Let There Be Peace On Earth

IT never fails…especially when I hear a group of kids sing IT. . .

LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH…AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME!

Uhhh, yeah. . .I tear up. . .

A L W A Y S !

The song was written in 1955 by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller. Jackson, who had been suicidal after the failure of a marriage, later said that she wrote the song after finding what she called the “LIFE SAVING JOY OF GOD’S PEACE AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.”

The story goes that on a Summer evening in 1955, a group of some 180 teenagers of all races and religions were meeting at a workshop high in the California mountains. Locking arms, they formed a circle and sang a song of Peace. They felt that singing the song, with its simple basic sentiment–LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME,” helped to create a climate for the World Peace and understanding.

When they came down from the mountain, these inspired young people brought the song with the and started sharing it. . .and IT began

It traveled the World in a very fast pace (AS GOOD THINGS REALLY HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO DO). Soon the song was being shared in all fifty states–at school graduations, PTA Meetings, at Christmas and Easter Gatherings and as a part of the celebration of Brotherhood Week. It became the Theme for Veteran’s Day, Human Rights Day and U.N. Day. American Legion, the B’nai B’rith, the Kiwanis Clubs and CORE.

IT traveled the World.

IT was being sung by big name artists.

IT was winning awards.

The simple thought, LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME, first born on a mountain top in the voices of youth, continues to travel HEART to HEART–gathering people everywhere who wish to become a note in a song of understanding and peace–for for ALL People Everywhere.

It matters not how you hear it. . .

It matters not how you sing it. . .

It matters not how you harmonize. . .

It matters. . .

HOW YOU SHARE IT. . .

How Your Peace becomes Another’s,

For a Moment and then another one until EACH Knows IT

EVERY SECOND. . .

OF EVERY LIFE!

BE the SPLASH that begins the endless Ripple of Peace. . .

LET IT BEGIN WITH YOU–

right where you dwell. . .

but never where you STAY!