Let's Write About Peace Bells!

How bell ringing is a universal clarion call for peace in the world published in Rotary Magazine by JP Swenson
Ringing in a peaceful world (In Section: Profile)
A past Rotary district peace chair chimes in- with bells!🔔

Doug Sturomski Roary Club of Greater Newburgh, New York

In 1992, a few months after the Soviet Union collapsed, Doug and Martha Sturomski were invited to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to perform their bell ringing routine. 

"A bell is one of the most ubiquitous instruments on earth," Doug Sturomski says. "It’s in almost every aspect of humanity, from communication to transportation, from science to religion."

In 2009, he founded the Peace Bell Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to planting peace poles, spreading messages of peace through handbell ringing, and moving humanity "from the love of power to the power of love." The couple have performed at Lincoln Center, the Harvard Club, and Carnegie Hall in New York and at over 1,000 school programs. Through his Rotary club, Sturomski has led a project to plant peace poles in his community. During Rotary Day at the UN in 2015, the club received a Peace Through Service Award from RI representatives to the UN for its efforts.

Sturomski takes a metaphysical approach to peace and encourages everyone to think about these questions: "Why are we here? Why am I here? What am I going to do about it?" When he was a child, his father suggested he become a priest. "I’ve been like this since I was a little kid," Sturomski says.

Now, with eight grandchildren, Sturomski is looking to the future, noting the negative outlook of the Global Peace Index, which ranks the number of conflicts at the highest point since World War II. He’s reminded of what’s at stake every morning that he takes his grandkids to the school bus. "Just to experience that wonder they have and the simplicity of it, the innocence of it. We have to understand that we’re just like those children."

— JP SWENSON