Synopsis of the 1988 Soviet Union Peace Walk

7/27/2019 Synopsis of the 1988 Soviet Union Peace Walk

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an d would like to invite all his sponso r s t o h eal" some o f t h e WOndel"fu !'ou t s t a n d i ng t h i n g s that happened t o him with t h e t h rong s of Sov ie tpeople on th e s t r ee t s an d t h e Soviet walkers on t h e Peace Walk.

PLEASE ATTEI.*He a r Bill s ing t h e song he wr o te abo u t t h e walk*See a ll t he Signat u r e s on t h e b a c k o f his "DRUJBA" kite*See his se ns a t iona l h a t a nd v e s t that made him t h e most

ph o tog r-ephed pe rson in t h e So v ie t Union f or t h e month Sunday, October 30 2:00pm. t o 4:00pm.*(beg in s a t 2:15 s ha rp )* The Home o f Nor e n e Ch e r n o f skg 12636 Meadowla rk Ave. Grana da Hills . C A .

RSVP by October 14 at 818-781-3145

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16811 Sat icog St . # 21Van Nug s, CA 91406November 18, 1988Dear Mike:I fi nallg feel tha t I have s ome t ime to s ta r t writ in g to Sovie t PeaceWa lke r friends I made while in the Soviet Union. Eve n though we werenot in t h e same group and cons equentlg weren't able to communicate asoften. I r-emember- the few encounter s we had and fee l I ca n wri t e toyou as a friend and tell you what 's been happening to me since I'v ebeen home .When the Peace Walk ended in Moscow, i t was ve rg painfu l to separa t efrom al l the wonderful Sovie t Peace Walking fri ends I made in themonth tha t we were together . Mg girl friend sags t ha t I'm still talk inga bout it in mg e leep.When I got back to the U.S., I flew down to th e s ta te of Nor th Carolinaand v is i ted one of mg sons and mg grandch ildren f or a few dags , ThenI flew back to mg home here in California . Af t er be ing gone fo r a lmost6 weeks, I was get t ing ki n d of homesick. i t was r eallg good to get h ome!At fi rst , much of mg norma l hv ing time wa s s pent in t rging to get a llm!:! t h ings toge ther and etor-ed awa !:!. or taking back equ ipment I hadbor-r-owed f r-om friend s . I am continuallg talk ing to evergone a bout th ewonde rful Soviet people I met and experie nces I had (I wea r mg hat allthe t ime with all th e Soviet pins on it and peo ple ask me about it ). I'v eal r-eadg given four presentat ions abou t t he Peace Walk to my re la t ives,f r i ends. and acquaintances in t h e peace group Begorid War, to m!:!s in ging chor us, to mg Hontenenng group - a mu sical instrument grouptha t pl e gs a nd sings, and I inv ited al l 110 of mg sponsors tha t h elped me financiallg to a presentation wit h slides. It was a huge suc cess! Ih av e plans to g ive mang pr-eaerrta t inns to churches and clubs in theworks.Four weeks ago a newspaper reporter ca lled me on th e t elephone a ndin t e r v iewe d me. Enclosed is a co pg of t he a r t icle he wr ote. Of course,he took a few lit.e r-ar-g libert ies a nd s t re tched t he t ru th a bit here andthere to make the storg seem more huma nis tic but all in a ll, he did an ic e job . As a result of tha t interv iew. a telev is ion commenta tor ca lledme a nd asked to do a t el evision inter view of me. Tha t happened las tweek . And, t h e principal of the schoo l where I used to t each has a sk edme to give a presentation to the facul t.g, I'm a lso enclosing a cop !:! ofth e invit a t ion I sen t to a ll mg sponsor s. So, gou can see tha t I hav ebeen a verH bUSH person!


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Enclosed gou will find a p a p e r I w r o t e a n d r e a d at a meeting o f a ll mgspon s o r s j u s t b e f o r e I l e f t t h e U.S. f o r t h e Peace Walk a n d a sgnopstsof t h e P e a c e Walk af ter I came ba c k. I'm a lso en clos ing q u o t e s bgfamous people ab o ut p eace I h av e r e s e a r c h e d a n d placed on t wo pa pe r s .I gi ve th em t o people I m e e t h e r e an d t h e r e . The q u o t e s a b o u t WorldFede rat ion comes from t h e book. PlanetHood. which I'm s e n d ing to gou ina s e p a r a t e p ack ag e. It e xpl a in s wha t I t ru lg believe is t h e cn lg wag ou rwor ld will ev e r ach i ev e t r u e an d la stin g peace. Ple a s e r e a d it a nd ifgOll a g r ee with wha t it s a g s , pl eas e give it t o someone else t o helps p r ead th e idea .Our world n e e d s more e n c o u n t e r s lik e t he one we had s o t h a t peoplewill u n de r s t a n d t ha t in s p ite o f o u r mang d iff e r e n c e s . we h ave ma ngsimila r i t ie s . Ou r c u l t u r a l d iffe r e n c e s m a ke s e a c h o f u s tha t much moremt.er-est.mq t o t h e othe r a nd a mar-velcus s o u r ce o f won d e r . e njogmant ,an d edu c a t ion.Once a ga in . wha t a pl ea su r e it wa s t o m ake go u r acq u aint a n c e .

In p e ace an d f r i e n d s h ip.


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What MaKes Bill White Run (WalK) - Aug. 1. 1q88Looking back th rough time to B.C. - B.C., that 's Before Cha r nofskg. Idon't r-eca ll think ing much about what was happening to the world. Iwas vel' !:I busg getting m!:l Bachelor's, Master's and Teaching Credential a n d then raising a familg; and then teaching school which pr-ac t icallgr equ i red the two par t time jobs I had for gears.Ju s t a few months af ter the end of WW2, I had the rare opportunitg ofseeing the complete devastation done to Nagasaki bg the Atomic bomb.Todag, I know tha t I saw - but didn't see. It wasn't until I went to aBegond War weekend and I saw a film clip of a school gard full ofJ ap an e s e children followed bg a mushroom cloud. Mg mind exploded witha dual picture of children and the devastation I saw some 40 gearsbefore . I was one of those in the circle who couldn't keep f rom sobbing .At va ri ous tim es I'm haunted bg tha t dual picture and visualiz ing lli!:jf'amilg. loved ones, and f r iends as possible fu tu re p artic ipants in tha tpic ture . Th is helps me stag with working to help keep it f r omhappening. I do what I feel capable - some of which gou 've read in DIgco ver lette r.On t he fo r thc oming Peace Walk, I will tell al l who will lis t en about t h eph i losophy of Beyond War which I live hg. But I have some othe r veqls t rong beliefs tha t I intend to pursue af t er - I re tur n, wit h educat ionthe key.The Ear t h is a liv ing, brea t hing t ot.elrtg. You know tha t it 's a n ac t iv e ,fu nc tionin g ent rt g whe n gou see volcanoes erupt , gegse r s sp r-ag, windswhip into tornad oes or hurr icanes, wave action, or fee l it qua k e . Th eEart h rece ives its energg from the sun which allows it to b r-ea t hth roug h its hvtng organisms in the atmospher-e an d se a , genera t ingnitr og en t o ox ugen and regene rating o x ~ m e n back to nit r oge n .It took million s of uea rs fu r the balance to deve lop with all livingthings in a natural , harmon ious control of popu lation . The hum anel emen t has changed th is natural control throu gh ove r-p op u la t ion .encroa ching on othe r species habitat and ove r using' o t he r specieswithout allow ing rege neration. This leads to deplet ion a nd ex t inc t ion .We hav e been misusing elements, concocting toxins which a r e poisonousin s ome degree to al l hviriq things - including ou r liv tng . b re a t h in gearth.All the nast.g wor ds uou hear todag about polluted rivers, lakes, ocean s,ground wate r and atmosphere. Then there is ac id rain, toxic waste s .de s t ru c t ion of ou r rain forests, desertification, a nd t he destruction ofthe ozone lager. How about the s tarv ing to dea t h of millions of peopleever g !:lear a nd pr edic t i ons tha t we will burg ou rs elves in OlD' owngarbage. All th ese serious problems are getting worse and it is evenbeing s aid by some of OU I' sc ientists tha t it mag alreadg be too late tos top our even t ual demise . Eve r g one of these pro blems s t ems dtrec t lghom one issue: overpopulat ton. The people of the wodd mus t beeduca t ed on th e subje c t of ze ro population growth .


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Ear t h does not belong to us, we belong to it ! We are all interdependentand interconnected . All is one - we are one - I am one with al l.I believe tha t the solution to all the above mentioned problems can bebrought about through World Federation which is a natura l outgrowthof the United Nations. A new wa!:l of thinking in the world must tak ep lace with the understanding tha t war jus t doesn't work ang more .Since the end of World Wal' II. the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. have maintainedpeace between each other by the threa t of mutual annihilation. Theworld lives in feal' of an accident waiting to happen.This fear could be alleviated if each nation would add one more lagerto their government and then elect representat ives to make laws ,allowing an executive branch to enforce the laws. and courts to fairlyresolve conflicts between nations, all under the watchful e!:le of theUnited Nations . I st.rcng lg recommend the book PlanetHood b!:l BenjaminFerencz and Ken Keys, Jr . available through World Federat ion, Inc .

.We are in a critical !:let exciting place in the history of our world . I amthrilled to be a n act ive par t of it!


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William S. White16611 Sattco!:! St. #21Van Nu!:!s. CA 91406818-781-3245

A Synopsis Of My 1q88 Soviet Union Peace WalKFrom mid Aug ust to mid Se ptember. 1 was one of 220 American and 250Soviet Peace Wa lkers who wa lk ed 350 Km (220 mi) in t he Ukra inianRepublic of the Soviet Union. It was the most exciting . emot iona l, hea r twarming expe rience of mg life. We walked and rode in special buses fromOdes s a on the Black Se a to Kiev. th e th ird la rg est cltg In the Sov ie tUnion. We staged on th e soccer fields of schools or P ioneer camps inour own te nts a nd sleep ing bags . We were divided into groups of for t g ,tw en t!:! Americans a nd twentg Soviets . Fortunatelg. over half of theSoviet s spo ke Eng lish .Becaus e of mg ha t (wit h a fan and b rimming with pins), mg vest (loadedwith pat ches and pins). mg fantast ic controllable DRUJBA/FRIENDSHIPkite, and mg ukulele. I was well photographed. I saw mg picture in thepapers twice and was to ld t hat I was on television mang times. I wasal so in t erviewed tw ice for t h e r adio and once for the newspaper s . OurPeace Walk was t el ev is ed almost everg night throughout the Sov ie tUnion a nd we melde a wonderful impression on millions of ci t iz.en s .At fir s t I didn ' t r-ealize it but people were look ing f or me. Severa lteachers of Englis h came r ight up to me and s tar ted to ta lk with me.Theg k new tha t I wa s a teacher from California and th eg wan ted toknow a bout ou r schools or j ust to talk with the firs t Ameri ca n t heg 'deve r see n . Teenagers looked fo r me because they knew t hat I had aukulele and they wan ted to t rg it !Mo s t of th e peop le of ev e r y village. town . and cit!:! wer e along the sidesof the r oad waving a t us, giv ing us flowers, pr-eeents , fruit and water,responding when we ca lled out "Mil' E Drujba" (peace a nd friendship),and some times t heg wal ked with us. Children th ru s t flowers, medals.co ins , postcards , autog raph books. 01 ' presents a t us . There wel'e alwagspeasant singers and da nce rs pe rfo rming . We saw buses tha t hadt r-enepo r- t.ed people f r om as fa r as 50 Km awa g ju s t to see us somet imes s tanding fo r an hou r or two when we wer e Late, t wice whileit was r-atrung , and somet imes jus t to wave as we drov e bg,Wh ile walking , ma ny of u s shook hands with bo t h men and women,sometimes giving a lit t le old la dg a hug . It resu lted in mang a tea rf r om both s ides . In a town where the people knew we wel'e going tos tag nearb g. we were somet imes asked r ight on the spot to be thei rguests in t he ir homes tha t n ight fo r dinner . bed and breakfast . Thishas neve r been allowed angwhere in the Soviet Union before. I stagedand had wonder f u l expe r iences in f ive differe nt Soviet homes. Thewonderful Sov iet Walkers , of whom we made manu , what I'm su re will belasting fri endships. a cted a s interpreters.A few times dur ing ow' t rip , we s taged over f'or- an extra da!:! and onthese dau s, we would have meetings about world problems, or we wouldgo on plan ned (or unp lanned) trips to schools. factorie s , farms , andchurches . MU slide presen ta t ion tells of many persona l experiences.

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DENNIS MCCARTHYDAILYNEVvS 1 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1988.1NEWS-a.

"When she saw me, she just stood therein th e freezing cold staring at me. Then, shepointed down at the sticker on her lapelan d smiled, nodding her head."As the bus engine came to life, Whitej u mp ed o u t of his seat an d ran down th eaisle, ordering the dri ver 10 open the door." I ran up to her an d hugged her. Shehugged me. Then , we both started crying,Everyone began cheering."Two strangers at a bu s stop, One anAmerican - one a Russian . Mir E Drujba.Peace an d Friendship.Fo r four weeks - from mid-Augustthrough mid-September, 220 Americansan d 250 Soviets, walked and rode busesfrom Odessa on the Black Sea to Kiev, thethird largest city in the Soviet Union.They were the International Peace Walk- average working people from bothcountries seeingfirst hand the changestaking place inside the Soviet Union thatthe rest of us can only read about innewspapers or watch on TV news.Wherever he went, it was the American

I with a funny propell er hat an d ukelele,flying a kite with both Soviet an d Americanflags on it, who people wanted to meet afterreading about him in Soviet newspapersan d seeing him on TV ."Teachers an d young people especiallywould seek me out, walk along with me formany kilometers," Whit e said, " I was thefirst American the :' ha d met."It was incredible, They'd always ask th esame three questions. Ho w do you like ou rcity'! How do you like our peopl e? Who doyou thi nk is going to win the election, Bushor Dukakis? Th ey're really up on theirpolitics."1 guess the most surprising thing Ilearned was the sincerity and goodheartedness o f the people. Only oneRussian I met asked me why Americansdon't like them?Share same worries

"The Sovie t peop le are worried about theworld situation, just like we are. There'shardly a Soviet family that d idn 't suffer atleast one death during the last war, whatthey call the Great Patriotic War - WorldWar II. -,"They are just as afraid of w h ~ , t anothergreat war would bring as we are , he said.Detractors of people like White -.peacen iks they're called snidely - will tellyou tha t the retired school teacher probablywasted the $4,000 it cost him 10 be part o fth is mutual glasnost because II changedabsolutely nothing. .They're wrong. It changed some things,Fo r one an old Russian woman now knowswhat i t ' ~ like 10 hug and cry with anAmerican.And thousands of Soviet school childrenin the Ukraine now know what anAmerican feels like , Just like them.

I Dennis McCarthy's column appears, Tuesday, Thursday, FridayandSunday.

~ .. ," .'. , , 1 4. . . . .c.. .. :Beyond borders,the differences .aren't so great

Bill White sa t in hissmall trailer in a VanNuys mobile home parkMonday try ing to sort ou tthe changes in his lifesince he returned from th eSoviet Union two weeksago."I 'm a different person, that's for sure,"he says. " I'm less possessive about things Iown and much less materialistic afte rseeing how poor most Soviets are ."That poverty is why (Mikhail)Gorbachev is restructuring the country trying to get out of the stupid military ratrace that's crippling his people, just likeours."When White, a 61-year-old retiredWoodland Hills schoolteacher, begins totalk of the Soviet people he me t, especiallythe old woman at a bus s top, his voicebreaks. Since he returned horne from theInternational Peace Walk, he has oftenpictured her standing outside th e bus thatmorning. waving goodbye to the Amencanstranger with the funny hat.He hadn 't seen her at first , not with allthe Russian children pushing to get closerto him , pleading with him to please staythere one more second so they could touchhim .White was the first Ameri can theseUkranian school children had ever seen, letalone touched. What did an American feellike?Peace and friendship"Mir E Drujba (Peace and Friendship),"White shouted , reaching down 10 put asmall " Beyond War" sticker on each o ftheir lapels."M ir E Drujba." the child ren excitedlyyelled back, pressing forward for one moretouch before they ran horne to tell theirparents.. Ove r their shoulders, he saw he r -wrapped in a heavy, worn wool coat - he rface etched with 75, maybe 80 years ofpOverty-hardened life in the Ukraine.. White reached beyond the children an dpu t a Slicker on the old woman's lapel.Before he could lake his hand back, she ha dgrabbed it, holding it tight in her o.wn hand,, It startled him. Struggling to mamtam h ISbalance, While's eyes locked in on the oldwoman's expressionless face, staring hard athim be fore she finally let go of his hand."Two hours later, ou r group had boardedtile bus and was sitting there, when I lookedoln the window and saw her ," he said. "Shehad not gone horne yet. She was going frombus to bus looking for me.

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Synopsis of the 1988 Soviet Union Peace Walk