OROVILLE – On Sunday May 11, Mother’s Day, citizens, mothers, families, friends and peace makers from Washington state and British Columbia, will meet at the Oroville/Osoyoos International Border to share our truths, songs and messages of Peace and Justice from 2 – 4 p.m. at this annual event. U.S.
Walkers leave the Oroville Library at noon for the two hour, 4.5 mile walk up the west shoulder of N. Hwy. 97 to the border ceremony, carrying banners, placards and prayers for peace. We will fly peace doves and rainbow streamers, walking with strollers, buggies, red wagons and people of all ages. If you are a U.S. participant and can’t walk to the border, you can park at Super Duper/Texaco’s south parking lot or in the 6-8 spaces at U.S. Port of Entry. Canadian peace makers, including a large contingent from the Doukhobor communities of western Canada will walk from Haynes Point Park 1.5 miles north of the border, or arrive by bus at the border.
Mother’s Day has been celebrated as a day of peace since 1877 when Julia Ward Howe, a suffragette, organized women, many who had lost husbands and sons in the tragedy of our civil war, to march in protest to all wars. In that spirit we met 30 years ago to protest the new weapon being developed and tested by Boeing in 1983, the “pilotless cruise missile”, which we clearly identified as a first strike, offensive weapon. We have been “waging peace” every Mother’s Day since. Today, we are one of the oldest ongoing annual peace events in the country. Twelve years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have left us financially bankrupt , thousands of our own precious sons and daughters have been lost and many tens of thousands are deeply wounded both physically and mentally. How long until the people say “Enough of this Madness?” How many innocents must die before we put an end to war and work for the betterment of our green planet and all humanity.
We live on a small fragile world and we face huge problems, global climate change, dying oceans, crashing economies, looming shortages and social injustice. War is not the answer and never has been. Come and join us for an uplifting and meaningful gathering celebrating a dream of peace that brings us hope for our future, as we move forward together. For information contact Jere and Rick Gillespie 509-485-3844, email: rickg@columbiana.org or Joseph and Dorinda Enzensperger 509-476-4072.
