A Hug... A Weekend Start-up...May go a LONG WAY... This is the SEASON for PEACE...

The hug that Makes Sense...

             Changing the world with a hug…

The Hug

A 12-year-old black boy, tears streaming down his face, and a white police officer embrace in the middle of a demonstration in Portland, Oregon… in relation to Ferguson turmoil…

The boy: Devonte Hart… 12-year-old…crying… because of police brutality…

The police… asks why he is crying…and the black kid talks about police violence… The police responds… “Yes…” and sighs…and continues… “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”… and asks Devonte if he may have one of his hugs…

I am really exhausted by this side blaming the other side… and the other side blaming this side…

To reconcile is very easy… just stop the violence… and do not shoot unarmed people… They may be misguided… but they do not deserve to die…

Granted, policing is dangerous…and that comes with the job… a kick or a punch should not make police respond by lethal force… Gun culture must be changed in the U.S. and gun violence must yield to reconciliation and understanding and peace…

But the initiative MUST come from the more powerful… in this case the police…and the establishment… and the Big brothers…

Stop the chasing of more and more profit… and embrace sharing… with the people… and initiate a GROUP HUG… a PEOPLE’S HUG…

Do I?: Hart was holding a sign at the rally that read 'free hugs,' Barnum saw the boy and motioned him over. Barnum motioned toward the boy's sign and asked 'Do I get one of those?'

Devonte's parents were often surprised by his genuine acts of kindness including when he asked to spend his eleventh and twelfth birthdays raising money for charity

After all, good things come out of good will...

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Changing the world in a weekend…

A "Start-up Weekend..."

• Note: Start-up Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if their start-up ideas are viable.

 AN STARTUP WEEKEND ON THE TURKISH BORDER UNITES TWO COUNTRIES' ENTREPRENEURS

It's not unusual to encounter a “Startup Weekend” somewhere in the world. The trademarked event that brings together individuals eager to build and present it before a panel of entrepreneurship experts and investors is well known and widely replicated.

Yet, when a Start-up Weekend involves Armenia and Turkey, it is not business-as-usual… Yet such a weekend wa organized in November in Yerevan, Armenia…Global Entrepreneurship Week in Armenia collaborated to host Startup

Weekend Armenia-Turkey. It was the first Startup Weekend to involve entrepreneurs from two countries with no diplomatic relations. It was also a rare Startup Weekend to take place in two different cities.

Kicking off in Armenia's capital Yerevan, more than two-dozen men and women crowded into Elite Plaza, a sleek business center. The facilitators, Ece Idil Kasap and Emin Okutan, partners of the Turkish
accelerator Viveka, eased the crowd donned in black Startup Weekend t-shirts into the weekend's activities. It was a slow start, with more feet shuffling and hands in pockets.

Soon enough, however, the room started to buzz. Armenians and Turks broke into six mixed teams and began to work on developing their startup ideas. By the time pitches came around on Sunday afternoon in Gyumri - a city 75 miles northwest of Yerevan - new ventures, along with friendships, had been formed.

…and the rest are details….

The larger picture is that PEOPLE coming together can make ALL the difference and bridge the gap…

The centenary of the Armenian genocide is just a month away… and PEOPLE’S INITIATIVES MUST MULTIPLY…

Do not rely on the GREED soaked Big Brothers… start up PEOPLE’S INITIATIVES…

...But again... the initiative MUST be taken by the stronger side... The Turks should admit the reality of Genocide... and try to amend the past...

DENYING THE GENOCIDE WILL NOT HELP... IT WILL BE A NON-STARTER...

Check below

Erdogan can hide and can deny the Armenian Genocide… but not forever…

Check the photo behind… it is a painting by world famous Armenian painter… Hovhanness Aivazovzky…

The Turkish government cannot hide the truth forever… 

U.S.  Vice President, Birden and Turkish President, Erdogan

On the wall a painting of Armenian painter-Aivasovsky...

 The Truth can not be veiled forever...

The centenary of the Armenian Genocide is next year...

May be the Turkish Government will seize the opportunity and admit the Genocide...

May be the Turkish people will push their leaders to positive action...

After all the People is mightier than the greed of the Big brothers...