We're approaching the sad anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. I was in lower Manhattan that day, and thinking of that terrible loss is still hard. The lower corridors of the World Trade Center used to be part of my daily commute. I walked from the PATH trains to the Chamber Street subway station five days a week, and I still see the whole route clearly in my mind.
By this time next year, for the 10th anniversary, a memorial park is supposed to be open to the public. The city promises a "forest" of 400 trees surrounding two huge reflecting pools built into the footprints of the fallen towers. The first 16 trees, 30-foot-tall swamp white oaks, were planted last week.
On Saturday, from 6 to 9 pm, the New York Buddhist Church on Riverside Drive, Manhattan, will be holding its annual 9-11 Memorial Floating Lanterns Ceremony. The NYBC is a Jodo Shinshu temple established in 1938. The ceremony will be both Buddhist and interfaith. Before the many lanterns representing the dead are floated out on the Hudson River, a series of interfaith prayers will be led by the Interfaith Center of New York. Food will be provided by the local Sikh community.
The NYBC is led by the Rev. T.K. Nakagaki. At Huffington Post, Matthew Weiner and the Rev. Chloe Breyer write that after 9/11, the Rev. Nakagaki noticed that Buddhists had been left out of the city's memorial service at Yankee Stadium. So the next year he organized the first 9/11 floating lantern ceremony, and it has been held every year since. Hundreds of people attend.
You have no doubt heard of the broiling controversy over building an Islamic Community Center two blocks from the "ground zero" site. Protesters from around the nation are expected to pour into lower Manhattan this Saturday, in spite of some 9/11 family organizations requesting the demonstrations be rescheduled for another day. The Rev. Nakagaki says all people are welcome to attend the ceremony, whatever their views. It will be a time to put differences aside and remember the dead.