There’s a new sign-post at Southold Town Hall, and it’s leading the way toward peace.
Just to the left of the entrance to Town Hall, you may notice a new white post, just a bit higher than you are tall, covered with words in eight languages that have significance for the East End community.
“May Peace Prevail On Earth,” it reads, in English, Spanish, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Polish, Ukranian and Mohawk.
The post was placed at Town Hall by the Greenport Ecumenical Ministries (GEM) in a ceremony Sept. 24, but its origins span the globe, dating to the United Nations’ first International Day of Peace, 25 years ago.
“This day epitomizes our joint aspirations for a world devoid of discord and turmoil,” said GEM President Don Russo at the dedication ceremony. “A peace pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family.”
Peace poles are found in more than 250,000 locations across the globe, including at the magnetic North Pole, the Egyptian pyramids at Giza and at the memorial to the victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan.
But, you might ask, what is a peace pole doing on the front lawn of the Southold Town Hall?
Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski had the same thought when GEM first brought the idea to the Town Board earlier this year.
“When you first came in, I thought ‘why do we need a peace pole?’ but if you ever turn on the news during the day, you realize that we need more peace poles throughout the whole world,” said Town Supervisor Al Krupski at the dedication. “We certainly need it in our nation, we need it in our communities and we need it in our hearts.
The multi-generational ceremony was highlighted by the participation of Greenport High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, which presented the colors before joining with the Greenport High School a cappella chorus in fine-tuned harmony to sing the Star Spangled Banner.
We are at a pivotal moment in the history of the United States, with much of its future dependent on the results of the November presidential election, and while all this may seem far removed from Southold, the pole, with its stark and urgent message, is a reminder of what we all can do to build a more peaceful world.
“There’s a need for all of us to do all we can to break the cycle of evil, the trifecta of fear, hate and violence, each one leading to the next,” said Dr. Russo. “If it’s borne in the minds of human beings that plan the destructiveness of hatred, discontent and war, then it should be in the minds of humans that they create the conditions for peace.”
“As hate and bigotry begin on a personal level, in our own personal world, perhaps we can do something to counter the weapon that has killed and wounded more people in human history than all the guns used in our streets or in all the wars. That weapon is our tongues,” he added. “It’s our speech that can instill fear, which leads to hatred, which results in violence. It is our hope that each day we examine how we have fared with that task. Those same tongues can bless, thank and heal. It is the dignity of each human being and the common good that should unite us, and we as a people must heal the wounds we encounter, as an initial way to establishing peace in our own world first.”
Rev. Dr. Ann Van Cleef, vice president of GEM and the retired pastor of the Orient Congregational Church, then led the crowd of clergy, civic leaders and government employees, including new Southold Town Police Chief Steven Grattan, in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
“This is our beloved community, and I want to make sure we’re, in this moment, seeing how we can work together and support one another and love one another,” said Town Councilman Brian Mealy, who read an acknowledgement of the native history of the land on which the group was standing. “This is how we can increase the peace. When everything else has strife and war, in Southold we can try to strive to increase the peace in our community.”
“I am a descendent of First Nation people, African people and European people, and I’m just glad that background fits in this moment of trying to make peace among all those types of people,” he added.
Town Councilwoman Anne Smith, a former Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Superintendent, added that “words have power and images have meaning.”
“When the United Nations acknowledges the International Day of Peace, with all of the conflict in our world, and we in Southold Town can take a stand for respect, dignity, inclusiveness and our strength with community connections, it is a special moment,” she added. “We work to protect our water and our land, and today we work to protect our community. We are a community that respects our connections and commits to honoring the concept of ‘let peace prevail on earth,’ starting with each of us.”
In his broad-ranging invocation, Rev. Peter Kelly of Southold’s First Presbyterian Church, acknowledged the challenges of this moment.
“God of all seasons and of all people, may we be lifted into a new season and a new way of being in your world, a world without school shootings, a world without war and conflict, where too many children are buried as a result of violence, and the violence of hunger,” he intoned. “A world without corruption of elections or traumatic transfers of power. A world where desperation is not created to the point of needless deaths. May it be a world free of those who believe there can be reconciliation without justice, justice without understanding, understanding without standing in the shoes of another, standing without being still. May we be prompted in these times to be more expansive and more inclusive as we accept responsibility to make peace more visible through gracious generosity, empathy, compassion and understanding. May this symbol we dedicate today become a reminder of a new way of being in the world. This is our prayer.”
