Deacon Steve Herrera, who teaches Religious and Ethnic Studies courses at Archbishop Mitty High in San Jose, California invited Staff Members Abigail Nathanson and Robyn Wilson to give a talk to his class on November 11th, 2009.
Every year, Steve Herrera coordinates a Mexico Immersion and Justice Trips in conjunction with the Shinnyo-en Foundation. These trips take Junior Young Adults from the Shinnyo-en order along with teenagers from the Catholic Diocese of San Jose, California to work in harmony on a community-based project in areas where poverty or strife has occurred.
Shinnyo-en Foundation Staff members went to offer the perspective of the Shinnyo-en Buddhist philosophy as well as the Six Billion Paths to Peace Initiative to the seniors in both of Steve Herrera’s classes. The Students first watched the video, A King Day of Service, which encourages young people to spread community service across the globe. It also encouraged people from different backgrounds and religions to have harmony with one another.
Staff members then led the class in a group meditation where the students were asked to realize something about their hands as a connection between their past and what they could do in the future. Afterwards, the students were asked to pick a card with different values printed on them, such as creativity and joy. Once they had chosen individual values, the students where moved to six person groups where they had to choose a common value that the small group felt best represented them. From there, the greater class chose a value that the students felt best described their common goals or intents.
Class 1 chose Friendship as their common value and vowed to try and reach others as a means to their paths to peace. Class 2 wavered between Peace and Honesty as their common value and their path to peace.
All high school seniors left the class with the commitment to carrying out their common value to bring about more peace in the community, and the enthusiasm of the youth was palpable as the class ended with the handing out of Six Billion Paths to Peace T-shirts.
