In our Hawaiian tradition, we threw a flower lei into the Pacific Ocean to honor the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooting, which sadly happened due to the horrific violence of one individual on July 20, 2012. This senseless, brutal act killed 12 people and wounded 58.

As a writer, I have fought since my earliest childhood against violence, wars and brutality. Furthermore, I fight in all my literary works for human rights and against the senseless killing of innocent human beings. Any violence or any war merely brings meaningless suffering to humanity itself, and we have to begin to teach the new generations that any kind of violence and cruelty against fellow human beings or any living creatures on this planet are not acceptable in the 21st century. We urgently have to change our mindset and begin working toward lasting peace on this Earth. We have to come together in unity and make a firm pledge that violence must be stopped for the sake of the future generations.

I call upon all my fellow iReporters to join me in this fight against violence and dreadful wars around the globe. Let’s start a movement in every country not just to call for the end of all kinds of aggression, bloodshed and atrocious wars, but to educate the children of this world at a very early age that hatred and violence are totally wrong and unacceptable and do not have a place in any human society.

This movement should also include banning production of any kind of media that elevates violence to a heroic act. Unfortunately, in recent decades, improvements to video technology have made it possible to manufacture inhuman and horrifying movies and videos. These should be banned because many of them glorify violence in such a way that they cause deranged individuals to act out violently and then bask in their infamy. Therefore also the photos and the names of these persons should be barred from any media. The Aurora shooting was a cowardly act which senselessly wiped out 12 innocent and precious lives. The thoughts and prayers of those in Hawaii are with the victims and their families. God Bless them all. We should all pledge that this never will happen again. Thank you: PuakeaJutka

Photos: Jutka T. Emoke Barabas

Video: Allanah Adams and Jutka T. Emoke Barabas

I would like to also extend thanks to the kind visitors from Australia (Allanah Adamas) and California (Adam Venegas) who joined us in speaking out against violence. A big Mahalo to the local diver who was so as kind to throw the Hawaiian flower lei into the ocean. He retrieved the lei later, and we placed it on the corals on the shoreline of Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii. This way, our Hawaiian memorial did not cause any pollution in our fragile environment.