Dec. 1st 2009 was the second and last day of World March activities in New York. World Without Wars and September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows hosted a Ceremony of Reconcilition in honor of the victims of 9/11 at Ground Zero in Wall Street. The five atendees featured here were among the two dozen international marchers and local activists who took part in the ceremony. Sara, a marcher from Wisconsin, and Martha, a local religioud leader, shared their accounst during the event. Terry, Gloria, and Anne shared their reflections after the ceremony, when the group had escaped the biting cold and met a close-by cafe to debrief.
The five accounts in this section tell us of how the March was an opportunity to link personal and usa-based family histories of loss and struggle with a larger movement. In their accounts, they highlight how imagination about peacebuilding and reconciliation are sustained by family traditions, by international networks, and also by moments such as the March where people can come together, and new generations can get involved. This set of testimonios also stresses how peacebuilding requires strength, resiliency, hard work, and opportunities to have fun. These elements support them as they carry family and political traditions into the future. For these participants, the context of the March served as a platform to state their commitment to nonviolence and reconciliation. The action over the bridge was inspirational and gave them a sense of achievement because a couple thousand people marched under the rain and came together despite their differences.