Rotary, students take part in Oak Ridge Peace Forum
For The Vista
The Fairfield Glade Rotary Club along with students from the Stone Memorial High School Interact Club, participated in the Peace Forum at Oak Ridge Associated Universities in Oak Ridge on Saturday, March 9.
The aim of the Peace Forum is to inspire and advance avenues of peace through science and technology and to cultivate peace through human understanding. The forum educartes and motivates Rotarians and the public on new and innovative ways to achieve global peace through service.
The “Peace through Service” keynote address by Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka led the daylong gathering of Rotarians, Academics, and Scientists.
Participants included Directors from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Professor from the University of Alabama, Rotary World Peace Fellow at the Christian University in Tokyo, and the former U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia. The morning and afternoon sessions, as well as the lunch and roundtable discussions, were led by the aforementioned speakers, as well as area Rotarians.
Among the panel discussions these individuals attended, and led, were “Peace Through Religion: Does it Offer Hope for Peace?”, “Living in the New South”, “Media Madness: Role of the Media in Conflict”, “Technology in Disaster Relief”, “Technology and Global Threats to Peace”, and others the approach peace through the perspectives of human understanding and science and technology.
The attendees from our local contingent were able to spend a few minutes with Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka and have their picture taken with the forum’s keynote speaker.
Between sessions Rachel Raulerson and Hannah Timson visited the International Friendship Bell.
Also known as “the peace bell”, the International Friendship Bell is a very large bronze bell of the type traditionally found in Japanese Buddhist temples. It was cast in Kyoto, Japan, and has markings commemorating the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 (which used uranium that had been enriched in the then-secret city of Oak Ridge). The bellsymbolizes international friendship and hopes for a peaceful future.