WAILUA BAY – More than 40 Kaua‘i residents and clergymen gathered at Lydgate Park Saturday to commemorate the thousands who died during the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and made a plea for “world peace.” “The World Trade Center
WAILUA BAY – More than 40 Kaua‘i residents and clergymen gathered at Lydgate Park Saturday to commemorate the thousands who died during the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and made a plea for “world peace.”
“The World Trade Center tragedy is a tragedy and gives us an opportunity to reflect on world peace,” the Rev. Koho Takata of the Kapa‘a Hongwanji Mission said at the Kauai Interfaith Picnic for World Peace.
Participants were asked to remember the living who are still affected by the national tragedy that, according to news accounts, claimed 1,570 lives.
Koho was among a handful of Kaua‘i clergy – Buddhist ministers and priests with the United Church of Christ – who urged participants to follow the peaceful ways of God.
Nationwide, communities were to observe September 11 in their own ways, according to news wire reports. Services were to be held at fire stations, and flag ceremonies and bell-ringing events were to be held.
On Kaua‘i, fighters were to be recognized, and leis were to placed in the ocean to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks.
Koho said the World Trade Center attack of three years ago has been “just one of the tragedies” that occur daily throughout the world.
“The 911 gives us the opportunity to deeply reflect upon ourselves and to further pursue world peace, and (provides future opportunities) on how we can realize the peace in the present moment,” Koho said from a statement.
Koho urged participants to “rededicate ourselves to world peace.”
The Rev. Shoryu Akiya of the Kapa‘a Jodo Mission urged participants to “pray for world peace.”
“I hope the sound of the bell is a step toward world peace,” said Akiya, as he tapped a “peace bell” repeatedly and steadily in a graduated tone for more than a minute, lending a calming effect as participants stood or sat in silence.
The Rev. James Koyama of the Lihue Christian Church, who briefly quoted scripture from the gospel of Luke, said that “wars are ignited by ungrateful people.”
“Gratitude is a major part of being a Christian,” Koyama said. “Being thankful is a way of feeling full, and to experience gratitude, we have to understand it and that the Bible gives us clues – that what is precious and wonderful … giving.”
Koyama said “peace-loving people” are those who “realize what they have been given and (they) show their gratitude by cherishing what they have received.”
Many times people are misled into thinking that the ordinary is nothing more than that, when in fact, the ordinary is “extraordinary,” Koyama said.
He said it is sad that there are people who see the deaths of others as “ordinary” and not something profound.
If political leaders, soldiers and others saw death in that way, war and bloodshed could be avoided, Koyama said.
The Rev. Claire Cassell of the Kapa‘a United Church of Christ, while reading scripture, said peace is more than the “opposite of war.”
“Peace starts inside of each of us, when we have compassion for others,” she said. “And when people maintain compassion, no matter how they behave, we create peace.”
Peace in the world can happen and spread by people not having “self-attachments, self-centered minds,” said Denise Koerte , a member of the Young Buddhist Association of Kauai.
“We can extend our great concern and pledge for world peace by first realizing how we can bring peace to the world,” said Koerte, a 16-year-old Kaua‘i High School junior and the daughter of Anthony and Doreen Koerte from East Kaua‘i.
“As Buddhists, we must realize our own self by practicing the teachings,” Koerte said. “By doing this, we are able to see what we can do to seek world peace.”
Korean War combat veteran John Iwamoto said he agreed with most of what was said, but noted that “peace comes from freedom” and that at times, freedom, unfortunately, can only be achieved through war. “Sometimes there is no alternative,” he said.
Among those attending the ceremony was House Rep. Hermina Morita.
Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
