{"id":3467,"date":"2013-08-12T08:55:36","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T13:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/?page_id=3467"},"modified":"2014-01-23T13:49:16","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T19:49:16","slug":"striving-for-peace-1989","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/mac-gimse\/striving-for-peace-1989\/","title":{"rendered":"Striving for Peace, 1989"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Striving\"<\/strong>Striving for Peace –<\/strong>\u00a0The \u2018peace piece\u2019 has four planes rising from a conical base. The pedestal in the center represents future peace, holding up an infant human in need of care. A second plane represents peace efforts from the past, supporting an old man, whose attempts at providing a peaceful world have not succeeded. A third, referring to peace in the present, flows upward from a woman – one who gives us birth and life, and through her mother-caring nurtures our desire for peace. A fourth plane represents the broken bow of our human world, which is striving for tranquility rather than destruction.<\/p>\n

The sloping base demonstrates our continuous struggle upward towards a higher plane of peaceful co-existence. This sculpture has forms of frozen movement that may appear to dance, and silent images that look like they are communicating with each other. Together they embody ideas in form and narrative that enclose a center for peace among those who seek unity between ideologies, doctrines and beliefs.<\/p>\n

When passing the peace piece from one person to another, the burden is lighter if two or more carry it. The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize is a cooperative effort to which we all are called. The poetry recognizes the work of nine Nobel Laureates: UN Peacekeeping Operations, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Lech Walesa, the International Red Cross, Norman Borlaug, Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrei Sakharov, Elie Wiesel, and Mother Teresa.<\/p>\n

Originally presented at the first Nobel Peace Prize Forum in 1989, it was given to Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, 1977, and to the 1988 Laureate UN Peacekeeping Operations. Several years later it was presented as a gift from St. Olaf College to Her Majesty Queen Sonja of Norway for her Royal Collection in Oslo. The original bronze casting is in Rolvaag Memorial Library at St. Olaf College, placed in honor of the retirement of Librarian Forrest Brown.<\/p>\n

\n

STRIVING FOR PEACE<\/strong><\/p>\n

by mac gimse, February, 1989<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Striving for peace is always dawning.
\nAs the birds sing, you and I answer their songs of hope
\nfor morning to break on gentler liberties.<\/p>\n

UN Peacekeeping<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dew gathers between the warmth of our patriot dreams
\nand the coolness of our changeling neighbors
\nwho steal our trust from unguarded boundaries.<\/p>\n

Oscar Arias Sanchez<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those who labor in fruitless toil beyond
\ntheir strength, we disperse our gains,
\na witness to our seamless solidarities.<\/p>\n

Lech Walesa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We gather for those waking to disaster,
\nwhose dreams are crushed by war and nature,
\nto offer relief from their miseries.<\/p>\n

Red Cross<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those awe-washed by our planet-absorbing greed,
\nenslaved on pathways to their daily bread,
\nwe send aid for their ailing economies.<\/p>\n

Norman Borlaug<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those dwindling in self-esteem by shape or color of skin,
\nfrom parentage beyond their choosing,
\nwe pledge their children equalities.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those who shake the bars of gender jails,
\nand cry from political prison cells,
\nwe plead release from their captors\u2019 keys.<\/p>\n

Andrei Sakharov<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those bound by ancient creeds or grasping the Holy Grail,
\nlest they crusade for another battle clasp,
\nwe embrace their holocaust memories.<\/p>\n

Elie Wiesel<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For fingers that yearn to touch our careful clothing,
\nbeyond their poverty lingering,
\nsprings compassion for their agonies.<\/p>\n

Mother Theresa<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We gather, \u2018…striving for peace\u2019 in our hands-on dream,
\nas our earthen journey, dawning dances
\ninto the peace of tomorrow\u2019s striving
\nto pursue anew our lost destinies.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Striving for Peace –\u00a0The \u2018peace piece\u2019 has four planes rising from a conical base. The pedestal in the center represents future peace, holding up an infant human in need of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":0,"parent":3437,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3467","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3467\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}