Dear Girl With the Peace Sign on Your Shirt

Act #232:  Peace is more than a sign.  It's a choice.

Dear Girl With the Peace Sign on Your Shirt,

You can't wait to show off your rhinestone, sparkly new gear on the first day of school.  Your babydoll t-shirt, matching book bag, and even your socks all adorn that fashionable throwback sign in glorious shades all over the color wheel.  You wear these items with pride, attracting pre-teen oohs and ahs and where did you get that's along the way.  You feel groovy, as they would say back in the day. 

Did you know that way before you were born, and even before your mom and grandmother were born, that sign on your shirt was created to help campaign for nuclear disarmament?  That simple circle with 3 simple lines was born for the sole purpose of speaking out against war and mass destruction.  When you sit in the lunchroom cafeteria with your friends, talking about Justin Beiber, do you ever catch a glimpse of that sign on your shirt?  Do you really understand what is behind it?   That the sign on your shirt that you are about to accidentally splatter your school lunch on, is indeed one of the highest values of humanity?  That without it, you might cease to exist one day? 

Whether it is sparkly, made of rhinestones, or tie-dyed paint, that shirt you wear proudly symbolizes not only an absence of conflict, but true harmony.  True balance of status and power.    People and entire nations were willing to be arrested, face deportation, put their lives on the line just to honor it.   Just to advocate for it's immortality.  Did you know that people are still fighting for this all around you?  Just so you can sit safely in your world, in the middle of your cafeteria, and not worry for a second, that you might be harmed, or in danger. 

I'm going to let you in on a secret.  You can own more than that sign on your shirt.  You can own the meaning behind the sign.  You can do more than unknowingly pay homage to the hippy days of your grandmother.  You can walk across the cafeteria and invite that girl who always sits alone to come have lunch with you.  You can tell a teacher when you see someone getting bullied.  You can pass on those shirts that no longer fit you to girls whose parents might not be able to afford to buy  her any.  You can wear peace, but more importantly, you can be peace. 

And I promise you, there's nothing groovier than that.