The people in South Hill immediately displayed their hospitality and openness as soon as we entered their town yesterday evening. I was finishing our day’s running mileage near the center of town. Across the street were some children and their parents standing outside Gino’s Pizza Place, not knowing what we were doing as we ran down one of their main streets as 7:00 p.m. Nevertheless, they enthusiastically held the torch making their own wishes for harmony and understanding in their own sweet way. The children took turns carrying the torch down the block to our endpoint as more people came out to see what was going on. Mamoud, the owner of the restaurant, and some of his employees even came out to hold the torch and offer their goodwill. To our surprise, Mamoud very kindly also offered a large pizza pie with ‘the works’. This spontaneous display of oneness and kindness warmed our hearts and in this case, filled our stomachs.

Today we started running down the scenic rolling hills of route 1 as we made our way towards Raleigh, the state Capital. As usual, many curious people waved and honked their car horns as the runners carried the flaming torch of World Harmony, offering a spark of light into their daily world in a unique fashion. This flame becomes even brighter as we are greeted by local people along the way, either spontaneously or in a pre-organized meeting. Many times during the day people even stop their cars to meet us and find out what we are doing. This heartfelt offering means a lot to us as we are merely trying to inspire others to feel the significance of the symbolic flame of harmony and understanding inside all of our hearts.

In Raleigh, we were greeted by Ingrid Wood of the school called Project Enlightenment. This unique school is a resource center for teachers and parents to learn how to focus on the positive qualities of children and teach the children how to live in harmony with nature and the rest of their expanding world. Ingrid was joined by some of the local residents of the beautiful Boylan Heights neighborhood of Raleigh, including Deborah Ross from the State House of Representatives who offered us a very kind message.

Michael and Mary Gail Zirkle, our friends who arranged this meeting to welcome us into their city, also welcomed us into their home and offered us great food and warm hospitality. We will carry the offerings of goodwill and harmony of all those wonderful citizens of Raleigh who came out to greet us, share the torch with us and take care of us as we make our way through the wonderful state of North Carolina.

Special Thanks

We would like to thank the Best Western Skyland Inn for hosting half the team and the Quality Inn —both in Durham North Carolina—for hosting the other half. Both hotels were very nice and incredibly hospitable.

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