Celebrate International Day of Families with Love

Today is the International Day of Families! You know, our family members like our parents, siblings, and relatives are the most important people to us. Family can also include anybody who is important to us, people who care about us, people who love us, and people we love. Our beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke about how peace in the family is connected with peace in the world. “If a family is stable, and the parents are setting good virtuous examples, the children definitely would not grow up to become bad people. Even if there are exceptions, they are very few. They won't fall to a very bad level. World peace originated from peace in the family. In Chinese we say, cultivate ourselves, harmonize the family, govern the country, and pacify the world. We contribute our best quality to society and family. By offering the best to our family, we are offering the best to society and to the world.”

So, to celebrate International Day of Families, would you like to learn how to make some crafty gifts for your family? We will use recycled materials and turn something old and useless into something beautiful and useful. That way we have less things going to the trash that pollute our planet. You won’t even have to spend more money on new things either. First, let’s learn how to make a piece of art to hang on the wall. We need toilet paper rolls, a large piece of cardboard, glitter, green and brown paint, a ruler and some glue. Following the lines, cut the roll. Glue 5 of the glittered pieces together to make one flower. Finally, apply the varnish to the inside of the petals, sprinkle glitter to the insides of the petals. The next thing we will learn to make is a storage box. How about a pen holder for your brother?

The International Day of Families is another chance for us to express our love for our close ones. Who knows? Maybe we can make a difference in the world too, like Supreme Master Ching Hai told us. “If everyone fulfills their responsibility, like parents are very protective to their children, and children are very filial to the elders, then the world will become peaceful. Everything comes from family. Consequently, the natural disasters and wars will become less and less.”