Peace
High School: Grades 9–12
Story
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The next day was August 28. In the afternoon Julia walked under the overarching trees of her quiet Lincoln Park neighborhood to the Fullerton "L" station. As she approached the station she saw Mark immediately. With his auburn hair, she could have picked him out of any crowd.
Julia and Mark had grown up together. They had climbed every tree in the schoolyard, played in each other's homes all through grade school, and helped each other with algebra. They had even shared a first kiss when they were in ninth grade, although they never "went out." They hadn't even talked about the kiss, but they remained friends, which Julia thought was almost more important. It was great to have a guy be such a close friend.
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He turned to greet her as she approached him. "Hey, Gandhi! Are you ready to make some waves?" He wore a plain white t-shirt with the slogan "Hell No! We Won't Go!" printed boldly in black.
"My father is freaked out about me going to Grant Park," Julia said.
"That's no surprise," Mark responded. "My parents didn't have much to say about it. I think they'll be glad when I'm out of the house; I know I will be," he grinned.
They climbed the stairs and waited on the platform for the train to take them the seven stops to the Van Buren Street station downtown. On the platform there were a lot of other people their age. Many had peace sign buttons. A young woman had a Yippie button on her blue and green tie-dyed t-shirt. She also had a necklace of flowers around her neck and a wreath of flowers around her head.
As they waited for the train, they fell into the conversation that they never seemed to resolve. "Julia, you can't honestly tell me that you think marching peacefully is actually going to change anything about the war and the way the Democratic Party is handling this nomination process."
Julia responded, "Yes I do. Gandhi changed India with peaceful protest. Martin Luther King believed in peaceful protest and he had a profound impact on civil rights. I think that if thousands of people march peacefully on the Amphitheater, there is no way our point won't get across. There's already too much violence happening in Vietnam."
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Mark shook his head at her in disbelief. "Have you really seen what the war looks like? The bombs and napalm are falling like rain on the Vietnamese. We have to disrupt the war machine; we have to take direct action. To me the government of the United States is just one big bureaucratic war machine. They want to draft me to become a trained killer, since they think it's O.K. to kill innocent civilians if I'm wearing a military uniform. If a draft card comes in the mail that has my name on it, I'm burning it. This is the time to take action! If that means using force to disrupt the status quo, then I am all for it."
Julia looked at him and said softly, "I can't bear to think of you being drafted. I don't want there to be any violence anywhere. I just believe with my whole heart that if everyone made the decision to be peaceful, then things could really change."
Mark shook his head. "It's a good thing we've known each for so long, or I don't think we would even be able to speak to each other."
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