The Park Bench and Service Berry Tree Dedication Ceremony with Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (center). Photo by Steve Hibbard/The Connection
The Ridgeview Park Peace Festival was held Sunday, Oct. 19 in Ridge View Estates off Franconia Road. The festivities included a park bench dedication and tree-planting ceremony with remarks by Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova.
"This dedication today touches me, bringing peace and love and helping to make this community a better place," said Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Board of Supervisors. "Diversity in Fairfax County is considered our greatest asset." She added: "Peace starts in little ways, in how people treat their neighbors, and that grows."
The event marked the 54th anniversary when Daisaku Ikeda, the founding president of the worldwide Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI, based in Tokyo, Japan), met in October 1960 at the Alexandria home of early pioneer Fumiko Snelling on Duvawn Street, located two doors down from the park. In the 1960s, SGI members were predominantly Japanese wives of American servicemen, as was Mrs. Snelling, who died in 1987. This gathering of mostly Japanese women was the nucleus of members scattered from New York through Texas. Today, SGI Buddhism, which seeks to promote peace and understanding, has more than 12 million members in 37 states and 192 countries.
Jo Reed, the director of Peace and Community Relations for SGI-USA locally, added: "(The meeting) signified them coming together to form an organization where they supported each other to work for peace. It was a time when they joined hands and lives together to work for their own happiness and peace." She added: "Peace really comes from small acts. We want people to see that message."
Also present at the dedication was Adriana Flynn of Springfield, a member of SGI-USA, who added: "This bench dedication and tree planting is to honor the efforts of those women who practiced Buddhism and took their mentor's dream of world peace, and decided to fight for world peace, and unveil their own mission even though that entailed many challenges and hardships."
The park bench was dedicated with the following verse: "Nothing is more precious than peace. Nothing brings more happiness. Peace is the most basic starting point for the advancement of humankind." — Daisaku Ikeda.