Global Peace Walk '95 is a prayer for peace

Dayton Daily News

Dayton, Ohio

early February 1995 (exact date not known)

[photo, not shown here, captioned:]

Peace walk: Members of the Global Peace Walk '95 cast shadows in the warm sun along Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Saturday on their way to Eaton. -- Jim Rutledge/Dayton Daily News

Global Peace Walk '95 is a prayer for peace

By Cathy Mong
Dayton Daily News

"Ohio" the puppy is a survivor. His eyes haven't opened yet, but the 20 or so members of the United Nations Global Peace Walk have no doubt he's going to make it.

They're not so sure about Mother Earth.

The pup's mother and litter mates were stoned to death in Columbus, and someone offered the pup to the group.

Earth is being pummeled as well, they say, and its inhabitants had better open their eyes to the consequences before it is too late.

To ensure that a more spiritual approach be taken, members of the Global Peace Walk Project left the United Nations building in New York City on Jan. 15, Martin Luther King's birthday. They plan to complete 3,6000 miles by June 20, when they hope to finish their walk in the company of 100,000 others in San Francisco.

An eclectic group of people aged 19 to 37, the walkers -- who will return after their walk to their jobs as nannies, pre-school teachers, bartenders, waiters, video game manufacturers and musicians -- lunched Saturday on rice and stew in a little dip of land across from the U.S. National Cemetery at the Veterans Administration on West Third Street.

The walk marks the 50th anniversary of the United Nations and the bombing of Hiroshima, two dates in history that represent the best and worst in humanity, according to the group. The walkers themselves are colorfully dressed and representing several countries, including the former East and West Germanies, Venezuela, France, and the United States.

Nick Bailey, the oldest of the walkers, led a prayer in which the pleasant break in the weather figured prominently. They have endured snow, sleet, and cold. "The whole walk is a prayer," said Bailey, a self-described political activist and organizer. "That's why people are here. We pray anywhere and anytime. With every step."


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For more information about Global Peace Walk 1995 & 2000, and the annual Global Peace Walk from Santa Fe to Taos, New Mexico April 8-22, see:

https://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/gpw.html

Join or see archives at this yahoogroup for updates and related events including local peace walks and other routes:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Global-Peace-Walk