I am a Peace Child

In 1982, i believe it was, I had an extraordinary opportunity. I was young... I won't tell you how young, or you'll know i'm not young anymore... and a friend of my mother's was hired on to do costumes for a new musical being staged in Washington, DC. The first round of auditions had come and gone, but Lady Kate, as she was called, had spoken to the creators of the show and gotten me an impromptu audition. I stood in the middle of a borrowed living room on a small street in upper Georgetown and sang a capella, probably something from Cinderella, a children's opera my elementary school had done the year before.

My life almost changed that night. I could have been a star.

Instead, I was cast as the understudy to the lead, not the lead girl, alas. I had the voice, she had the resume - and she was cuter than I. It was *this* close. But there was an acting troupe of ten children who carried the plot and I was at of those, and happy to be there. What a thrill. What a dream come true. And on a cold day in December, we played the Kennedy Center, for One Night Only, the American premiere of a show called Peace Child brought the house down.

In a darkened theater, a lone voice sang out, "Come into my joy, come into my pain/Come you'll be a friend of mine, I'll be the same..." and into the house streamed hundreds of children from regional singing groups and schools, waving bright kerchiefs and streamers of colour, singing the refrain of Peace Child. From the balconies and the back of the hall we danced towards the stage and surrounded Suzanna York, the narrator of the show.

What was Peace Child? It was hope. It was a story about a Russian girl and an American boy who save the world by meeting and realizing, our differences aren't so great, if you get to know one another. Based upon the ancient tradition of sending a Peace Child to warring villages, one who can negotiate for peace in the event of discord, a child who lives among the other peoples and protects the peace.

There will be a reunion next year. The boy who played the lead, Marco Clarke, died of AIDS at a very young age. I think he was in his early 20's. Such a brilliant, bright eyed child when I knew him. Sweet boy. I wonder what the rest of us have done? I'm casting about in my study for my program of that night. It's here somewhere.

I'm wondering if the Peace Child initiatives might be something to do here in Sharjah? As the Cultural Capital of the Middle East, shouldn't we? I wonder if Peace Child can return to its original message of citizen diplomacy -- it focusses mainly on human rights and sustainability, now. Will have to talk to David about this, i suppose.

I was reminded of this night in my life because of an article in the Christian Science Monitor. Peace Child has profoundly shaped the way I think about people and the world. I am a product of the 80's, of nuclear proliferation, Cold War, AIDS and the threat of total annihilation. Lenny Bruce would have loved the 80's, he could have brought back his, "We're all gonna DIE!" routine. But Peace Child gave me hope. I do think there is a common ground. I do think people of wildly different backgrounds can learn to tolerate each other, even love each other. I think of the women I know, here, who wear abayia and laugh and share coffee and stories and card games with me while our children run happily amok. I am blessed by the gentleness of their questions, of their desire to understand. I am sweetened by their kindness. I wonder why we cannot do this the world over? if we spend half the energy we use for hating on positive change, instead, what could this exhausted world become?

The Christian Science Monitor has an article about Yemenis using poetry to combat terrorism

O men of arms, why do you love injustice?
You must live in law and order
Get up, wake up, or be forever regretful,
Don't be infamous among the nations

now, that's my kind of fighting.