Walk for peace can be an uphill struggle
Matthew L. Brown - Chronicle Staff Writer

COLUMBIA — Shoulders low, feet stinging with each slow step, the procession honoring all unknown civilians killed in war slowly labored toward New York, still hundreds of miles away. The 20 who joined “September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows” and the Peace Abbey Wednesday took their positions alongside a carriage hauling the 1,400-pound memorial. They did so just as the sun broke through the clouds, promising a hot, humid day.

The “Stonewalk,” as it’s called, met immediately with a long, steep hill on Route 66 just west of Columbia center. The carriage, which in total weighs about 5,000 pounds, was adorned Wednesday with origami paper cranes in honor of those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945. Jun Yasuda and Kenichi Kato, two Japanese walkers, followed closely behind the carriage chanting in Japanese, “spirit, come in” to the slow rhythm of shallow, hand-held drums. Yasuda, a Buddhist nun, lives in New York and has been on several Stonewalks. She has walked in honor of those who died in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, every year for three years. “I like to support the September 11th families,” she said. Yasuda said the Stonewalk, “gives people freedom from fear, that’s our practice.” Outside the walk, governments “are creating weapons, it’s angry, but in your mind is freedom from fear.” As they have done since beginning in Boston and will continue to do until they finish in New York City, walkers gathered around the stone for a moment of silent reflection before resuming their journey.