HOW CHILDREN SEE PEACE

Each year, Lions Clubs around the world sponsor the Lions International Peace Poster contest in schools to encourage young people to express their visions of peace. Over the last 25 years more than 4 million children from nearly 100 countries have participated.

The 2024-2025 honoree was 13 year-old Shuwen Wang of China. The poster shows wire cutters opening a barbwire screen to a dove with an image of two children and a dog running to what appears to be a bright future. The barbwire screen represents the destruction of war. The message of peace is the future for children depending on breaking though the confines and destruction of war.

In a review of the Lions Club International Peace Poster Competition from 2006-2023 the most commonly used symbols were children, doves, flags, the earth, and olive branches with the color red used most frequently--all associated with courage and hope.

Our children remain optimistic that peace is possible.

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Fred Jandt is the author of “How to Survive a Mediation,” available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold.