A Return to Understanding

Paul Dudley Hart (center) marches with other Oregonians in New York City's Columbus Day parade. Photo: Mercy Corps

In one of the world's great urban jungles, Paul Dudley Hart spoke of a garden.

On a crisp October day in New York City, Hart - Mercy Corps' Director at Large - addressed a crowd of hundreds gathered inside The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. His speech, carefully considered and prepared for the occasion, compared the world we live in - even the concrete canyons of a metropolis like New York - to a lush, diverse garden. Hart professed his belief that, if tended well, our global garden could nourish, inspire and bring all people together.

The problem is, he said, that we have let the garden fall into disrepair - especially over the last five years.

Hart was one of many who had come to New York to plant new seeds of understanding and collaboration, while also remembering one of our world's modern tragedies.

Those assembled - a mixture of New Yorkers and visitors from across the United States - had come for a five-year remembrance of an event that affected each one of them profoundly: the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Hart's message addressed two prevailing emotions that gripped Americans on that tragic day: the struggle for understanding and the need for security. Above all, he asked his audience to remember how they felt on September 12, 2001.

Paul Dudley Hart and 1,000 fellow Oregonians remember that day well. It's when a committed group of caring individuals decided to reach out to their fellow Americans by flying across the country to join hands.

The Flight for Freedom

Soon after the September 11 attacks, Vera Katz - then mayor of Portland, Oregon - encouraged Oregonians to travel to New York City at their earliest opportunity. Katz's request was sparked by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's appeal for Americans to come and help rebuild the city's unraveling economy.

Sho and Loen Dozono took that message to heart.

"Sho realized that New York's economy would experience sudden and significant losses," Loen explained. "We talked about how some kind of big catalyst had to bring attention to the fact that the fear in people's minds was what controlled the spread of the disaster."

So, Sho Dozono - a Portland entrepreneur whose businesses include Azumano Travel - and his wife Loen took leadership roles in organizing a trip that would extend a hand of friendship from coast to coast. News of the trip spread quickly. In a matter of weeks, more than 1,000 Oregonians from all walks of life had expressed interest in traveling to New York.

"New York City is such a welcoming and multiethnic, irreverent but good-hearted place," Hart said. "It was important for Oregonians to reach out, go and demonstrate the message that people should come back and enjoy the city. Compassion transcends ethnicity and borders."

Lifted by compassion and solidarity, the Flight for Freedom took to the sky - from Oregon to New York. Starting on October 1, 2001, the first wave of "Freedom Fliers" took off from Portland. Over the next four days, 1,000 Oregonians boarded a total of 62 flights for a cross-country journey of hope.

Once there, the Freedom Fliers - which included Mayor Katz, the Dozonos and other prominent Oregonians - visited the site where the World Trade Center towers had once stood, spoke with firemen and policemen and, above all, put much-needed tourist dollars back into the local economy. They also marched in the city's annual Columbus Day parade in a show of solidarity with New Yorkers.

"The flight accomplished some significant feelings of friendship between New York and Oregon," Loen Dozono recalled.

The Flight for Freedom wasn't the only outreach from Oregon in the aftermath of September 11. In those pivotal first days after the attacks, Mercy Corps pitched in to help New York in its time of greatest need. The organization trained hundreds of teachers, counselors, parents and other caregivers on how to help children work through the trauma caused by September 11, as well as distributing books, toys, school supplies and other materials to help children cope.

As New York City courageously emerged from its terror, Oregon was right there beside it - and a strong, enduring bond was forged. So, five years after the original Flight for Freedom, Hart - and others who reached out to their East Coast neighbors - felt a need to return, both spiritually and physically.

The return Flight

On October 4, 2006, dozens of Oregonians - both members of the original delegation and newcomers - boarded planes to New York. The city of New York had invited Oregonians to return and do much of what they had done five years ago: attend and participate in memorial services, march in the Columbus Day parade and, of course, sample the city's world-famous restaurants and other attractions.

Even though five years had passed, New Yorkers hadn't forgotten Oregon.

"Some people went to Smith and Wollensky [a popular New York City steakhouse] for dinner. To everyone's surprise, many of the waiters remembered the original Flight for Freedom," Hart said. "Those waiters gave the Oregonians free wine for the rest of the night - a rare thing, especially at one of New York City's finest restaurants."

Similarly, New Yorkers applauded the Freedom Fliers as they rang the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and cheered them on as the carried an "Oregon Loves New York" banner in the Columbus Day parade.

Hart was one of those up front carrying the banner - along with the Dozonos. But his defining moment of the second Flight for Freedom came at the pulpit at Saint John the Divine.

Tending the garden

There, Hart evoked memories of September 11 - and offered his thoughts on what had happened in the five years between flights.

"In America, we've had the blessing and protection of distance and relative isolation. On September 11, 2001, we joined the world and began to feel the threats everyone else was already living with," Hart said. "We slept more uneasily at night. Things were clearer and colors were brighter. When we woke up on September 12, there was a sense of truly transcendent community."

So, what happened?

"Security won the footrace," Hart explained. "Security doesn't soothe anxiety. It doesn't resolve conflict; it just protects.

"The emphasis on security has clouded our understanding of the world around us. You don't cure conflict; you understand the differences that separate people. We must go back to how we felt on September 11 and recapture that feeling of wanting to understand."

To that end, Hart recommended a return to the garden- and renewed collaboration between all people.

"We haven't tended the garden we've been granted. Now, the physical world is speaking back to us," Hart advised. "In the near future, the environment may speak to us in an undeniable way, one that forces us to work together and resolve our differences. We must galvanize ourselves around putting our garden back in order - and moving forward together."

After the service, the cathedral's bishop came up to Hart and offered him two simple but powerful words: "Good sermon."

And so, with a handshake, leaders from two very different places - the East and West coasts - drew together once again in the spirit of freedom, understanding and friendship.