Molly

Peace Day
On September 21st, CAC celebrated peace day through many activities and demonstrations. The week of peace day, the international relations class met with a third grade class to learn about and discuss the dropping of the atomic bomb during World War Two. The international relations class informed the students on the history of the atomic bomb itself, as well as reasons they were used, and immediate and lasting effects of the bombing. The high school presentations were complimented by third grade presentations on __Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes__. This book, a story about a girl affected by the dropping of the atomic bomb years later, was touching and had an impact on students of all age groups. The book illustrates the effects of nuclear weapons to the third graders more vividly than any lecture could. The bombing and its effects became more real to the students and they better understood how serious an effort for peace is.



High school students at CAC dressed in white to show their support of peace and lined up on the field to form a giant human peace sign. It is in activities such as this that the want, need, and popular will for peace is evident. A vast majority of students participated in the dress up day and even more flocked to the field to be part of the photograph. This support by the student body gives us hope. If the majority of students on campus support peace, their ideas and philosophies can spread and become an attitude of society as a whole. Peace day this year was very successful and the support from the students themselves was inspiring.

Planting Seeds of Hope for the Future
The root of peace is a sense of understanding and community. World peace is a huge goal, and in order to meet it, small steps must be taken. The first of which is the establishment of understanding and communication within a small group. After this mutual bond has been established, it can then branch out from the affected individuals and, ideally, this new attitude will slowly spread itself and become a common attitude of mankind.

The opportunity to meet, socialize, and learn with the third grade class allowed for such an understanding to be reached, and friends to be made. Although it may seem a small difference to overcome, the ability to communicate with each other despite the age difference was a good opportunity to view the world from another perspective. While at first, it was difficult to try and prepare a presentation suitable to the age group, after a couple classes together, it was clear it wasn't so hard to communicate at all. In fact, by the end of it, high-schoolers and elementary students were talking as if they were equals. If such a will to understand and communicate were to reach the higher levels of politics and diplomacy, a huge difference would be seen in the condition of our world. Only through individual initiative and action can we change the course of mankind.

"Either war is obsolete or men are."

--R. Buckminster Fuller



Citations:
Banksy, "Always Hope." __Banksy__. 24 Sep 2007 <[|http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/images/landscapes/balloongirl_alwayshope.jpg.>] Banksy, "Flower Chucker." __Flower Chucker.__ 25 Sep 2007 [|] Fuller, R. Buckminster. "War & Peace Quotes." June 2005. 27 Sep 2007 .