February 10, 2004

Last time I was in Assisi, wandering the streets in my favorite activity of exploring all the nooks and crannies of ancient steps, tiny balconies, hidden gardens, and humble tributes to Francis, I came upon a house that quickly became my ideal. Of course I poked around as much as possible, going into the neighboring yard and climbing on rock walls to try to get a better view. I thought if I had lots of money that’s where I would want to live. 

This visit, talking to many people about the Peace Center, hearing lots of views and ideas, I have opened to possibilities other than the hotel that was the site of my original vision. Perhaps you know the story of Francis praying in the ruins that were the chapel of San Damiano and hearing the voice of Jesus from the decaying crucifix say, “Rebuild my church.” He proceeded to do just that and many, including Francis in later life, have speculated that the message was not quite as literal as Francis took it. So, it occurred to me that a vision of a peace center that happened in a hotel might not mean the hotel needs to be the location. This took me back to the beautiful old house on the top of the hill.

I’ve met a marvelous community of meditators here: Friederike and Ingrid are both German; Silvia (my Italian teacher) is Italian but was married to a German and lived in Germany for forty years, (they all speak Italian, German, and English); Patrizia is Italian and speaks only Italian; Stefan is German and speaks German and English; Friar John is from Zambia and speaks his native dialect plus English, and Italian. Conversations go a mile a minute and people call out their request for their own language when they get lost in whichever one is currently being used. It’s marvelously fun and when I can get them to slow down in Italian, which Stefan and I definitely require, I’m finding I can follow along fairly well as long as the conversation isn’t too esoteric.

So, my friends arranged for us to see the building. What can I tell you? If one tends to look at the actual, it could be called a disaster. If one looks at the ideal, it is heaven on earth. The house is about 3600 square feet, on four floors with two bathrooms and two kitchens (these are extremely charitable descriptions for those rooms). I am sure no one has any idea how old it is, but I feel confident it was here when Francis was—part of it anyway. And it has, for old houses in Italia, many large windows and doors. In fair weather with all the doors and windows open, it would be paradise. But here’s the part that sold me (and once they got over their initial horror at the state of the house, convinced the rest of the group), it has what is for Assisi a huge yard that includes one of the best views in the land.

The real estate agent suggests that the top floor could be redone to create a large terrace, leaving a couple of rooms available for whatever. That would be spectacular since the house is very high up the hill and from the terrace one would be able to see all there is to see, from Mt. Subasio and the snow-capped peaks to Tuscany! 

Next week I will go with a contractor (the husband of Annie who is currently on a cooking tour of the US, teaching people how to prepare these extraordinary Umbrian dishes—if you want the tour itinerary inquire at peace@livingcompassion.org) to get an official view. The asking price for the property is 750,000 euro and no one thinks the owners actually expect to get that amount. Pino, the contractor, said a rule of thumb is that renovation cost is roughly comparable to purchase price. I am eager to see what he thinks in this case as so much of the cost of the property is for the garden.

As we were having dinner last night the conversation turned to the peace center and I heard myself expressing a wish that rather than finding a few wealthy people to donate huge funds to buy and restore this building, we could find two million people to each give one dollar. Karen and Cathy, the two Americans at the table looked at me, smiled, and said “Why not?” They proceeded to tell us about the political organization Move On that raised via the internet $750,000 in a matter of hours. People became very excited!

What if we asked everyone to send in a dollar, plus their name and address to go in the center (and on the website) as a “person of peace,” and then those people sent the invitation to their friends and relatives who would do the same and those people… Might we be able to reach people of peace all over the world? Might there be two million of us who would contribute one dollar (and of course more if we are able and wish to), so that we could be the ones to actually make this center for peace a real place in the world? Why not?

We agreed that we want people’s names for the center even if they are not able to contribute financially. And when I was talking to Mickey and Penny (two of our teammates in the States making all this happen), they had two other marvelous ideas. One: we will also invite people to create a “square foot for peace,” as well as sending in their dollar for peace. In our homes we will take one square foot (again, more if we can and wish to) and in that space we will create our own small display of peace that will be a miniature of the displays we will create in the peace center. As people create their square foot of peace, we will share their ideas on the website to spread the inspiration, creativity, and possibilities of peace in our hearts, our homes, our communities, our lives. Two: we can begin to compile a list of books on peace and we can ask our local bookstores to designate a peace section in their store.

On our website we will list the names and countries of the “people of peace” (it just occurred to me that we could also donate in the name of loved ones who are deceased whom we know would have wished to participate so they can be a part of the center as well), the examples of “a square foot of peace,” the names of books on peace, and the bookstores who have created a peace section. [Editors’ note: None of these features are yet on the website, but our webmaster assures us they will be. We will let you know when they are!]

To me the wonderful part of these ideas about the square foot of peace and the books and bookstore project, as well as beginning to create our list of names is that we don’t have to wait. We don’t have to wait until we buy the building and restore it and create displays of peace from around the world—we can each make our commitment to peace real and tangible in our lives right now!

So, that’s the latest from Assisi.  Sr. Terry (from our Zimbabwe project) was here today taking photographs for us which she will send along and we will get on the website for you to see. I also will have more news when I write next about the project for AIDS orphans we will be starting very soon in Zambia with Friar John. And, we’re attempting to come up with some dates for retreats here in Assisi that will bring together those of us who can currently manage a trip. We will keep you posted and please stay in touch with us. Everything is moving very quickly and it feels important that we are in close contact.

Gassho and ciao,

Cheri

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