Encounters amazing,

Experiences dazzling –

Join the World Harmony Run

To embrace the world,

Not to shun.

Smiling faces,

Cheerful hearts –

A run not to compare with everyday races,

A harmony charge of a million watts!

***

Neither raging rain,

Nor altitude gain,

Nor scorching heat,

Nor defying headwind

Can stop us from accomplishing

The World Harmony Run feat!

Slava (Moldova)

Halfway to the Goal

The morning brought us closer to Boise from Mountain Home. The road between these two cities was a bit circuitous as we do not run on the more direct but dangerous Interstate highways.

Finally reaching Boise, we were welcomed by the Boys and Girls Club with an enthusiastic welcome as we ran into a big auditorium. Channel 7 (NBC) News was there to cover the excitement as well as the Idaho Statesman Newspaper.

Yowanna, a 14 year old runner from Mexico who now resides in Boise, carried the torch for a mile into the ceremony. As Morris and I ran with her I noticed that she was neither tired nor sweating after the mile run. Yowanna is only in Junior High School but has incredible endurance and potential to be an excellent long distance runner. Maybe she would be able to run on one of the future women’s team of the World Harmony Run.

We are very grateful to Sara Mitton, organizer of the event, and to the counselors, staff and all the children for such an exciting program. The B’hai Faith chapter in Boise with some people from other states including New Mexico also came to offer their goodwill with wonderful signs and posters that they made for us. These will also be part of our online gallery of art that we have collected from people, mostly children, all around the country.

In the early evening, one of the women’s teams ran into Oregon, beginning what will be almost ten days of running in this beautiful state. We were welcomed in Nyssa, Oregon by Mayor Susan Walker and her husband John, as well as six other women from the City Council and Chamber of Commerce. Linda Aman carried the torch into the parking lot of City Park with two of our runners, Maria and Svetlana. Maria describes the experience in her own words, “…with Svetlana we ran the last miles to the group waiting for us at the bank of the river in a little park. Nothing can replace the feeling of oneness and newness when you run into a group of people waiting for the Torch. I always feel that the World Harmony Run brings a new dream, a new hope in the people’s minds and hearts.”

The Mayor then presented us with a beautiful proclamation declaring June 14 as World Harmony Run Day in the City of Nyssa. This was a significant event for us also because it marks our halfway point in mileage, about 5,400 miles, that we have run since we began in New York on April 16. We are grateful to the people of Nyssa for making this point in our endeavor a very special one.

While we were being so warmly welcomed into Oregon in the early evening, two of the other teams of runners were being hosted for dinner and a function with the Boise Peace Quilt Project at the First Congregational Church in Boise. Linda Mercer had gathered about a dozen members together and arranged a potluck dinner for the runners.

According to the group’s web site, “The Peace Quilt Project stitched its first Quilt in 1981 as a friendship quilt for people of the former Soviet Union, linking people of rival nations and affirming our common humanity, taking a tangible step toward understanding and cooperation…..the Boise Peace Quilt Project exists to model, promote and inspire creative social action. Thorough consensus, we combine our individual talents to stitch cooperative quilts to honor peacemakers, move minds, and change hearts. We nurture a joyful, healthy community of mutual support consistent with the peaceful future we are building in our own lives and in the world.”

We are very grateful to Linda and all the members who have taught us how patience, perseverance over the years and dedicated action can go a long way in promoting harmony and friendship from all corners of the globe.

We wish to offer our sincere gratitude to the La Quinta Inn in Caldwell, ID for putting roof over our heads and a bed under our weary bodies.

Team Harmony

I come from a wealthy Philadelphia suburb, one of the quaint Main Line townships. As a child, I lived in a big house with a big yard. I never knew any of my neighbors. We lived on the same block for many years, but we rarely ever spoke.

I like the World Harmony Run because I run, live and play with people that I did not know before. We all have different personalities and “issues” but we have learned to appreciate each other in spite of our differences. I like to eat chocolate peppermint patty and jelly sandwiches and I didn’t like “Gladiator” but my teammates still like me in spite of my eccentricities.

Today we visited a group of middle-aged women called The Boise Peace Quilters . Since 1981, they have met in the basement of a Congregationalist church to make quilts that symbolize their aspirations for a better world. They invited us for dinner and they also prayed with us and shared the fascinating story of the growth and development of their wonderful little society.

What I missed growing up on the affluent Main Line I find in the World Harmony Run and I found among the Peace Quilters: community.

A community is not just a place where people meet to achieve some common goal. A community is where the community itself is the main goal. The sense of love and oneness is what makes it special. I do not know how to define a community more precisely than that. M. Scott Peck, the world-renowned writer, wrote a wonderful book called “A Different Drum: Community Making and Peace” which I highly recommend to all people interested in the inner structure and workings of authentic communities.

In the 1980’s, when tensions between the “Superpowers” ran high, the Peace Quilters networked with women in the Soviet Union to produce a quilt with them. The American women incorporated into their panels the likenesses of real American and Soviet school-children. The Soviet women designed the border, and also created a soulful prayer for peace in both Russian and English.

Over the years the women have created dozens of quilts. Each one takes at least one thousand hours of meticulous labor. This does not include the time and money they must spend in securing the materials, coming up with the design, or in publicizing their work. Perhaps ‘work’ is not the appropriate term. These quilts are monuments of love and ingenuity.

One of their Peace Quilts hangs in the United Nations Secretariat, and the women have lent their quilts to many museums for special exhibitions. They have created quilts dealing with many themes, from peace, to domestic violence to the need for more educational funding.

Running across the country is hard. As World Harmony Runners we face fatigue, stress and fickle weather. I have come to think of my teammates as my brothers and sisters, however, and the obstacles don’t seem so daunting in that context. I was happy to meet the Boise Peace Quilters. They spread peace and harmony into the world with their love of form and color and with their oneness and concern for each other. They strengthened my faith in the power and importance of community, and I will always be grateful to them for that.

Morris Klein

As fatigue builds up, the risk of injuries also increases. I started having an uncomfortable sensation in my left hip a few days ago which was interfering with my running. Fortunately, Dr. Dennis Downey (108 East Pine Street, Caldwell, Idaho 83605, tel. (208) 459-0858, fax (208) 459-0850), a Caldwell chiropractor for 23 years, was very kind to examine my hip and make the necessary adjustments at very short notice. Not only did he handle my case very professionally despite his other pending appointments, but also he did not charge for the service. Thank you Dr. Downey for your big heart and professionalism. Also, my thanks goes to Linda Henley, Dr. Downey’s assistant, for her great support. One thing strikes me as I was returning from Dr. Downey’s office: the Harmony Run is not just about us running; in fact, it’s about the whole of America running with us. Without the heartfelt support of all the great people we meet, this run would not be possible.

Slava

Moldova

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