It was the International Day of Peace of September 21.  On the evening news you saw violence escalate in Charlotte, killings in Texas, assaults in Paris, weekend explosions in New York City; an air raid in Greece and hundreds of migrants, dying at sea while trying flee war and poverty.  And these were the big stories which didn’t include the hundreds of personal acts of violence in our population on that one, single day.

However, if you drove through the major intersection in Palmer, Alaska—on that same International Day of Peace—you saw 75 people rallying for Peace and against Violence. All four corners were filled with Job Corps students, staff, public high school students, neighbors, teachers, business shopkeepers, school board members and city officials.

Of the 50 Alaska Job Corps students involved in the local rally—all had experienced violence in their lives at one time or another.  All knew someone whom had been hurt or killed as a result of violence.  All were a bit scared, nervous or tentative about “taking to the street.”  But as a part of their Y2Y P4P (Youth to Youth, Partners For Peace) mission, outreach is crucial.  So they rallied, and marched and joined their community on the street corner.

But here’s the epic lesson:  all students— involved in the rally agreed that this new Peace experience had left them feeling empowered, buoyant and even hopeful about the future.

Interestingly none of the students had ever done anything like this before in their lives.  They saw that ‘standing up for good’ was a legal and effective way to combat negativity.

And that is the dream.  If Peace becomes a comfortable conversation, an anticipated activity, and an acceptable goal, than things can change.   However, if Peace conversations are minimized, violence will continue as the accepted norm along with increased frequency.

Peace conversations are interventions. And peace is not about politics. City council woman Linda Combs joined the young people at the corner.  She talked about how solidarity in the name of Peace helps to keep our community strong.  “And this,” she said as she gestured towards all the groups of people “this is a reflection of our town of Palmer and the Job Corps.”

The Alaska Job Corps is operated by Chugach Government Solutions as a part of their educational effort to provide training, success and safety to young adults in the National Job Corps Program.