Let There Be Peace…
Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth,
the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father
brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
in perfect harmony.
Those lyrics are from the song Let There Be Peace on Earth. It was written in 1955 by Jill Jackson-Miller. The International Children’s Choir was the first to sing it. Later it became their theme song. At church the Saturday before Memorial Day, it was no surprise when I heard the first few notes of that song. Memories of war and hope for peace are intertwined.
I happened to be sitting next to my brother. We turned and looked at each other with a nod and a smile. Neither of us needed a hymnal. We knew the words by heart. It was a familiar song to us and one that we both carried throughout the years.
As the song continued, my mind drifted back to Brookwater Elementary School. There I stood, at the stage end of the cafetorium. The music teacher, Miss Prescott, played this song on the piano. Although she never just played the piano, she commanded the notes to sound as she skillfully ran her hands up and down the keys. Hers was more than a passion for music; it was a fire that burned within and fueled her soul.
She wore her salt-and-pepper hair (heavy on the salt) in a bun. It was not one of those tight buns that pull back the skin, giving one an expression of surprise. She wore her bun loosely, softening the already rounded edges of her face. Her short-sleeved, flower print dresses swayed in time with the music, mimicking flowers in a breeze.
At the same time, she was sturdy. Did that impression come from her sensible black shoes, ankles brimming over the edge, that supported her? Her skin elasticity was gone. She appeared to carry extra. We kids watched the excess skin of her arms move in time with the music, a sort of visual metronome.
We soon learned that there would be no lip-synching with Miss Prescott around! She would pound the beat on the top of the piano with one hand as her other hand picked up the slack, playing all the notes. The whole time she had her eyes on us kids. She made sure that we sang along.
When a fifth-grade classmate fainted, Miss Prescott took it in stride. This girl, whose name is burned forever into my memory, also hit her head on the edge of the piano on her way down. Miss Prescott left the bench of her beloved piano to tend to her. Aside from the girl lying on the ground, no one moved from their place. The only one to break rank was the student assigned to run and get the nurse.
It was not until later that I realized Miss Prescott's genius. We learned to love music and take it as seriously as she did. In turn, music became an integral part of our lives. Little did we realize how much we were learning by memorizing the States as we sang the song, Fifty Nifty United States. To this day, I can recite the fifty States alphabetically and in tune!
The sixties and seventies were known for folk songs. Miss Prescott dialed into this, teaching us songs about childhood and innocence. As we sang Up, Up, and Away, we imagined what it would be like to see the world from the perspective of a hot air balloon. Then we were transported to a magical land as we sang Puff the Magic Dragon.
She taught us with subtlety about the world and our place in it. The Vietnam War raged the entire span of my elementary years. My parents tried to shield us kids, but we could feel the tension. Miss Prescott used the lyrics of the songs to teach us about our times. She gave us an outlet. A place where it was okay to talk about the war, except we sang about it.
We learned that America included all peoples as we sang This Land is Your Land. By singing Joni Mitchell's immortal words from Both Sides Now, we understood a give and take in the world. Blowing in the Wind helped us to see that some questions do not have answers. The hardest lesson of all came from singing Leaving On a Jet Plane. There are times when goodbye is forever.
That brings me back to Let There Be Peace on Earth. It could be a combination of easy lyrics and a key that most people could sing, but this song was a crowd favorite. Miss Prescott seized an opportunity to plant seeds with this song. She taught us that peace was attainable because it began with each person.
In music class, everyone has to sing the same lyrics to the same tune, at the same time! There is a togetherness. Otherwise, the result is chaos. She paralleled this perfect harmony with life. We learned a deep respect for our classmates. With this mutual respect, peace followed. Peace did begin with us.
Over the years, the seed of peace she planted in me got choked out by other things. Career, family, ambition, and place in society seemed important. I cultivated those things while peace lay dormant.
Hearing that song again reminded me that I have to dig deep to find that peace. I was blessed to have that seed planted. Now it is my turn to nurture it and give it room to grow. It begins with me.
Let peace begin with me,
let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
let this be my solemn vow;
To take each moment and live
each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me.