A song and a prayer brought people together Saturday around a post that read, "May Peace Prevail on Earth."
They gathered at Fargo's Nativity Catholic Church to observe a memorial titled "Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War."
As the prayer ended, the song "Where Have all the Flowers Gone," was started by the Sisters of the Presentation, who sponsored the memorial's visit to Fargo.
During the song, a collection of daisies was passed around, each person taking one.
After receiving the flowers, the group made its way to the Nativity gym, still in unison.
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They followed Sister Andrea Arendt, who was carrying a chain of paper cranes.
The paper cranes have become an international symbol for peace, Arendt said.
A young Japanese girl made paper cranes after the atomic bomb was dropped during World War II. A Japanese legend says that anyone who folds paper cranes will be granted a wish.
As visitors to the memorial entered the gym, the singing stopped and the crowd became silent.
Rows of army boots filled the room.
"The boots being in rows makes it seem like there could be more," Arendt said. "It could just keep going, and this is only a small amount of the boots."
A circle of Iraqi civilian shoes surrounded a pair of soldier's boots in the front of the room. A large photo of a young Iraqi boy sat beside them.
In the background, a recording of soldier's voices saying their names played.
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Several people read poems and stories at the front of the room.
As people walked up and down the rows of boots looking at the name tags on them, they placed the flowers they received inside the shoes. Some walked away in tears as the tops of the daisies showed.
"For me it was something awesome to see the boots on the floor," said Sister Peggy Byrne.
As Byrne began to walk around, she stopped to read one of the brightly colored posters on the wall. Each poster offered words and thoughts of peace.
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic," the poster read.
That quote is attributed to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, commenting to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1945.
"It just awakened me," Byrne said. "None of them are statistics. All of them have lives, homes and families. This makes it a very personal and emotional feeling."
The American Friends Service Committee, the Sisters of the Presentation and the Center for Peace hope the traveling memorial will honor fallen National Guard personnel and Iraqi civilians.
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The memorial will be showing from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today in the Nativity School Gymnasium, 1825 11th St. S.
"To me, this means exactly what it says, 'Eyes Wide Open,' " Arendt said. "It's a sense of experience. This makes it feel like there are more people who are touched by it."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Tesina Jackson at (701) 235-7311
