WORLD PEACE IS AIM OF LOCAL OBSERVANCE

As orange, green, yellow and pink lanterns floated across the lake at Cape County Park North, area citizens reflected on world peace.

While war raged in Bosnia and other parts of the world, about 50 people gathered at the park Sunday night to observe World Peace Day.

The seventh annual event was sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an ecumenical organization in Cape Girardeau.

This year's World Peace Day commemorated the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

Jim Erdman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation said FOR is a religious organization, but it isn't tied to any one faith.

"It is meant to promote nonviolence as a means of solving problems locally and internationally," he said.

This year's festivities included a special emphasis on World War II.

The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and days later, the bombing of Nagasaki, forced Japan's surrender and the end of war in the Pacific.

Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 300,000 people died from the bombs.

Frank Nickell, an associate professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University, said President Harry Truman's decision to use of atomic weapons was a traumatic milestone in world history.

"It was the most significant decision made by one person in human history," Nickell said. "It changed the nature of warfare and the world economy."

Since 1945, almost everyone has lived under the threat of nuclear war, said the Rev. Scott Moon.

World Peace Day has been observed since 1950 but activities weren't organized locally until 1989.