The "Åland Islands"… "Islands of Peace"

[UPDATE: see below for a more accurate representation (I hope) of the islands. Hey… there’s a lot of Gulf of Bothnia (namely, water) between those islands! Thanks to HT from Finland for pointing this out]
Sometime today (6-11-12), I was “drawn” to look at the Clustermaps up there (upper right), and found a country code “AX”, which is Åland Islands. As I was looking at the WordPress record of the places that “hit” this blog, the Åland Islands showed 24 “hits” from over there since February, 25, 2012.
What struck me, when I looked at the Wikipedia reference, was their motto: “Islands of Peace”.


Perhaps that was why I was drawn there. Here is a quote from that Wiki page.

“The Åland Islands (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈoːland], Finnish: Ahvenanmaa) form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. They are situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and form an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland. The islands collectively constitute the smallest region of Finland, with only 0.49% of its land area, and 0.50% of its population.”

They are demilitarised, and “collectively constitute the smallest region of Finland”. So this small place, is mottoed “Islands of Peace”. Just that, to me, is an inspiration. For it is often from the smallest of places, people, and communities, that we receive the examples of who and what we can be.
Personally, I sense this is an indication that we are close to becoming a “Planet of Peace”. We may even call this Gaia planet, just as the Åland Islands do, an “Island of Peace”, amongst a Galaxy of Peace.

Aloha to all amongst Åland Islands who visit this blog. And Aloha to all of you, in Peace, for Peace.
[PS: if I’ve made any factual errors about the Åland Islands, please let me know in the comments below this]
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