Queen Noor of Jordan: What keeps me awake at night is just, Am I makin...

As believers we all have an opportunity and moral obligation to recognize our spiritual common ground; to rise above our differences; to combat prejudice and intolerance.

Queen Noor of Jordan

spiritual god inspirational

War over water would be an ultimate obscenity. And yet, unfortunately it is conceivable... Water has been a source over so many years of erosion of confidence, of tension, of human rights abuses, really, of so many in areas whose traditional water supplies have been controlled and depleted by occupational authorities. That must stop if we're going to be able to develop a climate for peace.

Queen Noor of Jordan

erosion rights war

Today, there is no excuse for any one of us to sit back and go, "Ugh! There's nothing I can do about it."Because there is always something that can be done.

Queen Noor of Jordan

ugh done today

If we are to prosper together in our increasingly small world, we must listen to -- and learn from each other's stories

Queen Noor of Jordan

stories together world

In the poorest countries...it is women who are the key to breaking out of poverty...and preparing another generation for...leading their countries into real security.

Queen Noor of Jordan

keys real country

We can and must ensure the human rights of the displaced. That begins by making their voices heard.

Queen Noor of Jordan

voice rights heard

I had never imagined myself, nor aspired to be, a member of a royal family. I wanted to be in the Peace Corps, not a princess!

Queen Noor of Jordan

royal members princess

I've seen it around the world, in the poorest countries and in countries riven with conflict, It is women who are the key to breaking out of poverty, breaking out of stagnation. It's women who can contribute to achieving real security - not bombs and bullets and repressive governments.

Queen Noor of Jordan

keys real country

I don't think we've ever lived in such a dangerous time, on a range of different levels. We also live in an extremely exciting time with a multitude of opportunities for each and every one of us to engage our individual voices, to engage more effectively collectively, to tackle some of these issues that would have seemed beyond our reach just a few years ago.

Queen Noor of Jordan

opportunity years thinking

You can see that in people around the world who struggle to survive with little or nothing. Whether they've been inspired by faith or by loving relationships, or whether it's just something innate that gives them that ability to shine and inspire others.

Queen Noor of Jordan

struggle giving people

Everyone I knew, including my new friends in Jordan, expressed horror at the realities of the Holocaust. But they resented, as I was growing to, how Arabs were cast as the aggressors in the dispute between Israel and the Arab countries, when it was their land that had been seized to resolve a European political problem.

Queen Noor of Jordan

israel country reality

My early childhood was spent living by the Pacific Ocean. I carry with me something imprinted by that wide, limitless horizon, which I learned connected us to different people and cultures, including my own family's origins in the Arab World and Northern Europe. I understood early that my world was only a small part of a much larger one. That captivated me.

Queen Noor of Jordan

ocean europe people

The Koran says the killing of an innocent, the taking of an innocent life, is tantamount to killing all of mankind.

Queen Noor of Jordan

innocent killing life-is

We develop our beautiful planet in such a way that we brush aside the species... we risk creating a wasteland, where our aspirations will ultimately wither and die

Queen Noor of Jordan

creating risk beautiful

A more just world is possible.

Queen Noor of Jordan

world

The sheer folly of trying to defend a nation by destroying all life on the planet must be apparent to anyone capable of rational thought. Nuclear capability must be reduced to zero, globally, permanently. There is no other option.

Queen Noor of Jordan

nuclear zero trying

One thing that keeps me awake at night: I am a mother and, I have to confess with great delight, a grandmother of five girls, which gives me great hope for the future - girl power! Can I say that without alienating all of the men?

Queen Noor of Jordan

girl mother night

There were initiatives I have remained involved with in the U.S. and in the Middle East, like the Peace Corps, which might be summed up as, "Ask not that the world serve you, but ask what you can do to serve the world."

Queen Noor of Jordan

middle-east might world

I join all of you who are advocates telling others that they can improve their lives and the quality of their lives and others by taking a few moments, breathing, and allowing one's whole being to become a vessel for positivity.

Queen Noor of Jordan

breathing positivity quality

I work out on almost a daily basis wherever I am, but yoga brings into that equation something that is ideal for me to maintain a physical and emotional and mental kind of balance, and to stay healthy - I see it as a way of investing in my future.

Queen Noor of Jordan

work-out emotional yoga

What keeps me awake at night is just, Am I making the best use of the time that remains for me, to both be as good an example as I can in my own daily life, and as compelling as possible a voice for the ways in which we can all work together to tackle these issues.