“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”
Mohandas Gandhi
“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
Nelson Mandela
Original ink on paper study for
40 foot multimedia sculpture
We Will Build a Tree – Introduction
You step around the corner of a building, and you see it. You hold your daughter’s hand tighter as she gasps at the sight and giggles with joy. It is larger than you thought it would be, bigger than life. Its trunk stark black with flecks of light shining in the sun on its textured strength. Bright chalk white birds dance in the wind. There are hundreds of them it seems. You start forward, and your daughter pulls to race to touch it. You pick her up to slow the pace as you stroll forward. As you approach you can see the veiny, leafy texture of the birds and the sunlight glowing through them where their numbers are less dense. You crest the slight green grassy ridge to find a shallow stadium with three cool gray concentric rings of concrete at the tree’s base. Other people are already here, sitting on the stone circles around the tree.
Crossing over the outside circle, you sit down on the middle ring and let her go. She runs to the tree to touch it, you notice the black patina at the base of the trunk has been rubbed away by thousands of little hands and arms and cheeks. You smile as your daughter runs up and stops short, then slowly reaches out to touch the cool, rough surface, timidly exploring the grooves of the metal bark. She turns to you and smiles, and you gesture for her to join you. You share a snack as you sit on the cool smooth stone and gaze up at the tree from beneath, watching the birds sway and flutter in the breeze. You hear a slight tinkle as the birds touch in the wind, and you can see the trail of each gust as it pushes it’s path through them. From below, you can see they are connected to the branches by a thin rod that allows them their movement, and gives them the impression of leaping from their purch.
The hour comes, and it starts. Softly somewhere to your right high in the tree a bird calls out “Peace!” Another, closer to you and to the left returns the call at a slightly different pitch “Peace!” The call is returned again, this time more birds have joined in, from the right and left, and directly above you, “Peace!” “Peace!” “Peace!” More join. and more, and more. Your daughter starts to giggle and she calls out “PEACE!” The birds call and return in the wind, from all over the tree, their numbers growing by the second, growing in chorus, each bird its own note, until every voice calls out “PEACE!” “PEACE!” “PEACE!”
The tree and it’s branches are a stage, and as a choir the birds sing a hymn of peace, the melody familiar, the tones beautiful, the music transcendent. Their song fills you. “PEACE!” Their song calls to you, “PEACE!” It calls to your family, calls to your community, your country, your world. “PEACE!!” The birds reach a crescendo, and you realize you are holding your daughter tightly, and she is holding you with all the strength she has, all the strength of her love. As their song slowly subsides to silence, you come back to earth, to this tree, this symbol of life, this ancient giver of wisdom. You look at the people around you and you see their longing is your longing, in their eyes are your eyes, in their heart is your heart. A world that together can create peace.
Beside you is a small dome on the bench. There are three screens on the dome, and you push the button underneath the screen facing you. Somewhere in the world there is a person at a sister tree, looking back at you. You hold your daughter up and she says, “PEACE!” A smile breaks out across the face on the screen, thousands of miles away. This tree is a meeting place, it is connected to other trees like it around the world, where people have come to listen to its call. You look into the eyes of someone you have never met, but whom you know to be your family. You look at their face, and you say….
WORLD PEACE IN MY LIFETIME
While I am young enough to enjoy it. The goal is freedom. The goal is a world that works for everyone. As an Artist, my influences include Gandhi, Mandela, and King. As artists, we can create beauty, as an instrument to create the outcome: Peace.
Let us as artists be leaders in Peace, in our work, and in our words. This commitment comes as a result of my study of human psychology, behavioral, social, and biological. It comes from my study of human constructs, organization, religion, and economics. Above all, this commitment was honed in my study and practice of Transformation. In that practice, I learned it is only important what you are, what you are in this precious moment. I declare I am World Peace in My Lifetime.
“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