Milestones Commons
Welcome to Milestones Commons. Here you will find what others think and feel about Milestones. You’ll discover observations from all over the world about the project. And you’ll also discover a common, yet wonderful, theme running throughout all these reflections and testimonials.
We also invite you to share with us your observations and perspectives. The sharing and exchanging of thoughts and ideas is the first step to understanding. Tell us about the rituals, traditions and practices of your life. Your shared stories and traditions will help reveal and instill a greater appreciation for others. Contact us with your stories.
If you’re a professional or amateur photographer, we invite you to contact us to submit photographs that are appropriate for one of the Milestones photography categories. Your photograph(s) may be displayed on this web site. So please, be our guest and picture your work in the Guest Photographer Gallery.
Excerpts from the Milestones Project Book:
Hate, if not the basest of human emotions, is very close to the bottom of the list. There is nothing redeeming about it. It is just short of being inexcusable… We are entitled to our opinions, and they frequently will differ. This would be a dull world, indeed, if we all liked or disliked the same things… But hate is dislike turned rampant and violent. Hate slams the door on civilized behavior. It denies us the possibility of finding paths to mutual understanding among all peoples and creeds and thus to move toward a more tranquil and peaceful environment, which surely we all hope is the object of us all. It is not necessary to love thy neighbors. It is necessary to understand them.
As a society, we can make our world a better place. We must all roll up our sleeves and work individually and collectively to make this planet more livable. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our children. We owe it to humanity.
Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and all kinds of related intolerance . . . persist in the new century and their persistence is rooted in fear: fear of what is different, fear of the other, fear of the loss of personal security. We all constitute one human family. This truth has now become self-evident because of the first mapping of the human genome, an extraordinary achievement which not only reaffirms our common humanity but promises transformations in . . . the visions which our species can entertain for itself . . . And it could make the twenty-first century an era of genuine fulfillment and peace. The horrors of racism . . . are still with us in various forms. It is now time to confront them and to take comprehensive measures against them.
To change the world we must begin with children. This is as true for ending poverty as it is for ending the stereotypes that fuel hatred and violence. As the world searches for solutions to seemingly intractable problems, let’s draw on the inherent strengths of children. With their openness, selfishness, good sense, creativity, and unspoiled faith in the possibilities of life, they can certainly teach us much about ending the fears and stereotypes that divide us. Two children stood before the United Nations General Assembly… and explained that a world fit for children is a world fit for everyone. It is one form which the evils of discrimination have been purged, one in which all people ‘treat each other with dignity and respect’ and are ‘open and sensitive to our differences.’ No one can really say it better than that. Discrimination hurts everyone, those who discriminate and those discriminated against.
Thoughts on the Milestones Book:
Bravo to the Milestones Project on your beautiful book! Such delicious, engaging photographs – such exquisite presentation – I am honored to be among the circle of voices. You are doing important work.
Words will never do them justice. To appreciate what the Milestones Project is doing, you must see the pictures. You can feel your assumptions about race and nationalism slip away as you move from one loving, trusting, hopeful child’s face to another. Suddenly your urge to protect them – all of them – is profound.
Read more book reviews here.
For more info on the Milestones Project book, winner of the 2005 Notable Book Award from the Children’s Book Council and National Council for Social Studies, and how to purchase a copy click here.
Thoughts on the Milestones Project:
Two remarkable Coloradans, Richard and Michele Steckel, decided they’d had enough of the havoc and misery created by racial hatred. They started the Milestones Project with the goal of showing us how we are alike rather than different. They . . . traveled the world to photograph children of all races, religions and cultures at such shared milestones as the first tooth, first day of school, first friend, and first haircut. Millions of people worldwide have seen their beautiful photos in museums, airports and schools, awed by the reality that we have much more in common with those who are “different” than we might think.