Dona Nobis Pacem

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower - 34th president of US 1953-1961 (1890 - 1969)

Dona Nobis Pacem - Give Us Peace. It's an interesting concept, isn't it? That people have the power to promote peace. That individuals, coming together as a unified voice, can bring about peace on earth. Is it possible? I like to think so. Today, bloggers all over the world are displaying their own peace globes, like mine above. Today, these bloggers have called their posts Dona Nobis Pacem. It is a cry, in a unified voice, for peace.

Allow me a moment to tell you about my peace globe. I received an email from Mimi about Blogblast for Peace a few days ago. I didn't know about this amazing effort until then, and I'm glad she told me about it. I went to the site to get a peace globe, intending to sign it and submit it like everyone else. However, when I copied the one I liked and signed it, I wasn't satisfied. I sat at my computer for a few long moments, contemplating what peace means to me, and what kind of message I could put on my globe to help promote world peace. World peace. Obviously, if I want to truly display a message of world peace, I would need to say it in languages other than English, so I searched for translations. I found a wonderful site, World Peace, that has the word peace translated into over 270 languages, including braille, morse code, American Sign Language, and.. if you can believe it... Klingon! I didn't include the Klingon translation on my peace globe, but I tried to represent as many different languages as I could. It became an obsession, really. I wanted it to look perfect, I wanted it to be just right. I'm pretty happy with the results, and I hope you enjoyed looking at it.

As you know, I usually don't get political here on this blog. I prefer to keep it light. However, I thought this was worth doing. So today, I raise my voice with the others and say "give us peace." I will end this post with some other voices and their thoughts on peace.

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.

- William Gladstone

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

- John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

- Thomas Jefferson

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa

And here are the peace globes from others throughout the blogosphere. Beautiful, aren't they?