PEACE IN EVERY STEP:

On October 8, 2005, Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, led over 3,000 people in a mindful Peace Walk around Mac- Arthur Park in downtown Los Angeles. As its organizers noted, it was not a demonstration for peace, but a demonstration of peace. Hanh asked people to “walk in such a way that each step we make becomes a realization of peace, each step becomes a prayer for peace and harmony; walk together in silence with no banners and no pickets, not a petition addressed to anyone, nor a demonstration against anyone, walk to unite our hearts, to nurture our togetherness and to dissipate fear and separation.” “Peace Is Every Step,” a group dedicated to holding monthly peace walks, emerged from the MacArthur Park march. On Sunday, January 22, the group held a Peace Walk in Santa Monica. People gathered in Reed Park and made its way—mindfully – to Arlington West, the field of crosses on the beach north of Santa Monica Pier. Once there, the group heard readings from Thich Nhat Hanh, and helped the Veterans for Peace, volunteers disassemble the memorial, as a practice of mindful work.