“May peace prevail on Earth.”
That message now links a new peace pole in Nelson with about 300,000 others worldwide.
The Nelson Daybreak Rotary unveiled its peace pole project at Lakeside Park on Sept. 21, the United Nations International Day of Peace.
The pole is located near the Lakeside Park ball fields.
Rotarians describe a peace pole as an internationally recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the human family.
Every peace pole carries the phrase ‘May peace prevail on Earth,’ inscribed in several languages, including the new one in Nelson.
Lorne Westnedge, former district governor for Rotary District 5080, led Sunday’s unveiling ceremony with a quote from a founding member of the Rotary Club’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council at Rotary International.
Westnedge said the planting of the pole is symbolic of a shared hope and commitment to a more peaceful world.
“These peace poles are a beautiful gesture, quiet monuments of intention placed in our communities to remind us and others of Rotary’s values. Peace is not passive. Peace is not symbolic. Peace is action.”
“Peace without justice is an illusion, and if we as Rotarians are truly committed to building peace, we must be willing to confront injustice wherever it lives – in oppressive regimes, in broken systems, in racial inequality, in gender-based violence and even in silence.”
Members of the local Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Doukhobor, Indigenous and Hindu communities attended Sunday’s event to celebrate the project’s completion. The pole carries the phrase “May peace prevail on Earth” in each of their languages.
Interact clubs at L.V. Rogers secondary and Trafalgar middle schools helped design the peace pole, with the City of Nelson providing its concrete base and Spearhead donating the materials and engineering support.
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