Walk for Values touches the Heart of Toronto

Walk for Values touches the Heart of Toronto City revitalizes with the resurgence of values

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Over four thousand caring and responsible Toronto residents along with scores of Americans and a few Europeans put their best foot forward as they converged at Yonge-Dundas Square which is the heart of Toronto and then lovingly walked 2 ¼ Km in the prime streets through the downtown core, raising the level of human commitment towards universal human values of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non-Violence that transcend barriers of race, religion, culture and ethnicity. Apart from thousands of onlookers, tourists, drivers and shoppers, what a group of friends it drew! Barbara Robbins and her husband Bernie Michel along with friend Anjali DeSai drove all the way from Hartfort, Connecticut in the USA, as did Xavier Gomez, specially to join through the downtown core pledging self-transformation. Professor Anita Sankar from Buffalo, USA came with a bunch of friends and Miss Anita Perrson of Sweden flew in from Europe to walk through Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas area, hoping to learn how to organize a similar event in Sweden.

For the fifth year in a row, Toronto, the city that gave birth to the world’s most unique walkathon, rocked to the rhythm of righteousness on June 10, 2007 with the banner of the Sathya Sai School of Canada flying high.

For the complete article: http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_05/01JUL07/15-walkforvalues.htm

Some more abstracts from the article:

At the only walk of its kind in the world, participants neither pledged nor sought any monetary contributions. Instead, they had to introspect and pledge to improve an area of personal weakness, by promising to practice any one of the numerous universal values and their sub-values such as patience, caring, love, forgiveness, appreciation, gratitude, conservation, responsibility, discipline, better time management, self-esteem, acceptance, punctuality … you name it, you could pledge it.


The raison d'être behind this walk is that when individuals transform, families improve; when families work towards self-improvement, communities thrive and cities blossom and ultimately countries prosper in peace. The domino’s effect to transform the world starting with an individual effort has always been the underlying message of this walk. With each passing year, a growing number of political leaders, policy makers and community representatives have been participating in this event, expressing their admiration and appreciation for Baba’s teachings of human values and their universally appeal and relevance at all levels of human endeavours - personal, professional, community or government.

As always, the event was open to everyone - individuals, diverse faith groups, businesses, social and cultural clubs … as long as each participant committed to active self-transformation, leading to social improvement. One of the themes under spotlight this year was conservation of the environment.

A variety of food stalls, Food Bank collection booth, exhibits on Value Parenting, henna tattoos, handicrafts, face painting and games for children were part of the carnival that attracted large crowds. Over 18 community groups as well as students from several public schools in the York Region, including Middlefield Collegiate Institute and Cedarbrook Public School took part this year besides the large Sathya Sai School community, bringing the total number of active participants to well over 4000.