Reformers act in extraordinary way

By George Arende

Sometime in 1976, a mother walking along the streets of Belfast in company of her four children found herself in precarious life threatening situation. A car lost control and ran-over her children leaving them for dead. Only one of the four survived. The driver had been shot by soldiers and lost control of the car.

The event later became the cause of protests in Belfast, as the community gathered to mourn the lose of the children. The little known Mairead Maguire took it upon her shoulders, to mobilize rallies around Belfast which called for respect of human lives as sacred and precious.

Simple ACTIONS make a bigger difference

Actions to transform her situation in her little way, made Mairead Corrigan Maguire receive the coveted Nobel Peace Prize award in the same year. An award given only to individuals with extraordinary actions towards the betterment of humanity.

The South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu too, led several non-violent protests. He delivered fiery speeches and urged South Africans to employ peaceful actions and forgiveness during the apartheid era. His efforts to find non-violent solution to the conflicts over the policy of apartheid were recognized by the Nobel committee and was coveted with Nobel Prize in 1984. The late Prof. Wangari Maathai’s love for environment and fight for it, demonstrates yet another power in small but repeated actions. She championed the course of saving environment, not only in Kenya where she came from, but globally. Despite torture, plugging-out of her hair experiences ; she remained steadfast in conserving and saving the environment. Similar to other laureates before her, efforts to nurture and heal our wounded planet was rewarded in 2004 with Nobel prize.

The endless list of Laureates since 1901 demonstrates a single common denominator; passion and commitment to change and heal earth wounds, in our own little and simple ways.

Never late to do good

Albert Nobel was an inventor and a businessman born in Sweden in 1833. When he was thirty years old, he made his first inventions of dynamite (a kind of explosive made by his company called Nobel Company). Although dynamite has many peaceful uses, including digging tunnels, it was and is still used in warfare.  Alfred Nobel went on to become extremely wealthy by inventing and selling war materials, especially with a kind of smokeless gunpowder that made it easier for soldiers to see during battles.

In 1867, Nobel patented his dynamite discovery after making improvement on the blasting cap; which was ignited by lighting a fuse. Nobel died in 1895 and left behind nine million endowment fund.

According to the Nobel Peace prize committee when Nobel died, in 1895, his will came as quite a surprise. He left most of his vast fortune to pay for a group of prizes awarded every year. The prizes were to be given for achievements in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and the cause of peace. The first four prizes are awarded by a committee appointed by the Swedish parliament, and the peace prize is decided by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament.

According to Nobel’s will

“The prize for peace is awarded to a person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding of peace congresses.”

The award is sometimes given to an individual and sometimes to an organization.

As people of faith born of a ‘reformer’ (Martin Luther), desire to drive change is often over-shadowed with feeling of powerlessness. We encounter poverty, unemployment, diseases, changing environment and the list keep growing bigger and bigger.

The little change in our own little way build up to the bigger difference we should desire: To leave the world a better place than we found it.