Recently the Montessori School hosted a very friendly and gracious woman who survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Can you imagine my surprise when she told the students that she had met the co-pilot who had dropped the bomb on Hiroshima? She had been 8 months old when the bomb destroyed her father's church and knocked down the parsonage where she lived. The parsonage was located less than a mile away from the church.

Ten years later, at the age of 10, her father was featured on the TV show, “This is Your Life.” During the show the co-pilot was introduced to her family. He said that after the bomb was dropped they circled back to see if the target was hit and the entire city had disappeared. He wrote in the log book, “Oh my God, what have we done?” He cried as he told the story on TV and held the 10-year-old girl's hand. She remembers his hand felt big and warm, and she felt all the hate for Americans, that she had known since her birth, just melt away.

Chills and surprise gripped me when I heard her story. I have never heard anything like it in my life.

As a teacher, it is hard to teach peace when we often find it difficult simply to like each other. We often find anger and violence directed towards children, family members and neighbors. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all see the humanity and dignity of everyone, turn a blind eye to negativity, have a moment that melts away the anger and hate and turns it into compassion and love? That co-pilot, I understand, ultimately took his own life. His sorrow infused a young Japanese girl with love. Her story has real significance for those who want to teach peace - that hate can not stand up against true apology and forgiveness.

In addition to this event, our class trip brought out the best in everyone. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the elementary class weekend trip. The trip consists of two nights in a hotel, (swimming pool a must), two days of driving and one and a half days of walking.

The school trip is the culmination of the historical and cultural learning that has taken place throughout the year. The very instant the students and adults begin the trip an instinctual change takes place in which everyone assumes a supportive role, and no one requires the focus of the group. Spirits are generally high and proactive no matter how uncertain the moment or how grueling the pace.

This year we went to Boston. On this trip we were able to see the look on the children's faces as they rode the subways for the first time, saw ancient Greek statues, picnicked at Harvard University, saw a show about lightning and watched sea divers feed the sharks and turtles in the aquarium.

Traveling opens the world to students, broadens their base of understanding and it brings them closer together as friends. Not just the students, but the parents also enjoyed the same broadening of cultural understanding and the same forming of close friendships. The trip is meant to provide the ultimate shared learning experience. The family is the main source of a child's inspiration and should always be there to share the joy of discovery. We are all young at heart when we travel together.

Last year we walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. That night we carried a birthday cake to the White House where we had a party for three of the students. Most of the 35 participants walked six miles that day. Aside from the complete exhaustion and surprising physical challenges, the trip was characterized by the willingness to put aside personal needs and limitations thereby opening the door to deep friendships.

Gilda Brower is the director and founder of the Montessori School