Peace Poll

"ÃÂWhat's that?' I wondered. As I walked through the first floor's hallway of the high school building, I noticed this gigantic pencil-like thing sticking out of the ground. It wasn't there yesterday. My curiosity drew me closer to examine the new object in school. When I reached the grass, I could smell the damped soil of the garden. The soil was soaked up with yesterday's rain, similar to a sponge soaked up with water. I sat myself down before this white stick and observed it thoroughly.

It's a four-sided wood piece with a pyramid on top. Standing tall, it looked as if it were a person erecting confidently for a national anthem. It's magnificence and beauty filled me with patriotism. Somehow, the carvings made it also looked like a tombstone in the middle of the swollen piece of ground, bulging upwards with flowers all around it. The black, bold carvings strongly implied that these words would never disappear from the world.

RIP 02 April 2010 In memoriam to Dr. Freeman Hall,...

A hallway in a New Jersey Catholic high school

English: Hallway at the Royal York Hotel

The four languages, including Thai, English, Indian, and Chinese, represented a universal belief that all of these countries share.

I sat there for a long time until the bell rang. Students rushed out of their classes to chat with their friends. Those chattering and screaming in the hallway sounded more like chanting to me, maybe because I also felt that I was in a sacred place sitting in front of the peace pole. The more I think of it as a holy place, I see the pole as a guru amongst his followers all turning towards him. Like the Mecca, there were flowers, given by its worshipers, surrounding the pole.

In a sudden, I realized that I sat there too long and I should get going. I slowly strolled away from it. But then I turned back to have a last look at it. The pole did not disappear. It was still there and will probably be there for years to come.