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news every day in school and college campuses across America. She was perturbed that the kids in US grow in an environment of violence everywhere such as; broken homes, violent games, sports and toys, violence in media and entertainment, alcohol and drugs etc. etc. She was begging that something must be done to teach about ahimsa in US schools. Out of our discussion, the idea of a Teachers for Ahimsa Program was conceived. Laura developed the full details of this program and in 2012, took 15 High School Teachers (from several schools in USA) to India for a 3 weeks hands on experiential base learning and training program in ahimsa. This program was jointly developed and administered by International School for Jain Studies. See www.isjs.in for details. So far, 65 teachers have gone through this program and the number of participants is increasing every year. In their own way, not only most of the teachers who attended this program adopted ahimsak way of life but also started changing the minds and behaviors of the young kids from violence to nonviolence. We realize that this a drop in an ocean but the 1000 miles jounrney always starts with the first step. Thank you Laura for becoming a role model and initiating a new paradigm shift.
JAINS DID NOT WALK AWAY FROM AHIMSA DURING THE PARTITION OF INDIA IN 1947
During the partition of India into East and West Pakistamn and India in 1947, many thousands of Jains too got trapped in East and West Pakistan where they had lived for centuries prior to the partition. Due to full-blown hatred and mistrust that had been politically and communally developed between Muslims and Hindus, the news of partition resulted in uncontrollable murder, looting, raping and burning everywhere. As a result, it became extremely dangerous for Jains also other communities) to migrate from Pakistan to India. Jains too got engulfed in this mayhem but even in those trying times and against many odds when there was nothing but violence all around, Jains did not compromise with or walk away from ahimsa. They did become victims of violence themselves but
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
