FROM SHUMEI MAGAZINE, Vol. 240. JULY/AUGUST 2002

The Shumei Kids' Earth Charter 2002

The following charter was created over a one-year period by members of Shumei's Junior Group. The Junior Group is an assembly of grade school students who meet monthly at Shinji Shumeikai's International Headquarters in Misono, Japan. The four principles that the Group present in this document and the ways in which these principles can be implemented were entirely derived from discussions among the children in these monthly meetings. The Shumei Kid's Charter addresses the many ways in which very young people can promote peace, preserve the earth and our natural resources, and improve humankind's quality of life.

For a Beautiful Earth and World Peace

If we want world peace, we must value nature and all people. If we work together, we can make the earth a better, more beautiful, and cleaner place to live in and have world peace in our lifetime, too.

Here are four ways to do this that we can all follow:

I. Kindness

Kindness is being goodhearted to others, accepting them for who they are, and being grateful for all people. We can be kind by:

A. Thinking about others first;

B. Helping people who are in need, no matter how bad their troubles are;

C. Encouraging our friends;

D. Being respectful and helpful to our family, friends, and strangers;

E. Being truthful and keeping our promises.

II. World Peace

We can help make the world a place where everyone will work together and be friends. We can help make the world peaceful by:

A. Praying every day for world peace and harmony;

B. Valuing and caring for all living things;

C. Greeting people with a smile and being cheerful;

D. Treating others the way we like to be treated;

E. Talking with others about problems so that we can work them out together;

F. Treating everyone equally and with kindness.

III. Natural Agriculture

Nature is a gift from God and we will work hard to learn its ways and its needs. We can do this by:

A. Raising crops without using chemicals and speaking lovingly to plants because they have spirits, too;

B. Being grateful for the food we raise, remembering that how we feel affects our environment.

C. Being grateful when eating our food;

D. Sharing our food with friends and telling them about Natural Agriculture;

E. Offering to help grow crops the Natural Agriculture way.

IV. The Environment

We will work hard to save mankind and the environment by:

A. Being kind to the environment by not wrecking grass, flowers, and trees;

B. Keeping rivers and streams clean;

C. Not wasting water, food, gas, electricity, and paper and not buying things we do not need and cannot use;

D. Picking up litter and picking up after ourselves;

E. Recycling as much as we can.

We should tell everyone about the importance of peace and the value of life, especially those who come into the world after us.

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