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WEST CENTRAL TRIBUNE, May 11, 2007
by Tom Cherveny
MONTEVIDEO — There is a time and place to take a stand for peace.
For Cody Maynus, it is every Tuesday at the intersection of South First Street and Merriam Avenue at the south end of Montevideo’s downtown.
Maynus, a sophomore at Montevideo High School, is joined there from 5:30 to 6 p.m. every week by other students and adults. Sometimes there are five or six people holding signs urging motorists to honk in support of peace. On a couple of recent weeks, there have been as many as 12 and 15.
Those who gather here are part of an informal group calling themselves the Montevideo Area Peace Seekers. They’ve made their stand for peace for 17 weeks now: ever since Martin Luther King Junior Day. They haven’t missed a single Tuesday.
“We watched the clock very close,’’ laughed one of the Peace Seekers, Vicki Poier, when speaking of the evenings in winter when subzero winds chilled them to the bone. She said they plan to continue making their stand until the war in Iraq ends.
“At least," said Maynus.
He said he is willing to continue to make his stand for peace long after that if necessary. “Peace isn’t just not (having) war,’’ said Maynus. The group is concerned about all types of violence, from domestic abuse and bullying in schools to capital punishment, he said.
But the war in Iraq — and their concern for U.S. troops and all those harmed in the violence of the war — is certainly a focus of their weekly vigil. The banners they held Tuesday of this week proclaimed: “Say No to War.” “Support Our Troops.” “Pray for Peace.’’
Only one hour before gathering at the intersection, some of the Peace Seekers delivered a pie that Poier baked from fresh-cut rhubarb. They presented it to Tom Meium, who staffs U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson’s office in Montevideo. The Peace Seekers are joining a nationwide effort to support the call to create a U.S. Department of Peace.
The pie is part of the “piece for peace’’ call that the national Peace Alliance is making on Mother’s Day weekend. It supports federal legislation that would allocate 1 percent of the discretionary spending in the federal budget to create the Department of Peace. That compares to 53 percent now earmarked for the Department of Defense.
There are currently 65 congressmen and women who have signed on to the bill, according to the Alliance. Minnesota Democrats Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and James Oberstar are listed as supporters on to the bill, according to the Alliance.
Peace Seeker Ellen Moore urged Meium to bring both the pie and the message in support of the bill to Rep. Peterson. She told Meium that it’s time for the government to renounce violence. “I feel as human beings we’ve evolved enough that we can find other ways to manage our conflicts,’’ she said.
Moore helped launch the Montevideo Area Peace Seekers when she encouraged her own children and their friends to take a stand for peace. The idea took hold.
Maynus and Jordan Montgomery, also a Montevideo High School sophomore, said they hear a variety of reactions from other students to the stand they take each week. They hear support, they said, “and we get a fair amount of heck,’’ said Maynus. The “heck’’ comes largely from students who believe the effort is futile. “Some say it doesn’t make a difference,’’ said Montgomery. “What’s the point?’’
At the intersection, the sign-carrying group occasionally sees a finger raised at them from inside a passing car. Far more often, people tap their horns in support or wave a friendly greeting. Adults and students alike said that making the effort to come to the corner every Tuesday has made them all the more committed to the cause of peace.
As for those who dismiss their effort as futile, Moore said their weekly vigil always reminds her of the famous quote attributed to sociologist Margaret Mead: “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’’
Like Maynus, Moore said she too plans to return every Tuesday to this corner. For as long as it takes, she added.
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