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Senator Charles Schumer: 

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if every person who was faced with what Steven (McDonald) was faced with, had his reaction? 

I wish we could put everyone in New York, and everyone in America, and everyone in the world, in one giant football stadium and they could all just listen to what you have had the lucky privilege to hear.  Wouldn’t the world be a much better place?

In every part of the globe, every day there are tens of thousands of young women your age who are hurt by violence.  Sometimes it is someone they don’t know; sometimes it is someone they know.  And can you imagine, if everyone had the lessons Pastor Arnold teaches in his books?

Each of us has been given a gift.  A gift far more important than a gift wrapped in a package, a material gift with a ribbon.  We have been given some true knowledge.  And I hope for myself, and I hope and pray for everyone here, that that will make us a better person; each of us a better person as we go forward in life.”

Spoken by Senator Schumer after a Breaking the Cycle assembly at the Academy of Mount St Ursula in Bronx, NY on April 2, 2004

 

Who we are

Structured formally in 1999 as a response to Columbine, Breaking the Cycle provides dynamic assemblies on conflict resolution through forgiveness.  Assemblies address escalating school violence at its roots; bullying, peer pressure, suicidal isolation, racism and intolerance of others.  Our message is positive and universal – a direct appeal to young people to value their own lives and those of others.  Speakers focus on real-life experiences, honest communication and forgiveness as a way of resolving conflicts and easing the tensions that linger afterward.  They tell personal stories where the act of forgiving mitigated the cancer of hatred, setting the stage for positive change in their lives. more..