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Montclair, New Jersey, United States – On April 22nd while most of America joined in celebrating “Earth Day,” a select few at Montclair State University took part in an RYS project in conjunction with Service for Peace’s “Peace on Earth Day” celebration, which was highlighted by the unveiling of their Mosaic Peace Bench. The bench was a collaborative design by MSU students, who emphasized the theme of the unity of heaven and earth on two separate benches surrounding MSU’s peace tree. Peace quotes were contributed by several of the cultural and religious organizations on campus, and were placed around the base of the tree. The hope was to create a space where students could come and take time out to rejuvenate and refocus themselves in a busy campus environment by meditating on the quotes.
An estimated 150+ individuals stopped by to make their contributions to the mosaic bench design by putting a “peace” in, and also to admire, comment and appreciate the efforts being made toward creating a monument of peace.
At the close of the event, representative organizations offered prayers together. As part of the closing ceremony, the participants in attendance invited passersby to contribute to the framing of the 10 peace quotes with mosaic.
More about the PeaceIN project can be read at this website: http://www.peaceinproject.com/