Peace and justice. Peace be with you. Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men. We talk about peace all the time, so blithely, that we have lost its meaning.

Many people have worked for the cause of peace and justice throughout the years. This is a look at two local peace activists whose work has led them down different roads.

One ended up in the public eye and was imprisoned for her efforts. The other stayed behind the scenes and made his own quiet little campaign. Both tried to do one thing -- to make the world stop and think for just a moment about the choices being made every day and what they meant.

I wondered: After a life spent pursuing the cause of peace and justice, what have they decided to keep along the way? What would you find in their dresser drawers? What mementos stayed close to their hearts? What did they have to keep?

I decided to call them and find out.

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Molly Rush is a mother of six, grandmother, wife, sister, daughter, friend and confidant of many. She is one of the founding members of the Thomas Merton Center. On Sept. 9, 1980, she joined Daniel and Philip Berrigan and five other activists for a non-violent protest against nuclear weaponry. They calmly entered a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Montgomery County, where the outer shells for nuclear warheads were being manufactured and beat those shells with hammers in protest. They became forever known as the "Plowshares Eight."

For this act of civil disobedience, Molly was promptly imprisoned and put on trial. At one point, she thought that she might spend the rest of her life behind bars. Her trial lasted for 11 years. "It brought the whole nuclear weapons issue to the public forum for the entire time," she said. "It was an opportunity to argue the case, it was a gift."

Each August, the reality of nuclear warfare comes into view as Hiroshima and Nagasaki are remembered. The atomic bombings on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, killed 220,000 people. The argument has been made that nuclear bombing prevented further bloodshed. Maybe so. We will never know. Regardless, Molly Rush and millions around the world believe that there has to be a better way than building weapons that are at least 20 times more powerful than those that fell on Japan.

When I called Molly and asked her if she had saved any of the T-shirts, pins and other goodies that she has collected along the way, she told me, "Yes. Everything."

Here are a just a handful of goodies:

1. "Hollanditis" is a term from early 1980s to describe the wave of pacifist activism originating in the Netherlands -- as if protesting nuclear warheads were a disease. More than 3.75 million signatures were collected in opposition to U.S. cruise missiles being deployed to the country -- some that were to carry neutron bombs. Molly attended a mass demonstration at The Hague in 1983. The buttons say "Tulips YES -- Missiles NO" or "Kiss me, I've got HOLLANDITIS."

"We were protesting the neutron bomb, 300,000 people marched that day. Old buildings lining the streets and all of the windows were open, people protesting. The echoing of shouts would fill the buildings and swell back into the streets. The subway system was clogged, people couldn't leave the trains underground because every stairwell was filled with people who couldn't fit on the street."

2. "We Shall Beat Our Swords Into Plowshares"

This button is a visual interpretation of Bible verse: "In the last days ... they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore" (Micah 4:1-4)

3. "If You've Seen One Nuclear War, You've Seen Them All."

As I was pairing it with the buttons to take the shot, I asked Molly where she got it. The answer was surprising.

"I don't know. It is a good shirt though, isn't it?" Her husband, Bill, who had been quietly sitting at the table just listening to the conversation chimed in: "That's my shirt."

Molly: It is?
Bill: Yes, I invented it.
Molly: You did?!
Bill: Yes, while you were on trial.

He left the room and got a copy of "Hammer of Justice." a book by Liane Ellison Norman about the Plowshares Eight.

He opened the book to the page showing him and Molly outside the courtroom. There it was -- Bill wearing a homemade T-shirt, slogan affixed with iron-on letters.

4. "Thou shalt not kill ... REMEMBER?"

"This just says it all, simply. I wore this at a lot of peace marches."

5. I asked Molly to pick up a shirt to pose with. She grabbed this one: "DISARM AND LIVE," followed with the key Bible verse about plowshares.

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Earl V. Jones Sr. has a colorful history in our area. A retired steelworker, he was a long-shot mayoral candidate who ran against Tom Murphy; he also erected a memorial with his own money to remember the two runners who died in the 1990 Pittsburgh Marathon.

But what he most wants to be remembered for is his attempt to spread the message of bringing peace on earth so that all of the world's children can have a better tomorrow. To that end, he is the founder and chairman of the International Peace on Earth Contest and Campaigns.

Earl likes banners -- and signs. You may have noticed a huge "Peace on Earth" banner that hung over the county courthouse about five years ago. That banner has traveled the world. Everywhere it goes, Earl has the recipients take a photo, send it to him and pass it on. He has made a book of the banner's travels and of his "Peace on Earth Campaign." He has sent them all over the world: to presidents, to religious leaders, to sports organizations, anywhere that he thinks his message will get through.

He is a one-man crusade, with one mission -- peace on earth for all the world's children.

6. "We Are Here to Save the Human Race, Not Win the Race." "This is my sign to the political candidates. When Pennsylvania became so important in the primaries, we had people here in Hazelwood that we hadn't seen in decades. I made this sign to remind them of what's important." 7. "One of my first efforts at peace was to hold an essay contest. I quickly realized that these kids today are so smart. I could not have won that contest. I was never an intelligent man, just an average man. So I came up with the idea for the banner, the campaign that anyone could participate in. Just stand with the banner and make peace on earth your cause."