Icons of the world live on forever, are remembered and remembered even long after they were first created and occasionally they are misinterpreted or even misconstrued in their meaning and original intent.
The peace symbol is one of these iconic symbols that still lives on today, even after fifty years of life the peace symbol still captures the hearts and imaginations of new and old generations alike.
Many of the young assume that the ubiquitous little logo suddenly appeared in the 1960s on the side of some hippie-wagon in the Haight-Ashbury district, while it’s a British export, it has a far more complex origin then can be imagined.
Certainly, the origins of just about everything is up for debate, yet it’s widely accepted that the peace symbol was designed and created by Gerald Holtom, a British artist and Second World War conscientious objector, who originally created the peace logo as a sign to be the emblem for the fight for nuclear disarmament.
The simplistic peace symbol first made its debut on Good Friday in 1958, on banners and placards held high by a 5,000 anti-nuclear protesters on a historic four-day march from London’s Trafalgar Square to the Aldermaston weapons factory 50 miles from the famous square.
The symbol took hold in the minds and consciousness of the world, instantly becoming the beacon in the dark fight for world peace. Adopted by the American civil rights movement, then by the hippie culture, and then by the special interest groups, from feminists to gay rights activists, everybody grabbed a piece of the pie.
For half a century it has been misused, manipulated for personal benefit, attacked out of hand, co-opted and commercialized, plastered on every surface imaginable, including album covers, posters, buildings, a US commemorative stamp, as a backdrop for Greenpeace and John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance, and even on the packaging of Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Mother Earth needs a new symbol to stand for the fight for her health and welfare and a new understanding of the true responsibilities we all share in when we are born into Mother Earth’s beauty and grace. An icon to constantly remind all humans of our bond with the Earth, to keep the battle constantly on the minds of all concerned humans, and to simply represent human understanding of the need to change our way of life and the way we think of the only place in the universe we know human life can exist, planet Earth.
Artists search your minds, your consciousness, for a new symbol to represent the human need to change, and tell the world, you never know, maybe you’ll be leading the next revolution. The only thing for sure is that if we do nothing, nothing will change, and I think we all are smart enough to see that the world could use a few changes.
