The IJHC joins our nation in sending our condolences and healing wishes to the families and friends of those who perished on 9-11.

REST IN PEACE
by Thich Nhat Hanh

I am a World Trade Center tower, standing tall in the
clear blue sky, feeling a violent blow in my side, and
I am a towering inferno of pain and suffering
imploding upon myself and collapsing to the
ground.
May I rest in peace.

I am a terrified passenger on a hijacked airplane
not knowing where we are going or that I am riding
on fuel tanks that will be instruments of death, and
I am a worker arriving at my office not knowing
that in just a moment my future will be obliterated.
May I rest in peace.

I am a pigeon in the plaza between the two towers
eating crumbs from someone's breakfast when fire
rains down on me from the skies, and I am a bed of
flowers admired daily by thousands of tourists now
buried under five stories of rubble.
May I rest in peace.

I am a firefighter sent into dark corridors of smoke
and debris on a mission of mercy only to have it
collapse around me, and I am a rescue worker
risking my life to save lives who is very aware that I
may not make it out alive.
May I rest in peace.

I am a survivor who has fled down the stairs and out
of the building to safety who knows that nothing will
ever be the same in my soul again,and I am a doctor
in a hospital treating patients burne from head to toe
who knows that these horrible images will remain in
my mind forever.
May I know peace.

I am a tourist in Times Square looking up at the giant
TV screens thinking
I'm seeing a disaster movie as I watch the Twin
Towers crash to the ground, and I am a New York
woman sending e-mails to friends and
family letting them know that I am safe.
May I know peace.

I am a piece of paper that was on someone's desk
this morning and now I'm debris scattered by the
wind across lower Manhattan, and I am a stone in
the graveyard at Trinity Church covered with soot
from the buildings that once stood proudly above
me, death meeting death.
May I rest in peace.

I am a dog sniffing in the rubble for signs of life,
doing my best to be of service, and I am a blood
donor waiting in line to make a simple but very
needed contribution for the victims.
May I know peace.

I am a resident in an apartment in downtown New
York who has been forced to evacuate my home, and
I am a resident in an apartment uptown who has
walked 100 blocks home in a stream of other
refugees.
May I know peace.

I am a family member who has just learned that
someone I love has died, and I am a pastor who
must comfort someone who has suffered a
heartbreaking loss.
May I know peace.

I am a loyal American who feels violated and vows to
stand behind any military action it takes to wipe
terrorists off the face of the earth, and I am a loyal
American who feels violated and worries that people
who look and sound like me are all going to be
blamed for this tragedy.
May I know peace.

I am a frightened city dweller who wonders whether
I'll ever feel safe in a skyscraper again, and I am a
pilot who wonders whether there will ever be a way
to make the skies truly safe.
May I know peace.

I am the owner of a small store with five employees
that has been put out of business by this tragedy,
and I am an executive in a multinational corporation
who is concerned about the cost of doing business
in a terrorized world.
May I know peace.

I am a visitor to New York City who purchases
postcards of the World Trade Center Twin Towers
that are no more, and I am a television reporter trying
to put into words the terrible things I have seen.
May I know peace.

I am a boy in New Jersey waiting for a father who will
never come home, and I am a boy in a faraway
country rejoicing in the streets of my village because
someone has hurt the hated Americans.
May I know peace.

I am a general talking into the microphones about
how we must stop the terrorist cowards who have
perpetrated this heinous crime, and I am an
intelligence officer trying to discern how such a thing
could have happened on American soil, and I am a
city official trying to find ways to alleviate the suffering
of my people.
May I know peace.

I am a terrorist whose hatred for America knows no
limit and I am willing to
die to prove it, and I am a terrorist sympathizer
standing with all the enemies of American
capitalism and imperialism, and I am a master
strategist for a terrorist group who planned this
abomination.
My heart is not yet capable of openness, tolerance,
and loving.
May I know peace.

I am a citizen of the world glued to my television set,
fighting back my rage and despair at these horrible
events, and I am a person of faith struggling to
forgive the unforgivable, praying for the consolation
of those who have lost loved ones, calling upon
the merciful beneficence of
God/Yahweh/Allah/Spirit/Higher Power.
May I know peace.
So May it Be, And so it is.

There is a growing awareness that these deaths were not in vain. They have generated vitally important starts at healing many of the insensitivities that contributed and continue to feed the hatreds that divide our world.

               Next - Photo of burned hill,
                  or go to Memorial sites
               

I am one of 1,500 quilts made in Australia, sent as a token of wishes for healing.

(Click on quilts for the story of their origins)