Creating Tolerance and World Peace

Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles’

Around the world, schools and organizations have been expressing their hope for peace amongst all peoples of the Earth through a standardized ceremony. Knowing that you’re partaking in the same World Peace Prayer and Flag Ceremony as people halfway across the world that you’ve never met can create a very powerful feeling of unity.

The ritual’s main point is to show that we all have something in common – the wish for peace around the world – that cross national boundaries, religious ideals and other ideologies. The idea, in essence, is that peace is something that we all strive for, despite personal politics or beliefs.

The ritual began in Japan where it was first organized in 1983. By 1986, the World Peace Prayer and Flag Ceremony had gone global and an international version of the ceremony was help in Los Angeles. Since then, organizers have helped to bring the peace ceremony to every continent of the world and most major cities in hopes that the global scale of the ceremony would bring attention to the idea that founded it – that is, that everyone truly wants peace, no matter what country or region you were born in or reside.

Aligning with the desire to be a ceremony that everyone can participate in, despite personal beliefs, the prayers that are used during the ceremony are not restricted or even reference a particular religion (usually). In fact, prayer may not be said in any way that you’re familiar with, particularly if you use prayer as part of a religious ceremony. The prayer during the World Peace Prayer and Flag Ceremony transcends denominations and religions and instead expresses a declaration of love for one’s fellow people and compassion for anyone who walks the earth. A typical prayer is “May peace be in (name of country); May peace prevail on Earth.” The declaration is used to make one feel united with everyone else who repeats the same words.