 Thank you. Thank you all for coming on this gorgeous evening and when many of you are concerned about immediate problems of flooding your own flooding or helping others with their flooding There was already In Hiroshima a Ceremony with 50,000 people commemorating The bombing of Hiroshima and other ceremonies around the world This is very timely. We have the movie of Oppenheimer now being shown and we have some Threats about nuclear arms In the war in Ukraine So the bombing and the flooding are not entirely Unrelated the bombing is a result of our inability to live in harmony with other human beings and And the flooding and climate change is a result of our inability to live in harmony with nature the most horrendous act of war ever perpetrated was by the United States in 1945 when we dropped the first atomic bomb on the civilian population of Hiroshima on August 6th and the second bomb on Nagasaki three days later the estimates vary hundreds of thousands 200,000 let's say Humans were instantly incinerated in those bombings It's hard to get my mind around. What does 200,000 mean? Well, this is what it means in Vermont if Everyone in the following cities every single person was killed in Burlington Essex South Burlington Bennington Colchester Rutland Brattleboro Winooski Berry Montpelier St. Albans Newport Bellows Falls Morrisville Lindenville Virgin Swanton and my little town of Plainfield That comes close to the human death toll In 1945 The weapons that we have today are much more powerful than the bomb we had then and other countries are working on nuclear warheads and on more sophisticated methods of deploying them as The UN Secretary-General said the bar the drums of nuclear war are being Beating once again This ceremony is something we are all creating together As we walk peacefully together down once flooded State Street as We speak together as we listen together as we sing together as we share our commitments to peace We hope this evening. We will together create an experience of peace starting with our meditative walking an experience of peace that does not deny Fear and grief we have to embrace fear and grief and not Push them aside. We're living with them We will be walking silently down State Street pausing in front of Christ Church where the bell will toll 78 times for each year since the bombing The bell rings at exactly 7 15 the time the bomb was dropped We then continue walking to the high school where we will form a circle and First thing will be a reading of stories from Hibakusha survivors of the bombing and we will need four volunteers to read each one of them to read one of these short Stories from Hibakusha, so Joseph is right there He has copies of the stories if you will raise your hand if you volunteer to read one There's one volunteer there. They're numbered Because there's a certain logic to the sequence two more volunteers He says it under the reading number Thank you Yes And after that We will all be invited to share what is in our hearts and minds about peace Stories of peacemaking even the smallest Ways of peacemaking with neighbors or family can give encouragement to work for peace We we learn also from our failed attempts to create peace and From our failure to risk making peace then Rick and his friend George will be leading us in peace songs and And Finally, we will each take a flower from this beautiful Vietnamese made basket and We can't go down to the river as we have in the past the river is blocked with trees that were Hand down with the flood and mud but we will stand in our circle and Each person hold a flower and make a commitment To do something however small but doable in the coming year to Help create peace and you can be thinking about that in advance if you wish and now Mary Will talk about About I don't know Welcome We begin this is a commemoration of The probably the greatest act of state sponsored terrorism on the history of the planet as Glenda said thousands upon thousands of people died immediately To say nothing of many more died subsequent to August 6th 1945 but I'm also here to introduce an age-old practice called walking meditation and as we walk We have the capacity the opportunity to manifest peace and Love in every step that we take Just as kind of a prayer in motion This was taught by the Buddha and Certainly taught for decades by my teacher Zen master Tich Nhat Hanh So we walk in reverence for the dead and and the injured But we also walk For our planet the most this most beautiful precious planet that we all call home So again, we're walking in in reverence and in memory With each step that we take We can we have the opportunity to caress the earth We touch the earth very very gently We're not walking to get somewhere We're not walking to burn calories We're not walking to be at a certain destination at a certain time with a sense of rush and hurry It might be hard to understand but something as simple as walking Has a great impact on the health of the earth as peculiar as it sounds So tonight for the next 40 minutes We're going to walk in peace With very very gentle gentle steps With each step we come into the into the here and the now Not in the future Not in the past But into the present We bring all our attention to the souls of our feet That's where we that's where we become that is the focus And and the center of our attention We we become aware of how our feet contact the earth And the fluid motion of our feet And although indeed we are moving In another sense, we have stopped we have stopped our worry hopefully And our fears with each step We have the opportunity to manifest peace And gratitude for this most precious for this most beautiful planet that we call our home I I always regard walking meditation As as a a sort of a prayer A much much more meaningful prayer that I learned than that that I learned in Catholic grade school This is a silent walk We turn off any devices We are we have to keep to the sidewalks because we don't have something called a parade permit Um I think glenda well described the route We have a couple of crosswalks that we will negotiate We'll cross state street Um headed toward christ episcopal church Um And then when we stop when the bells toll And we all stop it's an opportunity To offer in the spirit of meditation contemplation or a prayer That this horrific act is never ever repeated What whatever language Spirituality speaks to us we offer a a prayer of to to the universe That glenda covered a lot of the the timing the bell at christ church will be It will sound the bells at seven fifteen as I understood the original time when the bomb was dropped It was eight fifteen in the morning Hiroshima time, but this isn't the adjusted time Um And then we all resume walking Down down state street to montpelier high school for the formation of another circle And I I truly hope That you find this a meaningful experience and strange strangely enough We also we walk in a spirit of what I would call paradox Um In each step we call to mind the tragedy But then we also the joy of being alive as a human being So we're walking as kind of an exercise In paradise life life is full of paradox So I truly hope that this is a meaningful experience walking is something we do every day And it is very simple to take this experience And you know grocery store at home anywhere walking In the woods anywhere. It's For me, it's a it's a very I call it a holy experience So I hope that you all enjoy it and um We will see one another very soon at the high school The ceremony today has several different parts and I will just go over them And make sure that we're all on the same page So the sequence of events is that we're going to start with statements by Hiroshima Hiroshima survivors With a Japanese called hibakusha There'll be five statements And after each one is read There'll be three meta prayers, which are short buddhist prayers of peace Following each statement And then the next person will go You should have on the sheet of paper. I gave you the number of reading that you're reading one two three four five After the last prayer is said I'm going to ask for a moment of silence So we can take in Everything that has been said And then Rick Pagliari And I'm sorry. I don't George man Who has graciously come he's on tour With a musicians group throughout this region and Rick and he came together To perform some songs for us relevant to the occasion And then Glenda has a poem that she wrote That is very fitting for this occasion And then there'll be the flower ceremony And each of you will be asked if you should show choose To share your thoughts About this occasion or anything else that came up for you during the walk Or anything that you feel is relevant for the occasion we ask you to be brief but Speak from the heart of course That's a voluntary effort. No one has to do it For those of you who will be speaking we ask you to come up here We had hoped to have a remote mic, but the remote mic won't work So We have to you have to be near here to be able to be heard by everyone People want to close in a little bit that'd be great And then I'll have a few closing words very brief And not mostly not my own And then we'll have some closing music I think Rick is going to be playing his flute to send us off on our way So we'll start off with these are actual statements by people who survived the bombing of Hiroshima Who were there mostly as young people So we'll start off with the first one This reading is by Rieko Yamada On august 6th the day when Hiroshima was attacked with an atomic bomb The hot midsummer sun was blazing down since early morning And no cloud could be seen in the sky We got to school at eight And lined up at rose on the schoolyard for the flag signaling drill As food was scarce those days and children were not fed sufficiently Many fainted one after another Under the scorching sun Eventually we were told to rest for a while in the shade of the trees Boys who remained in the middle of the playground shouted Look A b29 pointed at the sky Around that time us b29 bombers often flew over the city Wherever they came an air raid alert siren sounded So a b29 was a familiar sight to children I looked up and saw the silver shining b29 plane flying high in the high blue sky Drawing a white arc with its vapor trails That's pretty I thought The next moment I felt a white flash As I began to rush for the air raid shelter The hot sand from the sandbox Too strong against my back and pushed me now pushed me down on the ground When we reached the shelter with my schoolmates It was already crowded with people from the neighboring areas And there's no room left for us Soon we got drenched from the sudden rain Which we later learned to be the radioactive black rain We called it up to keep ourselves warm, but we were shivering with cold The sun looked to be gone with heavy gray clouds hanging over the sky The following verses are taken from the metasutra taught by the buddha And um When practiced in a spirit of love will take the mind to the four highest abodes heavenly abodes These are the three verses May you may we Be free and at peace in body and mind and spirit May you be healthy and safe May you may we be healthy and safe And free from all harm May you May we be held in love That is boundless 1945 at 815 was at home with my younger brother My elder brother and I were play felt a strong wind A terrible wind And she saw burnt papers falling in front of our home My mom was surprised and she came to get us at the temple At that moment the black rain began The rain was black before the bomb was launched that august 6th The weather was nice in the morning And they say that the atomic bomb exploded 580 meters above the earth Then since it exploded high above It does more damage with its hot rave to the bomb exploded all the dust and papers flew upwards And then came the black rain being exposed to the black rain My body had this condition I suffered from diarrhea every day and in my body They all were lost everything that I ate My parents thought their daughter would docked. I was only two years high being a survivor And fortunately had no physical problems Although there are many doctors who say that the effect also shows up in survivor My mother who was 26 years old at the time Rescued the injured victims and escaped from the bomb city carrying my two-year-old sister on her back My mother often told me that the scene at the time was not the scene of something on earth The swollen faces could not be recognized due to the burns with 20 to 100 centimeters burn Skin dangling down from the tops of the fingers When we offered our hands to the injured persons for help their skin peeled off Since there was neither medicine or doctors The only thing my mother could do was repeatedly was to wash the wounds with water And wipe them due to the hot summer our wounds were infected with maggots and the maggots had to be taken off with chopsticks What the rescued persons could do was only to speak helpless encouraging words The corpses of the victims who died one after another were gathered In a dry riverbed and burned by pouring gasoline on them Among such corpses put in the fire Were those who were still breathing they burst into yelling And finally passed away Peace in body Mind and spirit may you may we Be healthy safe and strong And free from all harm may you May we be held in a love that is boundless I can't pronounce the name but i'll do my best Ryoko Koabara Hiroshima survivor On august 6th Students were helping clean up the site of a building that had been demolished to create A fire-free zone in the event of bombing raids While Chiyoko was resting under a large camphor tree Because of her stomach pain. She heard someone say there's a plane overhead Though she was 800 meters about half a mile From the hypo center. She didn't see the flash and was thrown unconscious Into a large hole where she was covered with debris debris After regaining consciousness. She struggled desperately out of the hole Three friends appeared out of the gloomy darkness Chiyoko you're alive, but what a terrible injury That's when she first realized that the skin on her head and forehead was burned and had fallen away Sticking to her face Her hands were also burned and her and their skin was left dangling Even though it was still morning. It was so dark that they couldn't see a thing Once she was able to see again Chiyoko saw people walking with their skin hanging down their faces swollen and their bodies burned Old people had been put on stretchers And then left behind chigeko sasa mori Chiyoko sasa mori Sand was 13 years old and the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima Hearing the sound of a plane. She looked up to see a b-59 flying overhead Seconds later. She was knocked unconscious by the blast When she came to she was so badly burned that she was unrecognizable Shigeko repeated her name and address over and over until she was finally found by her father Years later she would travel to the united states in 1955 As part of a group of young women known as the Hiroshima maidens While in new york she and her work went numerous plastic surgery operations In our body Mind and spirit and free from all harm. May you may we Be held in a love That is boundless To invite each of you if you choose to to share your thoughts and feelings if you would come up to the mic And we ask that after each person has spoken we give them A moment of silence to think about what they have said So so I I was actually bored August 8th 1945 and as you can tell it still resonates with me um However, I think you know it was said earlier that What we're involved in is very paradoxical It's very tragic And yet somehow we need to Find joy or happiness And uh I think my life was a little that way as I grew up and and you know read history and understood The end of the war Uh, it just seems so tragic And yet When I would talk to my mother about it She thought it was a wonderful day She was so So happy for for for me to come into the world, but also For the war to be ended. I think that's what we live with And I think it was so good to have the prayers following You know the very tragic stories Service at the library Was very moving I appreciated there including the the climate issue As relation to war Or implied that Um Climate creates the conditions which create war Preparing for war creates the conditions for climate Change need to be both peace activists and climate change activists The stories we just heard of from the survivors of the bombs Are very important We often hear of the Great destruction and immediate deaths But we also need to be aware That many survive the initial attacks But suffered suffered gravely Immediately and for years and years afterward The calligraphy in my kitchen And when there were more of us it was by it's by taking out fun There it was a entryway. There was a huge amount of mud coming in the door a lot of kids Um the calligraphy says no mud no lotus As we know the lotus is one of the most beautiful flowers on the earth And it grows out of mud As we're walking down state street I've been doing walking meditation in the early morning hours for a month or so There's been a lot of mud And more recently a lot of silt less so today And I like to keep hope alive in my heart I think there's a great capacity in this community The generation younger generations of youth To grow many many more lotuses A culture of peace And I was very moved during the flood all of the goodwill In the community largely young people but people of all generations the generosity So I think this is a special community and I really I hope in my heart and I that again that we um We help the fostering of many many future generations of um lotuses in in our youth Very grateful to live in this in this community I wanted to find a peacemaking story to share But the only peacemaking story That came to mind Was a story about inner peacemaking We're concerned now about disarmament Nuclear disarmament But there is also inner disarmament And At a time when I was Accused of actions that were not so I immediately became defensive And of course wanted to Attack wanted to prove myself right I was picking up My sword and shield That my sword Was my anger My aggressiveness wanting to Get back wanting to Prove myself right And that my shield was self-protectiveness And that in order to have inner peace I needed to lay down That sword of aggressiveness And lay down that shield Of self-protectiveness And be open and be more Peaceful Thank you Have some songs gentlemen The riverside You can get the right key, right? Let's try that again, all right? I'm gonna lay down George Mann who's come all the way from Ithaca, New York And George has a special song that he's gonna share with you. It's really meant to be played on piano, but Couldn't bring the piano today and you don't want to hear me play piano anyway This is a song that you all know And you know both George and I have worked together with Pete Seeger And that's one of the reasons that George is here. We're going to be doing a special concert Over in Johnson Tuesday night on Tuesday night Concert on the green that's why I came up so we could sing some of these old songs from Pete Moody and the Alman X thing. It's Tuesday night seven o'clock. It doesn't rain, right? And uh One of the things about about Pete When he he wrote this song about where have all the flowers gone? Usually when they talk about the song they talk about that it you know, he got inspired by Reading this quite flows the dawn Which a lot of times back in the old days that people would just attribute that to the soviet union But of course if you look at where the dawn river is it's in ukraine. It's in ukraine So this song is actually from ukraine and uh The flowers are crystal holster Joseph Gainser spent many a time Standing in line and today you noticed I was carrying a banner now Joe Joseph uh Joseph you remember that banner, don't you? She carried that banner with her for so many years That we were together and we stood together and sang together And uh, we have time for one more song if you want it Oh, you put your guitar away. Oh, take it take it back out George This is a song uh one of the last times that I can remember crystal Standing holding that banner We were in burlington. I mean you might have been there You remember when utah phillips was there standing with us in burlington Yeah, utah phillips was right there and crystal and I think sycon might have been there too And we were all together and this is a song that uh that utah wrote And it's a good thing for us to think about right now Because the times are hard and uh, it's in the key of d Sometimes in this livin It's so dark Seems like there's nothing we can do So we reach out to each other Raise the song together and sing a song that carries us through the course We are singing through the hard time singing through the hard time Working all the good time for the hard time singing through the hard time Poor clouds gather it's so easy to get angry and just as hard not to be afraid What you know in your own heart No matter what happens you can't turn your back So hand in hand together We'll help each other carry that light of peace in us every piece won't be so far Singing through the hard times working for the good times to come utah so you are utah wrote that song Okay coming up next glenda has a poem that you would like to share with us For the victims of the floods not enough grief To mourn the victims of the herosium of bombing We remember again And my flocks are spreading their fragrance There is not enough compassion To soothe the suffering of david hill and snap dragons are bursting my technicolor pup I am brought low by the sorrows of the world And my golden glows Are reaching their yellow sprays up to the sky Here say the snap dragons flocks lilies I am here our ceremony There are the flowers would somebody like to describe the ceremony So each person will be asked To take one advance piece and cut past the mic So if you do wish to say something I could speak loudly from where you stand to yourself. Thank you For my grandchildren classroom and this coming school year with the children amongst them and into the greater Well, it can be somewhat anonymous people pass in the halls Without really seeing each other in the coming year to um closing I've been asked to say a few words and I'm going to read mostly what I have to say but walking through my impudier this evening I'm sure every one of us experienced the grief of what we saw in front of us Compared to what happened in Hiroshima. This is a relatively minor tragedy But not for those whose lives were disrupted by losing their homes losing their businesses everything they've worked for for years and years So this is a tragedy in our midst As we commemorate the larger tragedy of the destruction of the people of Hiroshima And in three days the people of Nagasaki So I thought it would be fitting to finish with some words of a hibakusha who survived Hiroshima and spent the rest of her life working for peace and in fact received the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts And in her acceptance speech her name by the way Is Sudoku Thurlow she married a westerner Sudoku Thurlow And in her speech her acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. She related her own experience surviving Hiroshima And how that happened And here were her closing words our light now Is the ban treaty the international treaty to ban nuclear weapons which has been signed by more than 100 nations of the world None of whom of course are nuclear weapons powers But yet is still a sign of hope that this international treaty is now in the world banning nuclear weapons This is the efforts that she was involved in and for which she received the Nobel Prize So I'll start again our light now is the ban treaty To tell all in this hall and all listening around the world I repeat those words that I heard Call to me in the ruins of Hiroshima Don't give up Keep pushing See the light Crawl towards it No matter what obstacles we face We will keep moving and keep pushing and keep sharing this light with others This is our passion and commitment For our one precious world to survive Good night