Columnist Dan Abernathy.

Courtesy photo

Though we are isolated from the all of what is, here in Pinedale and Wyoming, we don’t have to look far to see the hostility and violence that has moved beyond reason. Our gaze does not have to be at other countries that are engulfed with war. We can look at our inner cities and sadly even closer, inside our neighbors house.

To a lot of people this may sound cliché, but I think it would do us all good to look at the whole ideology of peace. Expressing this common thought and idea that these same people believe has lost its originality and impact from overuse, in fact hasn’t. Peace has just gotten in the way of materialistic gain and want.

Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. Peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict, such as war and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups.

Psychological peace, peaceful thinking and emotions, is a necessary precursor to establishing behavioral peace. Peaceful behavior sometimes results from a peaceful inner disposition. Establishing these inner qualities such as tranquility, patience, respect, compassion, self-control, courage, forgiveness and the ability to see the big picture, can promote peace within an individual, regardless of the external circumstances of their life.

In the 1960s we had songs being sung of the wrongs that were being done. Today however, no one is singing the wrongs that were being done. We just drive along the well-traveled road listening to music that we cannot hear with our eyes closed to what we are passing by. We are caught in the invisible arms of the government that is nothing but a performing marionette. The puppet masters dancing the strings are the hands of the oligarch that is flashing the peace sign and wearing a peace symbol that holds no meaning or value, but gives them false acceptance.

We need to step back and pick up the peace sign again. We need to boldly display it without leaving the meaning behind and once again try to, “give peace a chance.”

In this age of information so many do not even know there is a difference between the peace “sign” and the peace “symbol.” The peace sign is using your index and middle fingers to make a “V.” It originated as a way to show “V” for “Victory” during World War II. Later, in the 1960’s anti-war activists opted for the “V” sign to identify themselves as peace-seekers. This interpretation of the gesture is mostly what it is used for today.

The origin of the “V” sign however, possibly derives from an even older gesture made by long bowman fighting in the English army at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. This legend states that English archers believed that those who were captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they could no longer operate their longbows. Un-captured archers in a display of defiance against the French used the “V” sign.

Gerald Holtom, for the British Campaign designed The peace symbol is for Nuclear Disarmament in 1958. The peace symbol is associated with anti-war, but its design was inspired by naval semaphore code. Seafarers who used flags held in different positions to communicate across distances, such as between two ships at sea traditionally employed the semaphore code.

Translating the semaphore code into the peace symbol. The semaphore positions for the letters N, the flagger stands with their arms in an inverted “V” and D the flagger stands with one arm straight up above their head, and the other straight down when combined form the inner line structure of the symbol. “N” and “D” stand for Nuclear Disarmament.

Holtom also described the symbol as representing despair, with the central lines forming a human with its hands questioning at its sides against the backdrop of a white Earth.

Nuclear Disarmament was a movement that emerged after the Second World War. The use of nuclear warheads by the United States against Japan in World War II had proven just how catastrophic such weapons could be. Nuclear Disarmament, N.D., gave us the peace symbol, as we know it today.

Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the peace symbol has still remained, recycled throughout the decades for other causes and worn as a symbol of one’s identity. Though the 1960s counterculture died down over the decades, yet those who live the lifestyle hold onto the peace symbol. It has also enjoyed a renaissance or two in popular culture.

Ironically with the origin of the peace symbol being about Nuclear Disarmament and the nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the Japanese people love the peace symbol. The United States detonated two atomic bombs killing between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians. These bombings remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.

Several stories exist to explain how the gesture gained popularity in Japanese society. Representatives of major camera makers believe the phenomenon likely started when one smiling celebrity made the sign in a camera commercial in the early 1970s.

Inoue Jun, an actor and singer with the popular band The Spiders, was a spokesperson for Konica Minolta. He supposedly flashed a "V" sign while filming a camera commercial in the US. He said the country was in the midst of the anti-war movement and every staff member he met gave him the peace sign. During the filming of the commercial he flashed the peace sign.

When he returned to Japan, people on the streets started saying ‘Peace!’ to him and it gradually spread in Japanese society. Japanese people acknowledged the ‘V’ sign as the peace sign, and started making it when they took photos.”

Gerald Holtom, the designer behind the peace symbol, decided to never copyright his design so that anyone could use it free of licensing restraints. Thanks to him, the peace symbol will always stand as a free and accessible symbol of peace to whoever wants to use it.

As seemingly peaceful individuals, we go to church, or escape into nature with our own spiritual beliefs, carrying the knowledge of peace. We tell the creator that what was done, would be done no more. Then the day’s passed, the words faded and then, here we are, again.

Perhaps as it rounds the corner to its 66th birthday, the peace symbol remains steadfast as a constant, concise, and poignant reminder to once again, “give peace a chance.” - dbA

You can find more of the unfiltered insight and the Art of Dan Abernathy at www.contributechaos.com.