The sun was intense and the heat rising when we arrived at the Eisenhower Elementary School in Oklahoma City this morning. We were greeted by hundreds of children lining the long driveway holding up signs and artwork that they made in the theme of harmony.

Mrs. Angela Houston, the Principal, and Kelli Powelson, the music teacher and coordinator of the wonderful program that awaited us were excited that this moment had finally arrived. Needless to say, we were just as excited.

The choir sang a powerful and meaningful song called, ‘Proud’, which had a verse in it that went, “Billions of people living shoulder to shoulder, filling our planet, growing older and older. Watching the same sun, feeling the same wind blowing. We are different and yet we’re all the same. Billions of faces, billions of names; we’re magical. Like the snowflakes falling to the earth: individual.”

Some of the children read essays that they wrote on the theme of harmony as well.

One child wrote what harmony meant to her. One of the things she mentions is that “Harmony means love because when you love your family there is peace in the household and that is a good feeling.” Even at this young age she seemed to understand that world harmony starts in the individual and then the family as it spreads out into the world.

Following these thoughtful and meaningful creations we then sang the World Harmony Run song with the children accompanied by Kelli Powelson on the piano.

After some group photos, some of the children had a chance to run with the torch around the parking lot and felt what it was like to run for harmony.

Even in the heat, the Eisenhower School came through once again as it has many times in the past. We are grateful to Mrs. Houston and all the teachers, staff and children for such an exciting program and reception.

For us, the rest of the day included tasks such as picking up lunches kindly provided by Panera Bread. We are grateful to Lane, Jodie and especially Bobby for offering this great food to us.

By this time, still morning, the temperature was rising fast. It was now in the upper 80’s F, or over 30 C. By the time my team was running the temperature reached 99 F. By 6:00 pm it was 100 F on some thermometers. It is a bit unseasonably hot here for this time in the spring, but luckily it is quite dry which makes it easier to cool down. Lots of water is essential and some ice in the hat also helps to keep it safe to run in such heat. The torch flame adds a few degrees as well so we are always careful of cooling down between each leg of our runs.

Appoaching Dill City, we were pleasantly surprised to meet three young men, Sean and Sean (who are graduating from high school this week) and Brian (who works in the local oilfields). They stopped their truck to find out what we were doing and then ran with Francesco for a short while. Usually we run alone, so when we meet people who are inspired to run with us even for a short time, we are energized and our commitment renewed as we share the road to harmony with our new friends.

Soon after checking into the Holiday Inn in Elk City, where Anna and Bob have kindly offered rooms for us, some of us jumped into the beautiful swimming pool to cool down and to renew our weary legs. We will be running into Texas tomorrow and we know that the heat will follow us for some time now as we are also approaching some of the higher desserts of New Mexico and Arizona. Feeling harmony with nature and with nature’s conditions is also a challenge for us so we are now at a stage of learning some more valuable lessons of harmony, on the road, always moving forward and facing what may come our way.

Gratefully,

Arpan and Francesco (Amici)

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