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HOW THE ORIGINAL PeaceGlobe CAME INTO BEING
A. The Virtues Of Social Enterprise I have been actively involved in the introduction of new products for over 50 years, looking always for the ’homerun’ which I incorrectly defined as making money. Only recently have I realized that social enterprise, that activity of achieving good in the world while realizing a fair profit is where my energies should be. This journey of mine has resulted in what I believe is the perfect product; an item that combines beauty, education, function, and purpose, at a very appropriate price. The objective is to promote peace in the world, and my total belief is that display of the peace globe in either the home or office will contribute to its realization. We state this thought process in marketing terms……… B. Watching From The Safety Of The Sidelines I was born the very day that Hitler and the Nazi’s marched into Poland (August 30,1939) to start WW11. C. War Toys Like GI Joe Were Fantasy Play In Both Origin And Impact In looking back over my business career, my greatest regret was the merchandising of the original GI Joe 11-1/2” articulated action figure; it was a major innovation in 1964, selling a doll to a boy for the very first time. We actually prepared recruiting posters stating that “GI Joe Wants You.” We utilized actual wartime stock footage supplied by the Department of Defense, and the highest tested commercial of all time, “Jealousy,” D. Rooting For The Enemy I am a big movie buff, and the 1981 German film Das Boot, directed by Wolfgang Petersen really began to change my outlook, although still below my radar screen. |
E. My Take-Away From The World Trade Center Bombings My actual awakening occurred during the September 11th bombing of The World Trade Center, I had been in the building many times before, watching from across the river in I knew a handful of those that died, and also of a blind man from my town of Westfield, New Jersey, who went to work every day by train with his dog, who somehow made it 80 floors down to safety. This individualized approach to death through war, has also been continued into the Iraq War, where each name and picture of an American soldier killed is highlighted, again on a daily basis. This from my perspective is much more impactful than the macro numbers associated with a 12 page listing of wars and disasters by death that included: wars and armed conflicts, noncombatant deaths, genocide, man-made famines, and human sacrifice and ritual suicide. Here the death tolls range from 72,000,000 persons to 400,000 in the Darfur Conflict in 2003 alone. I also must say that when the Vietnam Memorial was finally completed in 1982, the listing of 58,195 names, one by one, is so powerful, that when one visits, one can’t help but touching the names, even of people that we know nothing about. F. The Very Large And Dedicated Peace Community During the past few years, I have become aware of the many good people dedicated to peace, and they are far from young angry restless types with nothing better to do. They are instead highly educated and motivated; belonging to G. The PeaceGlobe Is Magnificant In Its Majesty Starting in 2007, H. Wishing You A Life Of Peace And Love Thank you for visiting our site – www.peaceGlobes.com, and may your lives be full of peace and love…hopefully you will get started earlier in life than I did.
Respectfully Submitted |
Being Jewish, winning the war was absolutely essential, and for the first half of my life, I believed strongly in American power and influence, having first
grown-up on the romantic notion of the Wild West and the other fantasy heroes we visited in books, in movies, and on television – Gene Autry, Roy Rodgers, Davie Crockett, Randolph Scott, Hopalong Cassidy, Robin Hood, The Lone Ranger, Captain Video, Superman, Batman, and the list goes on and on!!! And yet, during Vietnam when I was age appropriate to serve, I instead enrolled in the Army reserves, leaving the combat fighting to others. We were after all serving, attending weekly meetings, two weeks in the summer, and six months of basic activity duty at nearby Fort Dix, but our primary purpose for joining was to avoid the dreaded draft.
communicated to the target audience that unless they collected every GI Joe toy offered, that their parents were not very caring. Hasbro, the maker – then called Hassenfeld Brothers – a privately held Jewish owned and wonderfully managed Company, was actually concerned with selling Nazi GI Joe soldiers…….what is a war without an enemy to play with? I actually attended a meeting where the chairman remarked that our biggest problem was a stock shortage of Nazi soldiers. When our Green Beret soldiers started to return home from the war in body bags, sales of the product declined dramatically. Clearly there is a relationship between the fantasy and real worlds, a lesson that I did not fully understand until many, many years later.
In this memorable film told in German with English subtitles, I found myself routing for the German sailors trapped under water in their submarine, rather than the Allied troops that had them trapped. The Germans were after all just like my fellow Americans, serving their country as best they could. For the first time in my life, I began to understand that war is totally unproductive, and should not be tolerated at any level, but I do however acknowledge that we have evil doers in the world who must be contained by the rest of us…the civilized world. One of our Founding Fathers, the 
great Benjamin Franklin said it best when, on September 11th of all days – but in the year 1783, that ‘Their Never Was a Good War Or A Bad Peace.” Still I remained on the sidelines, not protesting, because in the stands it was safe and comfortable, living the American dream – corporate tycoon, great marriage, fabulous kids, a dog, and a house with a swimming pool.
New Jersey on a picture perfect Fall day as the buildings looking small from a far tumbled to the ground. Rather than getting the culprits, which was how I generally behaved, I instead thought about the innocent victims, and how their promising lives were cut short, and the impact that one such life had on family, friends, and colleagues. The media was also very influential in reinforcing my new awareness of the utter stupidity of war, as the New York Times had daily pictures and biographies of the dead, and of course visiting the site and seeing all the pictures and flowers was both very emotional and disturbing. 
literally 1000’s of diverse peace groups, of all shades and sizes. The International Peace Symbol, first used in a London anti-nuclear protest in 1958 has become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world, appearing on a broad range of novelty, jewelry and apparel merchandise. Two significant books on the evolution of the symbol were published in 2008, marking its 50th anniversary of continuous and growing worldwide use.
I began to think about creating a significant and appropriate product to incorporate the symbol, and the result is The Original PeaceGlobe which is described in detail below. While the written description and pictures communicate the product, holding the crystal 3” diameter globe weighing approximately 1-1/2 pounds is a very special and powerful experience. The peace symbol actually appears to be floating inside the globe; its gift box is additionally a thing of beauty. 