Remembering Peace

You’ll have to forgive me. I take slightly longer to process experiences that my fellow travelers, so please step back in time with me to Monday.

In the morning we walked along Morningside Heights to the Cathedral of St. John of the Divine. If ever there was a building filled with collective memory it is an unfinished cathedral that has been under construction for over a hundred years. St. John of the Divine does not disappoint with a multitude of plaques, statues, stained glass, and inscriptions. everything from an FDNY memorial to a stone commemorating the choirboys who contributed to the construction of the cathedral from 1902-1906 (before child labor laws, so yes, 9 year-old construction workers.)

Among the many memorial objects two stood out to me. At first for their respective beauty and oddness and later for how they relate.

The first is this Peace Tree.

It is placed in the cathedral every advent season and covered in hundreds of white paper cranes of all sizes. the accompanying sign explains the Japanese tradition that folding 1,000 paper cranes will grant the folder 1 wish. Each year after the tree is decorated with cranes it is dedicated with prayers for world peace. Both the enormous tree and its purpose are unspeakably beautiful.

The second memorial that stood out is this 9/11 memorial.

In case you can’t make it out in the picture, the memorial is the bust of a woman with two small 747 airplanes flying into the backs of her raised hands. I find the image quite distasteful and was glad that it was tucked away in a corner. In a time when violence against women is all but normalized and almost expected, I object to imposing the horrific violence of 9/11 onto a female body. Later over dinner conversation, others commented on her voluptuous form being the traditional christian representation of Charity. This person objected to the United States being portrayed as the benevolent, generous, innocent, presence in the world. Most of us just didn’t like it for one reason or another.

It wasn’t until today, walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, that I remembered the two share a space and are inescapably in dialogue: How can the 9/11 memorial, however problematically designed, remind us of the importance of world peace? How can we be reminded of our desire for world peace, that the Peace Tree embodies, when it isn’t easy? When it isn’t Christmastide. When we are drowning in grief and can’t hear the Prince of Peace calling. When fear is leading us towards vengeance. How can we begin to remember to “Forgive our debtors” and choose peace?