Peace & Freedom Newsletter - December 2008

Dear Friend,

This newsletter completes the year. With a heart full of gratitude, I wrap up the year in a look back in review. Happy holidays to you. Trusting this year and upcoming years are all blessings for you.

~ Azim N. Khamisa

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

It is important to learn from and then let go of your failures to succeed. However it is far more important to let go of your successes if you want to change the world."

- Azim's Journal

Azim's Monthly Musings

A Holiday Message - Changing the World...

This early December day, I just returned from Memorial Middle School where I spoke to several hundred kids about nonviolence, peacemaking and making the right choices. As I write this year's message I am reminded of the real work: making a difference in the lives of our children. It's about helping make sure their trajectory into society is one in which they can grow and realize their worthy dreams and, in turn, make a positive contribution to our society.

It has indeed been an amazing year. There is a new day and much hope is present as we move into 2009. From the Olympics in Beijing, to a first African American President in a remarkable victory, through the worst financial crises in decades and the recent violence in Mumbai (my destination in a couple weeks). These are a few of the events of 2008 that are shaping our history and psyche.

There is a crisis indeed, but we can look to the Chinese emblem for crisis, which includes both the symbols of danger and opportunity. It will now depend on the choices we make in going forward whether we will create a better world or a more dangerous one. From our past choices and the history of the world there is plenty of evidence of what the right choices might look like. It has been clear to me that the work I am doing in memory of my son Tariq has never been more important than it is now. Simply stated, one such choice is teaching people to achieve peace through forgiveness. This is my real work and my ministry in all the work I do through TKF, CANEI and my extensive travel and speaking schedule. The year 2008 was another banner year with 60 plus venues including Australia, Canada and India following a very busy 2007 which took me to some 70 venues.

TKF has developed to become an important player in teaching the concepts of nonviolence and peacemaking in our nation and in the world. TKF has developed six award-winning programs in our schools and expanded its footprint from Kindergarten through high school. One of these programs teaches the same lessons to parents so that we can continue to support the choices of our children and youth in their homes. Up from four employees four years ago to 16 employees today, TKF is adding another 40 employees, and we are expanding out of San Diego and establishing presence in Escondido and Compton (a Los Angles suburb infested with gangs and violence).

A major accomplishment for TKF in 2008 was to land the AmericaCorp mentoring program, which brings in mentors to work one-on-one with high risk kids to teach TKF's core messages. It is essentially mentoring on steroids! TKF has successfully completed 13 years since its inception in 1995 and continues to reach tens of thousands of kids every year with our six key messages (viewed on the www.tkf.org website). Such messages promote peace in the lives of their families, their homes, their schools and their communities. TKF is effective in teaching these principles through our story and its programs. We are authentic in the delivery and role modeling the principles we teach. We absolutely walk our talk and talk our walk.

The purpose with all this work is simply to teach people how to achieve peace through forgiveness.

It has been my personal vision to teach TKF's six key messages to every classroom in the world, and with this year's expansion out of San Diego into other markets it is showing me hope that this indeed can happen in the ensuing future.

If you have not recently visited our website please do so at www.tkf.org or better still join us for a tour at the TKF offices. They run every month on the second Thursday evening from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. You can find the details on the website or by e-mailing me. All of this is possible because of a dedicated TKF team which includes our brilliant staff, our dedicated Board and committed volunteers, and the capable leadership of TKF's President Mark Fackler and Executive Director Lisa Grogan. This work would not be possible without the untiring work and passion of all of these wonderful souls, and I am eternally grateful to all of them for their significant contribution to the children and youth of our society.

CANEI - an intervention program I developed under the auspices of the National Youth Advocate Program based in Ohio - is now seven years old and has expanded into six different markets. This program targets violent youth, many in gangs, who have been arrested and are on probation. We are showing that they can experience a pronounced shift, just like the one experienced by Tony Hicks, the person who killed my son Tariq. Utilizing the pillars of Spirituality, Restorative Justice (detailed in my first book) and Literacy, CANEI transforms how we as a country treat our incarcerated and marginalized youth.

It breaks my heart to see these young souls warehoused in juvenile prisons in terrible conditions. These reformatories need to be healing places where inmates can be reformed and invited back to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Tony is a good example of this, and CANEI is creating many more good examples. For the juveniles in need, I have also expanded my speaking at juvenile prisons, bringing a message of hope and teaching the importance of self-forgiveness. This year my work brought Ples and me to address several juvenile prisoners in Sydney, Australia in an all day CANEI workshop with amazing results. These kids were so moved that over 30 of them asked to spend more time with us. Later I heard from the restorative justice specialist at the prison that all 30 had agreed to reach out to their victims and ask for their forgiveness. This is huge!

The process of self-forgiveness includes asking forgiveness from the people they have hurt, forgiving themselves and then redeeming themselves by helping another youth not make the same mistakes they have made. I truly believe these young souls can be saved and brought back into society as functioning and contributing adults. They have so much to offer.

At TKF we have several full time employees that are ex-gang members who have served time in prison. They are now giving back in a big way to help other kids from not making the same mistakes. CANEI also has the capacity to build empathy and compassion in caregivers so we can save our young souls from the fate of a life of crime. I am honored to be working with NYAP and its founder Mubarak Awad and its CEO Marvena Twigg. From them I have learned a lot regarding the myriad of challenges our children, youth and families face. In existence for 30 years, with 500 employees in seven states, NYAP is one of the prime providers of exemplary services for children, youth and families in our country. CANEI, like TKF, has a dedicated team of people. Under the capable leadership of Judy Strnad (Director of the CANEI program), CANEI brings untold passion to this important work positively impacting the under-served population and helping many kids turn around their lives in a remarkable way. This year CANEI won the National Award from the Council of Accreditation (a prime industry watchdog) under the category of the most promising program. Well done the dynamite team at CANEI!

Besides work with TKF and CANEI, I have also been doing a lot of writing, speaking and workshops, with the support and care of the magnificent ANK Enterprises team. In particular I would like to acknowledge Jennifer Geronimo who handles all of my speaking engagements with such grace and professionalism, and Jim Ellis who helps maintain my website and edits my newsletters and supports me in many other ways. Thank you Jennifer and Jim. I continue to keep an extremely busy speaking schedule with more than 60 venues this year including Australia, Canada and India.

The purpose with all this work is simply to teach people how to achieve peace through forgiveness. Finding peace one soul at a time. I do believe that enough forgiving people in the world can get us to the tipping point of abating violence and wars. I know through forgiveness I have been able to find peace as has my family and countless others who have read my books, heard me speak or attended my workshops. Peace for all of us is achievable, and I teach the process of forgiveness through my books, audio CDs, workshops and talks. These resources are available on my personal website. These books and tapes also make wonderful holiday gifts.

My third book "The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit - How to bounce back from Life's Hardest Hits" will be out on February 24, 2009. I am writing this book with Jillian Quinn, an author who lives in New York and teaches English Literature at the college level. As a minister, she is extremely familiar with A Course in Miracles and loves the topic of forgiveness. Jillian and I are very excited about this prescriptive book, which will be published by Random House. It has 30 chapters and teaches - in clear and practical terms - how to develop a bulletproof spirit and not only bounce back but end up on top from life's hardest hits. Watch out for it in the stores in your area and help get the word out. Jillian and I are committed to get this book on the New York Times bestseller list. With your help we can do that. In many ways, I feel this is the book that is going to heal many people especially after all the hard times we have all recently gone through. It is timely and we are in the process of developing a website for this book which will include many resources besides the book where people can go and find solutions to deal with life's hardships.

Much has been accomplished this year from the efforts discussed above. In addition, a National Broadcast of the TKF story was shown on NBC Nightly News under "Making a Difference"segment which was aired on NBC national and some international sites to some 12 million people July 2008. This footage can be seen at the www.tkf.org website. It is an amazing compact 2.5 minute piece that showcases the importance of this work and gave much credence to our work. In additionKen Kebow's Conflict, Unity and Love: The TKF Story will air nationally on PBS stations across the country.

Even with all the accomplishments, mine is but one story. There are many who have taken the compassionate high road to conflict and, in so doing, fostered peace within themselves first, their families next and broadly into society. As we go into the holidays let each one of us examine the conflicts in our own lives and reach out and mend all of these conflicts by forgiving those that have hurt us. Let us ask for forgiveness of the people we have hurt and remember to forgive ourselves as well.

There is conflict in most everyone's life, and these can be healed with the practice of forgiveness and self-forgiveness. This road will lead us eventually to peace, whereas responding to violence with violence perpetuates the cycle of violence, making our world unsafe for our children and grandchildren. You cannot destroy dark with dark. Only light can destroy dark. So during the holidays I invite you to shine your radiant light on some dark spots in your lives and heal them through the process of forgiveness. If you do not know how, there is plenty of help in my products whether you like to read, listen or attend workshops. I am here to help and support your journey in the hope that you will join me in creating a world of peace. I beelive it is doable, but it will take all of us to get there. We now do have leadership in place that gets this. Let us take advantage of this opportunity.

As depicted by the Chinese emblem - the opportunity is to motivate us to leave a better, safer and violence-free world for our children. It is our duty and our children's right. In the totem pole of humanity kids come first in my book.

Closing out this message on a personal note, my daughter Tasreen continues to provide loving full-time care to my two grandsons who bring an immense amount of happiness into my life. Shahinturned four this year and Khalil turned two. They both are doing extremely well, and I'm amazed at the intelligence of today's children. They also inspire me to continue the work we are doing to ensure that they grow up in a safer, kinder and a more peaceful world.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and support of this important work. Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, safe, joyous and a blessed Holiday Season!

Many Blessings,
Azim N. Khamisa

HOLIDAY SPECIALS AVAILABLE - DVDs and CDs

The Compilations Bring the Best of Azim's Talks
A Collage of Inspiration for the Gifts of the Season

TAPESTRY - AUDIO and DVD SERIES

Collecting his best audios and videos into special packages, watch or listen as Azim delivers the message of peace. For the video series, Azim delivers a keynote address for a large corporation, speaks before young adults at a Juvenile Hall, addresses an International Conference on Peace, and offers an introduction to the story behind TKF. For the audio series, Azim gives a one-on-one interview, delivers a keynote address and talks of his time with the Dalai Lama.

For Purchase, click HERE

FORGIVENESS BOOKS

Following up Azim's award-winning "From Murder to Forgiveness" published in 1998, the highly anticipated sequel "From Forgiveness to Fulfillment" was published November 2007. This is the exciting next chapter in the evolution of a man not only healing his heart but also helping to heal the wounds of a society.

Purchase the 2-Pack - Buy Both Books and Save!

- From Murder to Forgiveness - $19.95
- From Forgiveness to Fulfillment - 19.95
- Buy both for $29.95 and save!

Purchase online HERE.

UPDATE ON THIRD BOOK

Already, Azim Khamisa's third book "Bounce Back; The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit" - to be published February 2009 by Random House - is being promoted on Amazon. See more HERE