Abolition of the Army Day

Today we commerate the abolition of the army here in Costa Rica. The army was abolished in 1948, following a period a civil war. Jose Figeros, the president at the time, officially abolished the army with a speech made in San Jose. In the speech, he turned the keys of the building that housed the military headquarters over to the education department of the government. Today the building holds the National Musuem of Costa Rica.
You gotta love a country that gives its military buildings to its schools. You gotta love a country where they deal with a civil war by abolishing the army.
Costa Ricans are immensly proud of their lack of a military. The whole country embraces peace on so many levels; not only do they refuse to engage in armed conflict, you will rarely see Costa Ricans yelling or fighting at all. They tend to deal with conflict by avoiding it...which is not neccassarily always a good thing, but it certainly makes for a peaceful atmosphere.
At our little Quaker school in the mountains, we of course love Abolition of the Army day. The lack of military is what brought the original Quaker settlers here, after all. This morning in Assembly I got to read to the students Jose Figeros´s speech made the day the army was abolished (I read it in English, of course). Then we shared some other quotes about war and its costs.
Other activites for the day include a viewing of a film about civil war in El Salvador and a performance of Dr.Suess´s ¨The Butter Battle Book¨ by the 5th and 6th grade class (a story about the foolishness of war).
A day like this makes you never want to leave this place.