about. There are lots of summer programs out there and

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all of that. But we see this as the launching point. So the summer

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academy, it's very intense, but it's the starting

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point for everything else in the school.

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Over the past couple of years. What the students have been able to

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accomplish has been remarkable, and they are

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making a huge difference in the school. And

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I can list specific things if you want, but

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it's catching the attention of the district to the point

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where and the superintendent spent time with us a couple of days ago.

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They're working on a referendum for the fall around district safety, and

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they're looking at weapons detection and some more resource officers

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and some other things. They've added a line item for us

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because they want to see what we're doing expand into all of the Fort Wayne

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community schools, high schools, which is huge. We saw that

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happening maybe over the next ten years, 15

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years. But to be happening right now is just a testament

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to the impact that it's having in the

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school. And the principal has spoken on our behalf

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and the vice principal and administrators and

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98% we did a teacher survey and a student survey. I think

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it was 98% of students and 99%

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of teachers, or maybe it was the reverse

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that said that peacemakers are making a positive impact

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on school culture. That's

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phenomenal. We got to work on that other. 2%, I

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guess, but it shows systematic change, which

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is so hard to come by right

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in the interchange between kind of a church based or religion

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based thing and school systems and government systems and

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all that kind of thing. My goodness. That is awesome, isn't it?

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Bishop? It is awesome. Let me ask

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about the whole violence

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training and the basis for it. A lot of people were

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born after Dr. King was assassinated,

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so some people have little or no knowledge other

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than maybe they heard that I Have a Dream speech and

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that there's a King holiday. But this notion

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of nonviolence, I think his last book, The Rev. And

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Dr. Martin Luther King was. Where do we go from here? Chaos or

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community. And it seems like there's a lot of chaos in our

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society when it comes to particularly gun

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violence. I grew up on the

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South Side of Chicago, and a lot of times the violence was

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really measured by an occasional knifeing.

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But now mass shootings is almost well, it

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is more than a weekly occasion. So tell us a bit

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about the principles of nonviolence and how

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that is translated into the curriculum

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itself. What do students learn? Maybe I should

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ask them what they've learned. So we memorized the

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six principles of violence as well as the six steps to

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nonviolence, and those really I mean, I don't have to recite them

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right now, but they really taught me how to

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have violence in a community in a

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realistic way. So it's not just some

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big dream that's way far ahead in the future, but it's something that we can

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start working on now and that we can practice in our daily lives,

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not by way of life for courageous people. And that was one that we focused

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on a lot. That's the first principle. So really making it a way of life

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and implementing it into our communities is what I took away from that

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the most. So this is not a test, but

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help us. What will be a couple other the principles, timothy? Well,

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as Sammy said, the first principle is that nonviolence

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is a way for courageous people. The second principle would

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be the beloved community is a framework for a

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better future. The third principle, it would be attack forces

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of evil, not the persons doing evil.

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The fourth step, suffering without retaliation

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for the sake of the cause to achieve goal.

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The fifth one, avoid violence of the

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spirit as well as

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external physical violence. And the 6th principle

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would be the universe is on the side of justice. Not

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bad. Too many people to put on the spotlight yet, my friend. That's right.

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No pressure. The principles are the heart and

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soul of the curriculum. Dr. King, he first

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articulated principles in it's called The Pilgrimage

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to Violence. It was published as an essay, but it was also

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in his first book, Strive toward Freedom, chapter

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six, I think. So we learn about the principles,

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but we also learn the steps. The six steps of nonviolence. The principles are often

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referred to as the will, and then the steps are the skill that's how

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do you organize a campaign? How do you go from

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gathering information to education and kind of

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go through the process, direct action and

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protest, if that's necessary. But the end goal is

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reconciliation. So the principles and the steps are

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the foundation. But there are lots of other things de escalation

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learning, types of violence, levels of violence. This framework of

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nonviolence, I think, is the greatest gift that Dr. King gave us.

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We think about his achievements and the Civil Rights Act

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and the achievements that he was able to

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accomplish throughout his career. But the framework

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of nonviolence gives us the

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vehicle to continue to create change in

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our own lives and our interpersonal conflicts that we have, but also

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in our school, in our community, and at the larger social

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level. Because when you talk about something as complicated as gun violence, we have

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to address that at the individual level all the way up to the political and

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social level. And nonviolence you mentioned, Angelo,

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and about the statistics, about how 98,

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99% of the students and the teachers and

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the faculty in the school system say this has made an

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impact, this peacemaker academy has made an

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impact. I really would really be interested in hearing

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the story about that to see if there's actual stories

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that have been come to life either in your own life,

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Angelo, or in Timothy or Samantha, where they've seen

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that play out in real life, either it might have been

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in the school or might have been at home or someplace else. But

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I'd really like to hear from the students and for you, Angela, about any actual

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stories, how they've seen something that's happened in their schools, where

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maybe there was a de escalation or maybe there was some

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different approach rather than violence. Can any of the three of you speak

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to that, please? I can start.

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So definitely around South Side. I don't really go around the

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commons and stuff, but there's usually a bunch of fights

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that happen in the commons. But around when

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peacemakers started getting bigger in the school, more fights have been de

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escalated by people. Instead of people watching the

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fights, people have tried to stop the fights before they could happen.

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So that's a way that I've seen the peacemakers impact my school. The

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commons, is that the cafeteria or is that a public space or what's? The

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commons. The commons is like a big area

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around the school.

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No, it's in the middle, I would say, around the school. And it's like where

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a bunch of kids come to congregate and talk to each other. There was

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a particular student at the beginning of this past

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year, the academy. This is a leadership

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program for students who are leaders. This isn't an intervention

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program, so these are kids that are already on a good

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path, but we wanted to work

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toward doing more intervention. And so

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we talked to the administrators about that, and they gave us the name of

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one particular student, and they said this would be a good place to start

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because he's having a lot of issues. And so

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our staff person in the school started to start a

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building relationship with him. He was on house arrest and

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was really on the verge of getting expelled from

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school, and so started building that relationship and

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ended up learning about all of this trauma, just

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learning his story and seeing where that violence,

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where those issues were coming from. And that's something we're really big about, seeing

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violence as a symptom and really trying to get underneath

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that. And so we did that with this student, and

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within a couple of weeks and we had people here at the church praying

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for him and really started seeing

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some pretty miraculous changes. And he told us that he wanted to be a

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peacemaker, so we said, all right, well, let's start

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by squashing this beef with this other student that you have.

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And so we called them into a room together,

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and he took the initiative and apologized for his part in the conflict. And this

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was a really serious issue that could have really

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escalated. They were able to squash that, put it behind them,

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and he's been part of what we

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do ever since, been part of our peace club. That's

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just one example, one story, but there are

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lots of stories like that that we could share

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at the individual level, but also at the school level.

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Samantha, how about you? Have you seen any evidence of this in your life or

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in your school? So it's the first year that it's going to be at my

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school. So I haven't really seen it within my school yet. But within my personal

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life, I've been able to teach everything I've learned to my family, use

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it in arguments. With my sister. We learned affect labeling, which

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is basically ignoring whatever words are being spoken, buying the

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emotion and reflecting that back to the person and just saying, hey, I understand why

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you're upset. This is what you're feeling. Let's figure out why and not

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yell about it. I've used that with my sister to kind of de

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escalate any situation when she gets angry with me. And that's honestly helped us get

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along better. Within the past couple of weeks, I've noticed not that

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everything's perfect, but that's helped me within my own personal family life,

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and I feel like I'll be able to use it within my school. I've seen

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what impact it's had at Southside, and I hope I can do the same

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thing when school starts. I'm sorry, I was going to say we

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often think of Martin Luther King, Jr. As a civil rights

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leader, but he was a Christian minister, a Baptist

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minister. So I like some

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commentary around this is not some would say

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this is not necessarily totally new in that

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Jesus teaches, Blessed are the peacemakers fort.

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They should be called the children of God. What does it

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mean for us to embrace this

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Christian principle and translate

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it into

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living it out? I'm wondering if some of what you're learning in

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peacemakers, Samantha, for example, is that

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consistent with what we are learning or we should be learning or

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teaching in our church experience as well?

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At least for me, I would say yes. It really does align with what I

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learn in church and what I hear on Sunday mornings.

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It really does have to do with the

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love your neighbor, all that stuff. Really. It's kind of based off

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of Jesus teachings. I feel like that's probably what inspired Dr.

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King. It really is integrated with Christian life. Yeah, I can speak

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to that as well. I think that one thing that

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the church doesn't always get entirely right

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is the concept of peace. Like, what is peace? Dr. King

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talked about the difference between positive peace and

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negative peace. And that's something that we talk a lot about in the academy. Just

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not being violence isn't enough,

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right? So I think a lot of times we feel like, oh,

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we're peaceful. We're a peace church or a

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peaceful community because we're not actively

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contributing to the violence. Like Dr. King said, the positive peace is

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the presence of justice. Right? It's not just the absence of tension.

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So I think that this whole idea of being a

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peacemaker, that's why we use that word more and more. I mean,

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we use the word nonviolence too, but we really like that word

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peacemaker because it's active. We are

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actively making peace. We're actively stepping into

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situations of conflict and violence and injustice and

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making peace, sometimes causing conflict. Sometimes we actually

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need to create conflict in order to really

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get to the heart of the issue of

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injustice. And so I think that peacemaking is

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absolutely essential and central to

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discipleship, to this journey of walking with Jesus. And

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creating peacemaking also involves and

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is a part of your mission, I believe, creating a beloved community. And

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certainly what Martin Luther King talked about, I know Bishop Trimble talks about that all

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the time, creating the beloved community. But that means creation of that means you're

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actively involved with getting things done. I'm

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reminded of John Ten about the abundant life.

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The opposite of that is the deteriorating life. And

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so theologically, I think there are some real good foundations

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for this. But can you speak a little bit to that? The creation of

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the beloved community is kind of at the heart of what you folks are about.

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Angelo yeah, so I think there is so much

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chaos in the world and so much

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division. We divide around all kinds of

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different lines, whether it be race now

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politically, the divisions that we have, the divisions that we've

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had in the church over theology.

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And so I think beloved community really cuts through all of

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that, recognizes the idea that we're all God's children

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and how can we come together and

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create this beautiful thing together and these

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pockets of beloved community. And that to me is where it's about because

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a beloved community happens really in

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clusters, right? The larger you get, the harder it is to really

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have that beloved community. Because it's about relationship, it's about being in tune

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with what's going on with

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your sister, with your brother. I think of Acts chapter two,

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that intentional community where they're living together and they're

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living among one another and breaking bread and praying for one another. No

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one among them had any needs, right? And so

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we see that happening here in the academy. Like if there's something

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going on, that's why we wanted to keep it a smaller,

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more intimate group. I think Jesus was on to something. Jesus could

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have had 2000 disciples, but

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he had twelve of his closest and walked with

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them. And so when we gather with these folks every

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day and we're sharing what's going on in our lives, if something happened

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in our home last night, we're sharing that and we know what's going on. If

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there are any needs, we know what's going on. And so having

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this pocket of beloved community and when we look at South Side,

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that's what we're trying to create, pockets of beloved

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community. I don't know that you can have a beloved community of 2000 people. Maybe

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you can. But if every student has a place

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corner of that school where they could feel like they belong and have a group

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of students and do that in a way that's not

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clickish though, where it's not like our group over here and your

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group over there, and all moving toward a

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more positive, more peaceful future together. That, to me,

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is what it's all about. Bishop, what are we learning

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here from Elia, fort Wayne and Peacemaker Academy, especially in

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terms of how this can be either an inspiration or a

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model for other United Methodist churches, our clergies, our community,

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because violence is not contained to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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We all know that, and not just the school systems there. So,

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Bishop, what do you think? Are some transferable principles or some lessons learned here that

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we can apply other places? Well, I think

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of some of the sayings of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of them

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being that progress does not roll in on the wheels of

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inevitability. It translated fort me is

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that if you don't do something, you can't expect things to get

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better. And what I give thanks to Timothy

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and Samantha and Angelo and a whole host of others that are

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not on this podcast today is they decided to

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do something and invest in it. Angelo could have brought the idea

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and no one signed up. It wouldn't have made

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a difference if students don't actually embrace it. So we've got

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to create the world that we want to have, the schools that we want to

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have, and it's not just on one person. It is,

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as Angelo said, clusters of people who can

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catch a vision and decide, well, I know one of the

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steps is you got to educate yourself and prepare yourself

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to do the work. So we really have to we have to create the world

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that we want to have. And I see that's part of what's happening.

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I want to do a little like a little game, if you will.

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It's not a game, but one word, and get

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reflections on it from Timothy and Samantha in particular. So

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here's the first one. Inner violence.

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When you hear that inner violence, these are things that I've heard said

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that are related to peacemaker. So what do you think

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about when you hear that inner violence? What is that? Go ahead,

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Timothy. Well, when I hear someone talk about inner violence, I think about

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the violence of the spirit, like what you're keeping inside, like something

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you're not talking about or the way you're feeling, and it's eating you

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up. If you keep your internal

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violence, if you keep letting yourself attack yourself,

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then you're going to unleash it and attack someone

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else. Has that been part of your experience? And do you think that's

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common with other students or younger people and they just never had

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of a chance or a place to really to share their. Stories or

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that definitely. Internal violence is a big part of my

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life, and I feel that it impacts other people because people

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don't like talking to Luther people. They think it's

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weak. So I feel like if people had something like this or. If people

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were able to talk to each other more, I feel like it would definitely help

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a lot. Samantha, interval.

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For me, I think it can come in many forms that could be

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trauma, mental illness, mental illness caused by trauma, really

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a lot of things that cause us to bring ourselves

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down. And in that, I feel like it brings out a lot of

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physical violence or outer violence that we project out. So I

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think that within at least my generation, I feel like, timothy,

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you'd probably agree inner violence is like, a really big reason for why

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we're violent externally. For me, I know I've

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experienced a lot of inner violence myself, and I

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think peacemakers has helped me work through that, but also to learn that I can't

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have that if I want to have external peace as well, which goes right

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along with I think it's principle five, I'm pretty sure.

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Yeah. So I think that when I think of inner violence, I just think

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of how we can fix that through peace circles,

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things like that, to kind of help us get through that. It's something that has

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to be worked through before we can have true peace. Well, let me throw another

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word, and Samantha, you can start and pass it to Angelo and

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then Timothy, forgiveness. What do you think about when you hear that

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word? Forgiveness? Yeah,

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I think that forgiveness does have to do with

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inner violence, because you can't really have that peace within yourself. If

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you're not going to forgive whoever has

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caused you harm in the past, it doesn't mean

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that you're condoning whatever's happened to you or whatever that person has done.

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It just means that you're going to accept that it happened and you're going to

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not really be angry anymore, and you're going to

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kind of find that it's more about finding peace within yourself. You're forgiving them

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for yourself rather than forgiving them for

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that person. It's not a gift you're giving to them. It's a gift you're giving

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to yourself. Yeah, I think it's

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something that you do for yourself, and I think that's one of the biggest

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misunderstandings that people have. They don't want to give that to somebody

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that's harmed them. But it's

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like Dr. Lafayette, who I learned nonviolence from, he said

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that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and

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expecting your enemy to die. But it's

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also a process and a resource that's really helpful. We teach this in the

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academy is Desmond Tutu's forgiveness? The first is to tell your

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story. That's number one. And then it's to name the

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harm. To consider forgiveness, and then to

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renew or release the relationship is the fourth step, but

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it's a process and the whole tell your story piece the first step. We had

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a whole exercise on that in the academy where

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after we asked, how have you been impacted by violence? We

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then had the students write a letter to

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the person that caused them harm, and it was just a journaling

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exercise. But being able to name the harm and tell your story

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is such an important part of that, what can be a really

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lengthy process depending on the severity of the issue.

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Thank you. Timothy. You hear the word forgiveness and we talk about wanting

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to be peacemaker. And Angelo talked

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about another student that they had to bring in to work out through something.

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Do you think about forgiveness? Is that something that

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we really don't pay attention to?

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Yeah, I feel like people take forgiveness for granted because

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they feel that they don't want to give the person.

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They don't want to give the person, make

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them feel good about themselves. They don't want that person

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to feel like everything okay, like they're good and

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happy and everything. But forgiveness isn't trying to

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make the person that you're forgiving feel better about themselves.

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Forgiveness is telling. It's like accepting that something

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happened and that you have no hate towards them. And it

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helps you because not forgiving someone eats you

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up inside and when you're holding something

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in, it doesn't feel good. It makes you angry because you're

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constantly thinking about it. But if you can forgive the person who's wronged

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you, it's like releasing a weight off your shoulders. Yeah. Brad, it's

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interesting because we pray that Lord's Prayer frequently. I wonder, do we really

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pay attention to that core statement, forgive us our

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trespasses or debtors or forgive us our trespasses as we

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forgive those who trespass against us? So forgiveness

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is kind of a core center to that

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prayer that Jesus taught as a model prayer. And

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I think that's an important aspect of that, just what angel said.

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But forgiveness is really for ourselves, it really is

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for others. Well, I think the flip side of that

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reflection, when we think about how others have

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harmed us is really doing some deep inner work,

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reflecting on the harm that we've caused others. They're

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part of it too. And as we do that, that's a really humbling journey

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because often we don't really sit with that,

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the harm that we've caused. And so that's a really important part of

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this process too. Yeah. Well, Bishop, this is a conversation that could go on and

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on and on, couldn't it? And it should go on. Right.

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But let's conclude with this thought. The theme of the

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Bishop's podcast is to be encouraged. So I just really

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would like to hear what's encouraging to all of us here to conclude

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with and Bishop, if you could conclude our time together here with you, what you're

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encouraged about in a prayer. So let's just start with

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Samantha. Samantha, what's one thing you are encouraged by as we

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conclude our conversation today? I think I'm encouraged just by the connection I have

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with all of the other peacemakers and how much I think that we're going to

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be able to do just in all of our planning that we've done over the

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last couple of days. That's what really encouraged me and makes me really

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excited for the future. Awesome. Timothy, how about you? What's something that encourages you

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today? I'm really just encouraged by the

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peacemakers in general. I'm encouraged that people can come together

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and work on making this world a better place. And I feel

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like the more peacemakers we can have together,

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the more better that the world can be. Angel, how

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about you? Something you would consider, something to be encouraged about?

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I'm deeply encouraged by these two. I'm deeply

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encouraged by all of the young people that we're working with, that we've

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worked walk alongside with over the past couple of years.

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Sometimes it looks like the world has fallen apart if you just get on social

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media and a lot of chaos, they give me hope.

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Dr. King says the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward

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justice. And sometimes we have to put ourselves around hopeful

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situations and people, young people, who

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are doing hopeful things, for us to be able to have the perspective to see

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that arc bending and then be part of it. And Bishop has said this

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before, we got to be arc benders.

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These two other students are bending that arc, and we get a

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front row seat. So that is deeply encouraging to me, knowing

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that they are doing the work that they're doing and knowing that there are young

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people all over our conference, all over the state, all over the country

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and world who are ready and willing to

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lead now. So that gives me

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a lot of hope and encouraged. That's awesome. Well, Bishop, before you give your

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final comments and your closing prayer, if you will, I just want to give my

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personal word of thanks to Angela and Samantha and

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Timothy from Alive, Fort

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Wayne and the Peacemaker Academy. They sacrifice

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important time in their schedule, their circle time, to

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be with us here today. And I want to give my personal thanks to them

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show that I am certainly encouraged by your work. So,

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Bishop, a final word that you are encouraged by. Maybe you can pray for everybody

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involved here, too. I'd be glad to. And I would just make

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an appeal to Angelo, Timothy, and Samantha that

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when this podcast is published, that you'll have an opportunity

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also to push it out and have people hear you on the

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podcast. We think it's part of leadership

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development as well, for people to

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see and experience us on different platforms. I'm

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paraphrasing a paragraph from

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where do we go from here? Chaos or community? Then I will close with

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the prayer, and I'm paraphrasing from Martin Luther King,

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Jr. On chaos or community.

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Peacemaker is not something that we

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find, but something we must create.

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Peace. What we find when we enter these mortal

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planes is existence. But existence

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is the raw material out of which all life must be created.

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Listen to this. A productive and happy life

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is not something that you find. It is something

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that you make. Let us pray.

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Loving God, for the gift of encouragement, we give

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you thanks and praise. And for these who have given

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up their time and their witness, Timothy Angelo

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Samantha, we ask your blessings. And upon all of the students

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who are participating this summer in the Peacemaking

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Academy in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And for others who

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may hear this podcast, who want to be encouraged

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and encouraged others in the work of

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peacemaking, we ask that you would grant us the

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power, the will and the fortitude to do one

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thing at a time, do small things

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with great joy. Bless us, O God, not that we might

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brag about our blessings, but that we might be instruments of

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your blessing, your instruments of your peace, your justice

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and your love. We pray this in Christ's name.

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Amen. Amen. And we thank you for

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joining us here today on the to be encouraged

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podcast with Bishop Julius C. Trimble. This is the podcast

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where we look to offer an encouraging word to an

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