Generation Peace: Optimism justified; Potential unbound
Findings of the Shinnyo-en Foundation’s
Generation Peace Survey and Forum
on Peace through Community Service
Can an emerging generation redefine peace, and in the process, help the world achieve it?
In February 2008 the Shinnyo-en Foundation wanted to find out. It commissioned Opinion Research Corporation to conduct a survey of 1786 men and women throughout the United States to gauge generational attitudes and aspirations toward personal harmony and community service.
A secular foundation established in San Francisco 14 years ago by an international Buddhist order, the Shinnyo-en Foundation supports education programs that encourage young people to perform meaningful acts of service in their communities — however large or small they choose to define that community, and however large or small that act of service may be. The Foundation recognizes the power of the small step in creating a larger world harmony.
By supporting and encouraging the younger generation in this way, the Foundation seeks to promote harmony and peace. “Peace” is defined not as the absence of war, but in a broader sense of the presence of harmony in one’s life and one’s world.
The Generation Peace Survey
The Generation Peace Forum
Theme One: Generation Peace is interconnected, creative, and powerful
Theme Two: “Community” is being redefined
Theme Three: Helping can be a habit; engaging has never been easier
Theme Four: “Networked individualism” can be a catalyst for change
Theme Five: Boomers and Generation Peace are uniquely bonded
Theme Six: Explosive choices can be daunting, but accelerate “rites of passage”
Theme Seven: 9/11 gave Generation Peace its touchstone
Conclusions: Optimism justified; potential unbound
Appendix
About the Shinnyo-en Foundation
Profiles of Generation Peace Forum participants
Survey Findings in Detail
Generation Peace Survey Research Methods
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