The Work of Peace

May is the end of the "FIUTS year". Students are preparing for their final exams and many international students will soon graduate or return to their home countries. FIUTS staff and volunteers are busy planning for fall quarter International Student Orientation and getting ready for the 60th Anniversary events coming up in November.

As we look back on another year, it is difficult to measure the true effect of our work. Will one of this year's students go on to become a world leader and foster dialogue between nations? Will a friendship made this year change a career or life path and inspire others?

The Poet William Stafford wrote a beautiful poem about the absence of war, that reminds me of the silent power of programs like FIUTS, inspiring peace by building bonds between people from around the world.

This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed - or were killed - on this ground
hollowed by the neglect of an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.

Era Schrepfer,
FIUTS Executive Director
era@fiuts.org