No, I'm not leaving Huffington Post. But I am leaving my job with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation which inspired many a post. So I wanted to share this with the HuffPost community.
I know some readers don't agree with the multilateral, phased and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons -- or feel it is impossible to achieve and so abandon hope. But many who visit the pages of the Huffington Post do support a world free of nuclear weapons. To those people and any one who acts to protect and sustain our beautiful planet, I want to express my deep and profound appreciation. -- Steven
Dear Friends,
I am writing to say thank you and farewell.
I offer my thanks because of your support for the educational work necessary to seek a world free of nuclear weapons.
I say farewell because my time working with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has run its course.
As Director of Development and Public Affairs for the Foundation over the last three years, I've witnessed the tripling of our membership to more than 34,000, the rapid growth of our Peace Leadership Program and our Action Alert Network, the creative leaps we have made in communicating through video and on the web, and most especially, the remarkable generosity of the foundation's supporters.
Peace is a team effort. And each of you has been my teammate. I am very grateful for your dedication, your work and your vision of a just peace in a world without weapons of mass destruction.
I am leaving the foundation to follow a dream. I will create legacy books for individuals, families and organizations so that life stories and histories can be saved for future generations. (The book I wrote about my father is one example of this work.)
I believe one of the most important things we can do is to sustain (and celebrate) the cycle of life. That's why the abolition of nuclear weapons is imperative.
Everyday life in a peaceful world is beautiful:
· A grandparent listening to a child
· A backyard gardener planting seeds
· A parent not only bringing home the bacon (or the eggplant), but cooking it.
· Friends going for a walk on a summer's evening as the heat of the day slowly eases
These ordinary things -- like so many other ordinary things -- are precious. By working to rid the world of nuclear weapons, we do more than remove an existential threat; we stand up for everyone's right to enjoy their lives.
We stand up for cooperation, negotiation and international understanding as templates for getting things done in the world.
We say our ancestors deserve descendants, and those descendants deserve descendants, and so on and so on as far as we can imagine.
We seek a sustainable future for all and for all time.
I will continue to work with the foundation but as a volunteer now. In fact, I will act as Master of Ceremonies for the foundation's 27th Annual Evening for Peace on October 29th, honoring Rev. James Lawson and Prof. Glenn Paige. Please join us if you can.
Our work requires patience and persistence. I ask you to continue to supply us with both those qualities. We depend on you.
I wish you joy, appreciation and peace.
I leave you with this poem, written by me and dedicated to you:
I
A prayer.
May we change like the water,
Receive like the earth,
Wander like the wind,
Nurture like the light.
II
Let our eyes open our hearts.
Let us get the knack of freedom
By being aware.
III
The art of the heart
Dwells in the everyday:
How freshly,
How keenly,
How compassionately we perceive.
IV
Be still.
Listen.
The listening is the singing.
And life is the song.
The most beautiful one I know,
The sound of your breathing.