Inspiring News Articles
Excerpts of Highly Inspiring News Articles in Major Media
Below are one-paragraph excerpts of highly inspiring news articles from the major media. Links are provided to the original inspiring news articles on their media websites. If any link fails, read this webpage. The most inspiring news articles are listed first. You can also explore the news articles listed by order of the date posted. For an abundance of other highly inspiring material, see our Inspiring Resources page. May these inspiring news articles inspire us to find ever more ways to love and support each other and all around us to be the very best we can be.
In Colombia, compulsory military service has been a burden that generations of young men have had to face for more than 200 years. Since 1991, the Mennonite Christian Association for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action – Justapaz - has walked another path. We are a team that has been telling the country for more than three decades that young people were not born for war. That compulsory military service is not a patriotic duty, but an injustice. And, most importantly, that there is another way to serve the â€homeland'. At first, we campaigned for young people to have the right to conscientious objection. In 2016, we decided to go further: to work together with other social, youth and political organisations for the creation of the Social Service for Peace – an alternative service that trades weapons for tools and military discipline for social projects that transform lives. In 2024, our campaign was successful, and the service will be gradually implemented from 2025. Imagine this: instead of an 18-year-old learning to shoot a rifle, you see him teaching reading in a rural school. Instead of long days in barracks, you see him helping to build houses in a conflict-affected community. Instead of preparing his mind for war, you see him learning about human rights, about reconciliation, about how to heal wounds that are not just physical. That's Social Service for Peace. This programme is now codified in law.
Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.
