Raise a Peace Pole – La Casa de Maria – Santa Barbara, California – USA

September 21 Marks International Peace Day

Friday, September 19th, 2014

International Peace Day-September 21, is an annual occasion worth observing in several ways. One way is to gather around our local Peace Pole with people who care, as we do, about generating peace within and extending it beyond ourselves into the world.

One special local Peace Pole stands at La Casa de Maria, given by Jolene DeLisa, with whom I spoke in May.

Could you tell me about the reason you donated this Peace Pole to La Casa de Maria?

I found out about Peace Poles through Dave at Peace Pole Makers when we went to Russia in 1987 and planted a Peace Pole in Moscow. I had met Dave during the Great Peace March in 1986. This one at La Casa was dedicated in 1997 to commemorate my son’s 40th birthday. He was killed in Hawaii in a helicopter crash on September 11, 1991. He was my only son, my only close family. It’s a long story. I wrote about it in Unmasked.

What do you envision for the future, and how do you think we can get there?

Peace making is hard work. It happens one step at a time — just like we walked across America one step at a time [for peace]. It was a difficult journey, living in tents, walking for nine months. In Iowa it was 104 degrees. I was nearly 60 at the time. It was 3,701 miles from Los Angeles to New York to Washington D.C.

On September 21, please help celebrate International Peace Day by gathering with your friends around a Peace Pole in your community reciting the words, “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” One step at a time, we can make it happen.   Excerpt from interview given by:  Jacqueline Spoehel O’Connor