Peace Poles in Chelan
Concie Luna, a tireless working member of Lake Chelan Rotary had a dream. That was to install a peace pole in the corner park built by Lake Chelan Rotary near the Safeway store at Columbia Street and the Manson Highway. She of course got all of her fellow Rotarians involved in the fundraising and installation of the pole. In her own words she describes this project:
Peace. Shalom. Namaste.
My name is Concie Luna and I want to be sure you are informed about and included in the Peace Pole project. You may already know about the idea. There is a lot of good information online. My interest began when I saw an invitation to a Peace Pole dedication in a Tri-Cities church bulletin. It was a simple six-sided wooden pole with the prayer “May Peace Prevail on Earth” inscribed in six different languages.
The idea started with Masahisa Goi a native of Japan who survived W. W. II and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His response to that horrific experience was to act on the belief that humankind should focus more on peace than on war. Mr. Goi erected the first Peace Pole in his native Japan in 1955. Soon, many others appeared across the country inscribed with the same hopeful prayer for all the earth. Peace Poles of various materials now stand in over 100,000 locations in over 190 countries in the world. The languages engraved differ, but the prayer remains the same: “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”
The Lake Chelan Valley will have its own Peace Pole this fall. Made from three pieces of Columnar basalt from the Waterville Plateau, it will carry the Peace Prayer in eight different languages: Arabic, English, Hebrew, Greek, Nsyilx’n (the language of the first peoples in the valley), Polish, Spanish, and Tibetan. The pocket park at the comer of Columbia and Manson Highway in Chelan is the location. The City of Chelan is doing the site preparation work. Funding for the project has come from Lake Chelan Rotary, the Lake Chelan Arts Council, checks from individual donors and pennies, nickles, and dimes from school age children.
A dedication ceremony is planned for November 16th at 11 :00 AM. Each of the languages engraved on the basalt will be read aloud. The speakers will each place a rounded fist-sized rock at the base of the columns. The intent is to symbolically join together to build the Peace Pole and share in offering the prayer for peace.
It would be an honor to have you join in that dedication. We would be pleased to have fl representative from your group repeat the prayer and place a stone. We will have some rounded river rock available at the site. You may choose to bring a rock from your own location as a more meaningful gesture.
I look forward to seeing you at the dedication.
On November 16, 2013 Concie’s dream came alive with the help of Rotary!
