Peace Week Delaware seeks 2022 peace pole site
Peace Week Delaware will be observed from Saturday, Oct. 8 through Sunday, Oct. 16.
When Peace Week Delaware started in 2016, organizers in Sussex County decided to plant a peace pole as part of the celebration, and the first was installed that year at CAMP Rehoboth on Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth Beach. Peace poles have been planted yearly ever since.
Since 2017, Peace Week Delaware Sussex County has supplied the poles and done the work of planting.
The Peace Pole idea was started in Japan by Masahisa Goi (1916-1980), who was greatly affected by the destruction caused by World War II and the atomic bombs that fell on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
His desire to assist in the creation of world peace was answered when in 1955, the message “May Peace Prevail On Earth” came to him in a moment of great inspiration and deep prayer.
Peace Week Delaware’s poles are made from white plastic 4-by-4-inch fence pole covers. In a variety of world languages, the sayings are printed on long-lasting decals and placed on all four sides. The many language options include Klingon for the sci-fi crowd.
Six poles have been planted to date, and organizers are looking for an organization or church willing to accept a seventh pole for Peace Week. The recipient chooses which of 82 available languages will be used.
In addition to CAMP Rehoboth, poles have been placed at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in historic Lewes, Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware west of Lewes, Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Mt. Calvary AME Church in Seaford and Seaside Jewish Community in Rehoboth Beach.
Planting peace poles with various languages provides daily reminders that the world needs peace.
To learn more, email Mac Goekler at macgoekler@uupmn.org and go to peaceweekdelaware.org and UUPMN.org.
