Most Sacred Heart School students in Eureka created 400-plus pinwheels for a public display of peace and wishes to end world conflicts, in honor of International Day of World Peace on Friday, Sept. 21.
On Friday at 8:30 a.m., Most Sacred Heart art teacher Connie Bachmann, said students will exit the church and “plant” their pinwheels in the ground on the hill facing Interstate 44. "They will use the pinwheels to spell out the word PEACE. As the school places the pinwheels in the ground, they hope that all who pass by will see the pinwheels for peace and take a moment to work for peace in their own lives and in their communities."
She said a pinwheel celebrates something that is simple and childlike and innocent. The students drew pictures and wrote their wishes for peace on the pinwheels. For several afternoons, the eighth grade students spent hours after school assembling the pinwheels.
Bachmann said the pencils they are using for the pinwheels came from the U.S. Army. "When a recruiter heard what we were doing, he gave us hundreds of pencils. Even the army wants peace!"
“Pinwheels for Peace” was begun by two Florida art teachers, and has become an international event, said Bachmann.
From the originating teachers' website:
”In today’s world, peace needs to become more than just a word.
Today’s students are bombarded with television images, video games, and magazine articles/newspapers that give importance to conflict and war. Violence has become commonplace and accepted as part of our society and, for some students, it is a way of life. It is our hope that through the Pinwheels for Peace project, we can help the students make a public visual statement about their feelings about war/ peace/ tolerance/ cooperation/ harmony/ unity and, in some way, maybe, awaken the public and let them know what the next generation is thinking.
This is not political. Peace doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with the conflict of war, it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind. To each of us, peace can take on a different meaning, but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple definition: a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.”
