What is peace?

“While tutoring orphans in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania I took a few candid pictures of children playing.”

“A dove flies up to land on a centuries-old arch.”

“In Jerusalem’s Old City, the next generation is already playing with guns in the ancient, narrow alleyways. The centuries of bloodshed that have seeped into the stones are contradicted by the enigmatic expressions on the faces of these young boys, offering a small ray of hope that perhaps they will not have the affinity for their weapons that their fathers had.”

“Sadika and Eman are junior year students at Al al-Bayt University in Mafraq, Jordan. I was so struck by their immediate hospitality and friendship during my stay with them. They are both innate conversationalists and are some of the most loving, welcoming, and peaceful young ladies I’ve met. This photo was taken during an afternoon visit around ruins in Um al-Jemal, Jordan.”

“I was entranced by the prayer flags that cover the mountains in the Jammu and Kashmir region of Northern India. I find it beautiful how high places inspire such declarations of humans’ fellowship with the divine and such poignant pleas for peace.”

“A kayaker calmly makes his way through Lake Bled, Slovenia, past the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary.”

‘Peace is not an absence of war,’ argued Baruch Spinoza, but ‘a state of mind.’ The pumpkins didn’t stand a chance. A photograph of my son, Nevo, 9 months old, last October.”

Communion by Bettina M. Burgett ’09

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“Light bursts onto a stone carpet, breaking the silence of an empty hall. Jame’ Mosque, Isfahan, Iran.”

“This photo was taken in Jordan on the banks of the Red Sea. I saw a family playing in the water, and was especially captivated by the mother and child watching the sunset.”