The Power of Music in Healing and Peace

What is Your Greatest Accomplishment?

During your lifetime, what would you rank as your greatest accomplishment, your standout achievement?

During our global travels, we have found individuals whose lives are devoted to their families, themselves, or in selfless service to others. Some have discovered a way to balance those relationships in creative, satisfying ways.

Dan’s Story: Music as Healing

There is Dan, who carries his amp and guitar and sings to the homeless here in Honolulu. He brings fellowship and caring to strangers, who have lost loved ones and have become lost themselves. He brings them a spiritual love that transcends what would have been missed opportunities.

They were “once lost, now they are found.”

The Healing Power of Music

The power of music serves as a healing instrument. It can be heard at night on lonely dark streets. In the deafening silence of hospices, bringing calm, acceptance, and peace of mind or in the global arena, changing intransigent minds towards peaceful solutions.

My nonprofit, Destination Peace, has come across survivors from various cultures and oppressive situations who, despite enormous odds, escaped and started new lives.

A Lifelong Commitment to Purpose

When I got married 49 years ago, my compassionate girlfriend—then and still now—wanted to know if there was anything she should know about me!? I told her that if I didn’t accomplish something substantial during the day, I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. Now in my later years, in order to sleep well each night, I must know that today I took another step toward world peace.

What I learned from those blessed years is the reverse of a burning candle. Despite the inevitable deterioration of the mortal body, the inner eternal spark can grow into an all-consuming flame.

A Voice for Peace Through Music

I am not the first to discover the power of music to touch all hearts, regardless of religion or language. I was blessed with the gift of an emotive singing voice. After five decades of intensive voice training, I felt it my destiny to use my voice to reach out to the world through Destination Peace.

I know music alone cannot bring peace, nor can war or endless negotiations between people with conflicting views. However, music can shift focus from the differences that keep people apart toward a shared humanity.

My goal is simple: that our Destination Peace Anthem can serve as a unifying force, helping people transcend division.

I can never claim that Destination Peace is my greatest accomplishment because my voice and music are only one thread in the larger fabric of peace.

The Greatest Accomplishment: Saving Lives

My most important accomplishment in my professional career was saving young lives at risk for suicide.

I was the Team Coordinator at a New York City Child and Adolescent Day Hospital during the 1980s. There were teenagers that we worked with who had been sexually abused. There was a young female who for several years had been repeatedly raped by a close relative. After establishing a safe, therapeutic relationship, she surprised me when it was time for her treatment to end—she asked me to hug her goodbye.

At that moment, I could feel restorative trust entering her vulnerable body. It was a life-affirming moment, one that made me realize the profound healing power of genuine care and human connection.

A Call to Share Your Story

At Destination Peace, we believe in celebrating the moments that matter—acts of kindness, connections that heal, and the power of music to unite.

We invite you to share your greatest accomplishment with us.

Together, we will find our common purpose—with a song in our hearts.