Over 200 people gathered at the lighthouse on Westcliff Drive tonight to participate in the worldwide candlelight vigil for peace that began earlier today in New Zealand. Fire dancers performed on the lawn next to the lighthouse, around which the crowd gathered and sang songs for peace.

At one end of the large circle, someone suggested that people come to the middle and say what peace means to them. The responses included everything from how we treat each other in our everyday lives to people envisioning a global community.

One of the last individuals to answer was a young girl (four and three quarters old, she instructed me) who walked into the middle of the circle, turned around, took a deep breath and declared, “Peace means no guns and no swords!”

And such was the feeling of the evening.