Last week, Guri and I were invited to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris for a conference with youth leaders from 193 countries!  It was a great opportunity to share some of our values.  In my talk, I focused on three key points ... 

First, a word that's not in dictionary: giftivism.  It is the practice of radical acts of generosity to change the world. Gandhi, Teresa, MLK, Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela all have one remarkable trait in common: generosity.  And in our era of the Internet, everything has been dis-intermediated, and our heroes are no exception.  Era of celebrity is over as we usher in the era of everyday Gandhis.

Second, youth are best equipped to do the impossible.  In 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in under 4 minutes, which was thought to be humanly impossible at the time. Over the next 3 years, 16 others broke the 4-minute mile.  Impossible became possible.  When we started ServiceSpace, we didn't know any better -- we stayed volunteer-run even when they said it'll be impossible for us to scale; we didn't fundraise even when they said it'll be impossible for us to sustain; we focused on small acts even when they said it'll be impossible to be efficient.  Being young, we weren't afraid of the impossible.  And today, ServiceSpace is a thriving ecosystem of 350,000 members with dozens of giftivism experiments.

Lots of young leaders ... Gigi Abraham, 24-year old Egyptian woman who featured on Time Magazine's cover as "one of the leaders of Tahrir Square";  Andres Villena who is the organizer of Spanish M15 movement with millions of members; Cesar Lopez from Colombia, who is famous for converting his AK-47 into a guitar and now uses music to spread peace; Felogene Anumo who is doing women's empowerment work in Kenya; Eduardo Paes, the young mayor of Rio de Janeiro.  Very inspiring to see the theme of the conference in action: "How Youth Drive Change."

Opening night is a musical called Peace Child.  There's a tradition in Papua New Guinea, where, to make peace, warring tribes would exchange a child. The children would grow up with the others' tribe and in the future, when conflict threatened again, the 'Peace Child' from each tribe was sent to negotiate. Inspired by that story, about 30 years ago, Peace Child International was formed to create engaging musicals by youth that started new conversations around peace and sustainability.  Very provactive and engaging!

Youth with disability bicycled from Belarus to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The 3,000 km ride was to promote 2012 para-olympics for people with limited abilities all around the world.  Second person from the right is blind and had to be led on by a friend to the stage -- hard to imagine doing a 3,000km journey. What an inspiring group!

Peace essay contest winner was a 10-year-old from Russia.  She looked adorable and so natural on stage.  Her opening remarks included, "It is interesting and significant that in the Russian language the two meanings -- 'the Universe, the whole world' and 'peace' -- are one and the same word.  I think we must remember that peace is not a gift for us. We must make it ourselves. I'll do my best to make the world peaceful forever. I won't let it be destroyed! I call on you dear people of Earth, to all do your best live in a peaceful world."

Got a chance to meet the founders of the remarkable Goi Peace Foundation.  Their mission is " to bring together people in wisdom, united in their hearts toward the common goal of peace on Earth. By encouraging public awareness of peace and by building cooperation among individuals and organizations in all fields, including education, science, culture and the arts, we aim to build an international peace network and to stimulate the global trend toward a culture of peace." How cool is that!

In the closing ceremony, everyone wrote "peace" in their language on a giant peace pole and offered it as a gift to UNESCO.  Then everyone went up on stage to with the flags of their country and celebrate in unison.  It was an energetic and vibrant feeling of peace.