El día 30 de enero se conmemora la muerte del líder nacional y espiritual de la India, el Mahatma Gandhi, asesinado a tiros en 1948 por un fanático hinduista. Este día se celebra además el Día Escolar de la No-violencia y la Paz, School Day of Non-violence and Peace, una jornada seglar educativa de pacificación que pretende una reflexión personal que descubra el mensaje fundamental de que «el amor es mejor que el odio, la No-violencia mejor que la violencia y la paz mejor que la guerra».

The School Day of Non-violence and Peace (DENIP), founded by spanish educator and poet Llorenç Vidal in 1964, is a pioneering, non-state, non-governmental, non official, independent, free and voluntary initiative of Non-violent and Pacifying Education, which is now practised in schools all over the world and in which centres of education, teachers and students of all levels and from all countries are invited to take part.

It is observed on January 30 and thereabouts every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi. In countries with Southern Hemisphere calendars, it can be observed on March 30 and thereabouts.

Although the School Day of Non-violence and Peace is celebrated on a especific date (January 30th or around that date), its message must endure every day. It must shape all of our education and must guide all of our lives through our thoughts, our desires, our words and our actions, because the message of the «School Day of Non-violence and Peace», freely assumed according to the personal style of life of each person, can be a means for freeing man from the selfish slavery (environmental, corporal and mental) and a path for one’s progressive self-realization in an outlook of universal brotherhood. For this reason, the message of the School Day of Non-violence and Peace is a simple one that must reach all educational centers throughout the world.

‘TODAY, GOD, YOU CALLED AT MY DOOR’

Today, God, You called at my door.
I opened. Is it You?
You appear as an Indochinese child…
wounded by bombs,
with your slight, fearful face
hunger gripping your cheeks…

I doubted for a moment.

You transformed,
becoming a black child,
naked,
emaciated,
hungry and
thirsty for water and love.

In a flash, You turn into a nearby child,
with a soft look,
sparkling face,
combed,
satisfied,
with school on the corner,
well dressed,
with breakfast and vitamins always in easy reach.

Today, God, You called at my door.
I oppened. Is it You?
You appear as a child of the world,
wounded by bombs,
with your slight, fearful face
hunger gripping your cheeks…

Llorenç Vidal