Eye - 13 September 2013

Jan Lethbridge reflects on Peace Poles

Every (Quaker) home should have one…

Our Friend Jan Lethbridge believes that ‘every Quaker home at least’ should follow the initiative taken by Pales Meeting.

She explains: ‘Earlier this summer a Peace Pole was installed at Pales Meeting house in Wales. The report in the Friend on 21 June struck a chord with us at Dumfries Meeting in Scotland: for the European base of the World Peace Prayer Society (WPPS), who produce the peace poles, is located in a small village a few miles outside Dumfries.

‘The WPPS was founded in Japan in 1955 by Masahisa Goi (1916-1980), a teacher, philosopher and poet who dedicated his life to peace and humanity in the wake of the second world war. The work of the WPPS is based upon, and radiates from, these words: “May Peace Prevail on Earth”, which came as a revelation to Masahisa Goi.

‘The work of WPPS, like the prayer, is all-inclusive, non-religious and non-political. An international organisation, it is recognised by the United Nations as a non-governmental organisation.

‘One might suppose that Quakers and the WPPS, sharing the commitment of world peace, would find themselves frequent bedfellows. In practice, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Sometimes we both attend the same events, such as having stalls at our local Environment Fair. But in many ways we hardly know each other. Perhaps this is because we do work in very different ways.

‘Flag ceremonies are an important characteristic of WPPS events. Each and every national flag is introduced in turn, and the prayer “May Peace Prevail in…” intoned by all present, before the flag is paraded around the venue. Each summer an international gathering is held at the WPPS base near Dumfries. The flag ceremony is central to the event. After a soaking last year, it was decided to hold the ceremony under cover, and I did remark at the time that it felt to me very much like a Yearly Meeting Gathering.

‘My son, who has attended a couple of WPPS events with me, was heard to mutter something about “…ageing hippies” in the nicest possible way, of course! And why not? Quakers must surely count many an ageing hippy in their own number.

‘The WPPS undertakes a lot of work in primary schools around the UK, promoting an ethos of peace within schools… In all their work they make prominent use of music, arts, crafts and nature – for example, there is an international children’s art competition.

‘And, of course, the Peace Pole project is an important and visible aspect of their work. Over 250,000 have now been planted around the world: from Newall Green (in Manchester) to Nepal and all points in between. I like to think that if Dumfries had a Meeting house, and if it had a garden, then we would have a Peace Pole there.

‘But, in the meantime, as you can see, the poles come in all sizes!’

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Comments

I’m happy to be entertaining Jez and Miranda

By matteo on 24th July 2009 - 11:53

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