As individuals nationwide struggle to formulate an appropriate response to the Sept. 11 attacks, Donald Jolly '04 finds his answer in a large placard hung around his neck that says "Will Work for Peace."
"I felt compelled to do something," Jolly said. "I just wanted to do my part."
Jolly, a self-proclaimed pacifist, was looking for a way to join the "crusade for peace for humanity" as he calls it. "I feel almost impaired being here in my fight for peace. I'm just always worried about my next papers and my next grades. It's very easy to get caught up in the 'Dartmouth bubble.'"
Jolly's sign is meant to imply that he will, as an individual, work for peace. This personalization "is why I wear it, and I don't just post a sign somewhere," he said.
But the sign is left purposely ambiguous. "It's left open to interpretation of the individual."
Currently, his work for peace consists of wearing the sign. "It's important for the individual to start with him/her self," said Jolly. "My goal of peace however is much greater than any one sign can do."
Jolly has received mixed responses from the Dartmouth community. "Some people come up and smile or say congratulations. But people also roll their eyes or shake their heads at me. Other people just pretend not to see me."
The idea for the sign came from Jolly's English 5 assignment, when his professor, Shelby Grantham, asked the students to brainstorm one idea to change the world. For his project, Jolly wore a sign saying "We Need Love" for all of Winter and Spring terms last year.
One student who graduated last year blitzed Jolly after the Sept. 11 tragedy to say that she was thinking of his "We Need Love" sign, and it cheered her day.
Another student responded to his "Will Work for Peace" sign by yelling "How about 'Will fight for my country?'"
"I feel that sometimes the Dartmouth community needs to be shaken up a little," Jolly said. "I wanted to see if it'd catch on. I thought I'd get other people to wear signs."
"I did it, I survived it, and now I'm here to do it again."
