Far above the Arctic Circle, on Norway’s isolated Lofoten Islands, I found a man who had a dream. I met the wildly creative artist, Scott Thoe. Many years ago, he dreamed of building a gigantic bridge made out of tanks. A bridge created from 40,000 military tanks, to be precise! Can you imagine the enormity of an arch of tanks, the powerful significance of their destruction as a signal of a new world of peaceful co-existence?
It was 1990, and the Cold War appeared to be ending. Scott imagined his bridge built over a river between Germany and Poland. It would be across the former Iron Curtain, that imaginary wall between the Western countries and the Soviet countries. By 1991, Gorbachev (the Soviet president) and Reagan (the United States president) actually signed treaties committing their countries to the destruction of a set number of nuclear weapons and conventional weapons (including tanks).
Scott wrote to Gorbachev himself, outlining his dream. He was delighted to receive a response inviting him to visit Moscow and bring along the model he’d built of the 40,000 tank bridge to display in the Russian parliament. He was enthusiastically received, and tanks were promised. He contacted other European countries, and they also agreed to provide tanks for this huge art installation.
But the bridge of tanks never became a reality. Not everyone in power (in and out of the Soviet Union) wanted to move toward disarmament. Gorbachev was soon out of office. In addition, the exact location for the bridge became a matter of conflict. After years of effort, Scott had to let go of his project.
Decades have passed since Scott Thoe first dreamed of the bridge of tanks, but the model of the proposed bridge still stands in his gallery. The true gift of an artist is to create something that helps all of us experience their vision and to powerfully feel the truth and beauty of the vision. This ten foot long model does not use actual tanks, but it does speak truth and beauty to all who see it.
Gazing at it, I recognized the ancient ache of human beings for peace, the ancient desire to turn away from the weapons of war. That is the dream that is still alive. Scott Thoe is a grandfather now. I am a grandmother. We deeply long for a peaceful world for our children and grandchildren. At the present time, the world is not turning to peaceful ways. Wars are raging and stirring up brokenness and cruelty within humanity. Incendiary language blasts our social media and fosters more conflict.
But the dream is not dead or sleeping. We each carry it within us. And we are called to live it out in our own unique lives, using our own unique gifts. We may not all dream a bridge built of thousands of disabled tanks, but we can each dream about bridges. We can all imagine how to build bridges that will connect people and create understanding between peoples. I invite you to imagine such a bridge — and build it, too!
Thousands of years ago, a prophet wrote hopefully
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isa. 2:4)
I would like to add to Isaiah’s words: They shall create bridges out of their tanks, and they shall link the people of the earth together; they shall not learn war any more.

If these words have spoken to you, please share them with others.