Student hopes to turn tree into memorial
LEWISTON
There isn’t much at the tree now: a small cross made of twigs. Some slips of paper. A red bandanna tied to the trunk.
But one college student hopes the little tree in the middle of Bates College will soon become a memorial for people killed half a world away.
“I scoped out the trees on campus. I felt this was one that called to me,” said Gregory Rosenthal, a junior at Bates College.
He has designated it the Tree of Peace.
Rosenthal, a 21-year-old music major from upstate New York, has invited people to leave religious items and peace symbols at the base of the tree in memory of those killed during the war in Iraq. He has encouraged people to use the tree, and the symbols left there, to meditate or to pause in silence.
“People can walk by it and just spend a moment,” he said. “It’s a quiet space.”
Rosenthal’s goal: record one silent moment for every soldier and Iraqi citizen killed since the war began on March 20, 2003. Rosenthal’s Internet research showed almost 14,000 casualties, including more than 550 American soldiers and at least 8,400 Iraqi civilians.
In silence
So far, more than 200 moments of silence have been recorded at the tree. Many visitors noted their moments on a sheet of paper attached to the trunk.
Rosenthal said he hopes to record 1,000 moments himself by the war’s anniversary. Tuesday morning, he paused at the tree for 30 minutes of meditation.
Rosenthal came up with the idea for a Tree of Peace last year when he was involved in antiwar protests.
“There was a lack of a space for people to quietly reflect, especially if they weren’t sure whether they were for or against the war, or if they were against it,” he said.
Set in the middle of the campus quadrangle, near the Bates library and the science building, the Tree of Peace is barely distinguishable from the dozens of other trees that surround it. But the little memorial is slowly growing with religious symbols and peace icons.
Rosenthal has e-mailed students and staff about the Tree of Peace, and he sent messages to Maine peace and justice organizations.
“I don’t know if I expect people to come to Lewiston from other places,” he said. “But maybe it will encourage them to start their own tree.”
Visitors can register their moments by e-mailing [email protected] or by recording them anonymously on a sheet of paper attached to the tree’s trunk.
The tree will serve as a memorial until March 20.
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