PEACE PARK

peace, they think about the opposite of con icts,” Buchi Anikpezie, Rotary District 5450 governor, said. “However, for us in Rotary, we do not think about it that way. We think about it more in terms of creation. Not resolving con icts, but providing an atmosphere instead that enables peace.”

Helen Patz-Perrone, a Puerto Rican Taino Native American, talked about how there was so much going on in the world.

“ is is a place of stillness,” PatzPerrone, said. “Anybody can come over here and stop the world, even if it’s just for ve or 10 minutes, and look at their feet on the ground and stand in that present moment. I think we need more places like this on the planet.”

Patz-Perrone performed a traditional Lakota peace song during the ceremony, paying homage to the indigenous tribes who rst used the land. e peace park is rich with indigenous symbolism, including benches oriented to the East and West.

“You’re sitting right in the path of where the sun moves, so you’re in that spirit of being connected to our source of energy and life force,” park designer Dennis Swiftdeer Paige said. “ ere’s a certain kind of power to that.” e center of the park is marked by a rock surrounded by bushes, intended to represent the way life stems from the heart. Additionally, four “peace poles” with phrases in 24 di erent languages represent the importance of peace on a global scale. e park was funded by private donations and through Rotary funds. In the future, the Rotary hopes to use the space to host peacebuilding activities with local schools and other organizations.

Paige was inspired to create this park by other peace parks in Colorado. He views the space as a way to take positive action in a world where international wars and political tension leave many feeling powerless.

“People can come here on their own time, and they can re ect and meditate and come to some kind of understanding about where they are in their lives,” Paige said.

“I feel that, when I went to school, we learned a lot about war, what causes war, how wars ended,” Stanley Harsha, Conifer Rotary president-elect and co-founder of the Peace Committee. “But there’s been very little education about how to build peace, and that’s what we want to do.”

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