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Peace March in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth DiSalvo

On Saturday October 26 at an early morning hour, Kwan Um Zen members and friends drove off towards our nation's capitol to join multitudes in a march for peace. A preventive action on Iraq.

We shuffled along with the throngs. Chants for peace rose and fell. Songs rang out and repeated, traveling for blocks thru the caravan of activists. Christian, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Mormons. Vegetarians. Children on father's shoulders, pre-teens running laps around us, college students in full voice, twenty and thirty some-things with slogan wielding dogs, middle aged hippies who had all been here before, and many older folk into their 70's, 80's, 90's giving us all the feeling that we were doing the right thing.

Although the police were out in full force, the march was quite peaceful. The crowds filled 4 lanes of road looping the outer blocks surrounding the White House. All-inall the estimates of attendees ranged from 100,000 to 200,000 peace-nicks. Inspirational to say the least!