By Daily Press Staff
On Nov. 23, in a spirit of unprecedented solidarity, thousands of people around the world are expected to make a sound at the same time. It may be a song, a prayer, a drum, a honking horn or a ringing of a bell. The purpose is to demonstrate that human beings are one people in the world.
Citizens of Senegal, Australia, Spain, Britain, Switzerland, Brazil, the United States, Ecuador, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, New Zealand, France, Pakistan and India have been approached to take part in the first-time event. Several news organizations around the world are covering the event, including the BBC.
“A joyful noise will radiate from people everywhere on the planet at once,” said Roberta Raye, one of the Los Angeles-based organizers of the World Healing Celebration. “We cannot, and need not, stand alone.”
In the wave of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks and countless other conflicts still happening around the globe, many people feel isolated, fearful and helpless, said Raye. The World Healing Celebration, a non-political, non-religious event, is designed to remind people that they have the power to generate a sense of connection with their own communities, and by extension, with the rest of the planet, she added.
Organizers are inviting people to stage their own events and to spread the word via telephone, the Internet and the airwaves.
“Make sure everyone comes to this party,” Raye said. “It’s a chance to bring the spirit of Thanksgiving out of our personal circles an share it with everybody, everywhere.”
For more information, visit the event’s Web site at www.worldhealingcelebration.org.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 15, 2001. Read the original PDF.