By Matthew Bradley
Friends School Mullica Hill has recognized the United Nations International Day of Peace every year since its inception in 1981. The annual tradition continued this morning as students, faculty, and staff gathered in concentric circles around the Peace Pole outside of the Hanshi Deshbandhu Building on this clear September day.
First, I shared some thoughts about the Peace Pole itself, observing that it represents a value that is at the heart of our school and our wish for the world. The Peace Pole carries the message, “May Peace Prevail on Earth,” in nine languages. In addition to the languages we speak here at school, English and Spanish, some of the languages were selected because of their global reach: Arabic, Braille, Hebrew, Mandarin, and Swahili. The final two languages have particular meaning to FSMH: Hindi is the native language of Hanshi Deshbandhu, a long-time teacher and now trustee for whom one of our buildings is named, and Algonquin is the language group that includes the Lenni-Lenape, the original inhabitants of the land on which our school is located.
I asked the students to help me define two key words in the Peace Pole’s message. They told me that peace means being kind and helpful and prevail means to be victorious and to spread over the world. I thought these were pretty good definitions.
We call for peace to prevail on this day and every day because, unfortunately, it does not always exist and is too often threatened by other forces such as conflict, greed, and racism (the UN’s theme this year is End racism. Build peace.) At the end of the gathering we sang our traditional school song, Peace Will Come, which echoes the Peace Pole’s wish and implores, “We need peace; let it begin with me.”
But what can we – as individuals and as a small community – do to help peace prevail? How can we help build peace? One way to build peace is to build connections. If we know and understand each other, we have a better chance of resolving conflicts and creating a more peaceful world.
Partner classes will be building connections and spreading the call for peace by engaging in the Peace Rock Project. Younger students are painting river rocks with a base color and passing them on to their older partner class. The older students are reflecting on the query, “How can we build peace in our community?” and will add words or images to the rocks to illustrate the theme of building peace.
The partner classes will gather again on Friday morning to share the results of their work and to hold meeting for worship together. Following this week, the rocks will be placed around campus and in the surrounding community (in locations based on student suggestions) to be discovered and appreciated not just for their beauty but for their encouragement to build peace so that it may prevail in our community and on Earth.
Please enjoy this clip of our song: Peace Will Come
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