Khaled skipped on his way to the computer lab. The shortcut avoided carts, donkeys and the smelly trucks of Khan
Younis refugee camp. He wove between Gaza’s tightly packed concrete shacks, shaving a good three minutes off
the normal route. He entered the lab and found his favorite computer. He smiled-- both the electricity and Internet
were on today! Unlike the other labs in the camp where his friends were entranced in multi-player shooter games, this
Internet cafe was different. He still remembered the day it had been first opened-- over three hundred people around
the world had donated to help make it happen. Khaled disregarded the war game icons on the desktop, opened his
Facebook account and loaded the 1Mandala 1Builder application.
Off the coast of Vancouver Island, Macy glowed. Around her were twelve flickering candles. She clasped her hands in
the ancient mudra hand gesture for gratitude. Her lover Mark positioned the camera. "Are you ready?" In reply Macy
closed her eyes imagining light and love emanating from her to the world. The camera shutter snapped. Macy opened
her eyes. "Beautiful my dear!" He handed her the camera. "Ok, now take let's another one! I've got my peace to share
too!"
In Dharamasala, Rikden logged into his 1Builder account. He noticed that his friend Khaled was already at work today
in Palestine. Rikden's account opened to show him today's portraits. A brilliant portrait from Vancouver appeared, a
woman surrounded by candles on the beach. A wave of warmth went through him. Rikden too had taken his portrait
with candles! The Facebook application let him position the portraits in the mandala geometric pattern where he
wanted. He would be sure to position this one and his together.
In Germany, Marion reviewed her camera's last few shots. What a great place to snap Peace Portraits, she thought to
herself. Russell would be proud. She remembered the day he had met the artist on his 1Journey and he explained the
portrait concept to her. She smiled. Around her, hundreds of smiling Germans composed the March for Peace as it
wound through the center of Berlin. A young man with a giant and colourful placard caught her eye. "Excuse me... Can
I take a photo of you smiling peace to the world?" In response he waved a dozen friends around him. "Fantastisch!"
Her shutter whirred as all they all held up one finger and yelled "Peace!" Maybe, just maybe, she thought to herself, this
one will make the 1Portrait of the Day.
As Khaled added the last of the portraits from the Berlin March to the 1Mandala pattern he smiled. What great
portraits! What rewarding work! The Facebook application distributed the daily donations by the amount of portraits
added by those with 1Builder accounts-- trained refugees in camps around the world . Today each of the portraits
Khaled had added were worth 8 cents. He did the math. It was a good days work! Boy did he love that new one that
had just came in from Berlin. He clicked a star beside the peace portrait.
In Buenos Aires, Genine looked at her inbox: 'Check out this great project! It was from her good friend Rafaella in Italy.
She opened the message and couldn't help but burst a smile herself. The 1Mandala logo caught her eye. "What Rafaella
is on to?" Clicking the link she was greeted by the featured 1Portrait of the Day-- a dozen beaming German men piled on
top each other, placards and peace signs surrounding them. She laughed out loud in delight. "I will be at the Global
Oneness Day march next week-- I could take a wonderful portrait there too!"
Back in India, Rikden checked his Inbox on the 1Mandala Co-Creative Community. His buddy Khaled had just forwarded
him a message: The 1Mandala Core Team was up to an exciting new 1Action! He clicked 'Tibetan' in the message to read
it in his own language-- the message had been translated into twenty different languages by the 1Mandala Translation
Team. The message announced a 1Action mobilization to bring an art project, books and a dozen computers to a school
in Kenya. The message had gone out to one hundred thousand of 1Mandala followers around the world. Amazingly,
in only three hours the 1200$ had been raised to make the social 1Action happen! Rikden looked around at the lab that
he sat in. It was the manifestation of a 1Action. On the far wall was the giant print of the mandala he had helped build
with his school with shells from the shore. The project had inspired the donations for the computers and resources
around him. A giant smile overcame him. He could already see the girls and boys in Africa creating a giant mandala and
making lots of portraits that would make co-creators all around the world smile.
The row of a hundred flags fluttered in the breeze. Far down below the crowd went silent as the little girl took the
scissors and snipped the rope. High up on the adjacent building's facade the giant scroll of white canvas trembled.
Everyone's eyes turned upwards. Suddenly in a smooth rush it rolled down-- like a giant golden lotus unfurling it's petals
in fast forward. As the full eight story art piece revealed itself there was a hush in the crowd. The faces of Rikden,
Marion, Rafaella, Macy, Mark, Khaled were united with tens of thousands more... as One.
2011 1Mandala