A friend invited me to attend the Niagra Foundation Peace and Dialogue Awards dinner last week. The Niagra Foundation has its roots in Chicago and began in 1997 as an educational outreach by Turkish-American academicians and business men offering tutoring in areas of math and science. The Foundation has grown over the years and, in Ohio, joined with the Scioto Educational Foundation, founded in 2003, to extend its outreach in the Midwest.
Like Niagra Foundation, Scioto Foundation's primary mission is to promote global understanding through peaceful dialogue. Last week's dinner honored four central Ohioans and organizations for their commitment to community service, education, and global understanding. What better way to spend an evening than celebrating with a diverse group of people the ideals of acceptance, dialogue, and service?
These groups and this evening celebrated shared values that bind us all together. In a world that often focuses on differences, this celebration reminded us of the need to look instead at what makes human beings the same no matter their race, culture, or religion. The night's honorees were chosen for their work for the common good, whether through education, global awareness, community service, and leadership.
However, just as important as the awards was what happened around the tables and around the room that night. People of different nationalities, faith, and work talked, laughed and shared their stories. Professors, ministers, teachers, business people, office workers, and politicians shared food together.
As the evening came to an end, people reluctant to leave shared emails, phone numbers, and invitations for dinner at their homes. This was perhaps the greatest testimony to the success, step at a time, of these two Foundations. Coming as was said that night, from the heart of Turkey, they serve as an example to all of us of the possibilities that flow from commitment to understanding, acceptance, peace, and dialogue.