After a week that saw a mail bomber targeting political leaders and another deadly mass shooting in a house of worship, a Vermont man is now urging a renewed focus on peace and kindness—in a creative way.
“I have fun with this,” said Dave Caccavo of New Haven, as he fired up his lawnmower Tuesday.
Yard maintenance doesn’t always seem like a chore to Caccavo, who finds opportunity in it: a chance to make a mark and show his point of view.
“It’s a simple expression,” Caccavo said.
The small business owner uses his lawnmower as a brush, and a horse pasture next to his home as a canvas, for a kind of painting—in grass.
Caccavo regularly trims a peace symbol into the pasture.
“There’s a lot of good out there—everybody just has to grab for the good and keep pushing forward,” Caccavo said, explaining how he aims to maintain optimism even when news headlines can seem dispiriting.
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Since the universally-recognizable peace symbol that Caccavo trims with his blade is only fully visible from above, certified drone photographer Matt Benedetto, of Vermont Aerial Photo, captured images of the field for necn’s viewers.
“Maybe someone flying over Vermont—maybe heading to Montreal or something like that—gets a glimpse of it as they’re flying over Vermont and gets a little bit of hope,” Benedetto said after seeing the peace symbol for the first time from his drone’s camera.
Caccavo noted he has been maintaining the peace symbol in the field for just over a decade, but he thought now was really the right time to show it off, especially after the awful massacre inside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Caccavo said he hopes as many people as possible see the symbol through this news story and find kindness and calm in their hearts.
“It generates a moment of peace in your head,” Caccavo said of the symbol. “We need more moments of peace—it’s crazier now than ever.”
Asked why he maintains the sign so faithfully, despite the fact most people cannot see it fully unless they were to fly above, Caccavo responded, “I know it’s there—I see it, and I feel it. For me, it’s always there.”
Dave Caccavo clearly found his peace in a farm field, and now wants everyone else to strive for that ideal in their own communities.
“My little part is making the sign, the rest is up to the rest of the world,” Caccavo said, smiling.
