ABOUT THE GARDEN OF FORGIVENESS The Garden of Forgiveness is an initiative of Sacred City, Inc., an educational non-profit which seeks to teach about forgiveness as a strategy for both personal healing and wellness, as well as conflict transformation and peacemaking. By creating a global network of Gardens of Forgiveness, we hope to offer venues around the world where individuals and communities can reflect on the hurts and horrors that befall us as human beings, and then choose to make the world a better place by releasing anger and grievances and not reciprocating violence with violence. Our work is a continuation of the multi-faith effort to respond with dignity to the attacks on 9/11. While the attacks on 9/11 demonstrate what can happen when rage, religious passion and cruelty mix, Gardens of Forgiveness will offer permanent and poignant reminders that there are always alternatives to violence. We understand forgiveness to mean the ability to release resentment and hostility after a period of mourning and grief. We understand that forgiveness never condones violence nor is it a substitute for the search for justice, nor does it demand reconciliation with those who have injured us. We understand that each of us struggles to know what to do when cruelty is imposed upon us. There is no easy answer. And yet, without providing spaces to sit in peace and contemplate the horrors of unmerited violence and the possibility of offering forgiveness, we are concerned that revenge and retribution will dominate the conversation. Forgiveness is one of the steps toward healing that will lead to a peaceful future. Forgiveness is a means through which we create the future-a future free of repaying violence for violence and pursuing the desire for revenge. We want to heal the past and create the future-one Garden of Forgiveness at a time. The first Garden of Forgiveness is being created in Beirut, Lebanon where over 100,00 people were killed during their civil war. The courageous spirit of the Lebanese people inspires us in our endeavor. In the work of forgiveness, we acknowledge that WHEN ONE SUFFERS VIOLENCE, WE ARE ALL DIMINISHED. It is the Zulu concept of "Ubuntu": "I am because we are."   OUR PROJECTS & GOALS The Garden of Forgiveness will extend the work and healing of forgiveness by: * Creating and promoting the Global Gardens of Forgiveness Network ©. We would like for there to be a Garden of Forgiveness in every community around the world and we are currently developing plans for supporting local communities in this endeavor. In the next twelve months, our goal is to plant four Gardens of Forgiveness and do the necessary research and development for their support. In our Africa Initiative, we are in conversation with partners in Durban, Soweto, Uganda and Liberia exploring the feasibility of planting and supporting Gardens of Forgiveness in these local communities.   * Developing educational initiatives on the healing power of forgiveness. We are developing curricula for secondary schools nationally, based on our pilot program with Saint Hilda's and Saint Hugh's School in New York City in the academic year 2005-2006. We are also exploring a "Peace through Forgiveness Leadership Summit" for high school students from the metropolitan New York region. For adults, we will develop a six lesson curriculum for forgiveness circle groups, accompanied by a leader's guide, to be distributed internationally.   * Building partnerships with colleges, universities, and local communities. We are organizing symposia on forgiveness as a peacemaking strategy for creating the future and healing the past. We are planning four symposia in the next year, based on our successful events at Vassar College and the Institute of Noetic Sciences.   * Raising awareness about forgiveness through special events. These events include the International Day of Forgiveness, on which "Heroes of Forgiveness" are acknowledged. In 2007 we will promote and observe this day in New York City, and encourage our partners in other communities to do the same.   * Offering a multi-phasic pastoral and educational outreach for six months to the wounded 9/11 community. We will reach out to these heroes and offer counseling and support as we help survivors to consider forgiveness as the natural culmination of the grief process.   OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE * Continuing to create and promote the Global Gardens of Forgiveness Network ©. We will work to establish Gardens of Forgiveness across the country and around the world, including Sri Lanka, Soweto, and Belfast.   * Developing additional educational and programmatic initiatives for our high school, college, and adult partners on forgiveness as a peacemaking strategy for creating the future and healing the past. We will offer workshops and dialogues to communities, empowering them with the necessary tools to let go of unresolved grievances and anger and emrace greater peace and joy in their lives.   * Observing the International Day of Forgiveness in New York each year. REV. LYNDON HARRIS The Reverend Lyndon F. Harris was the priest in charge of the relief ministries at Ground Zero offered through Saint Paul’s Chapel after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Father Harris joined the staff of Trinity Church/ Saint Paul’s Chapel in April 2001 in order to develop an alternative urban worship program at Saint Paul’s. However, from September 15, 2001 to June 2, 2002, Saint Paul’s Chapel was converted into a multi-faith relief center for the rescue and relief workers, and victim’s family members, at the World Trade Center site. Saint Paul’s offered food, massage therapy, grief counseling, and chiropractic and podiatric care around the clock. By the end of the operation, over one half million meals were served. Harris has traveled the country speaking to churches, civic groups and academic institutions about the transformative experiences of Saint Paul’s Chapel and the wider community’s response to 9/11. Father Harris has appeared on many news programs including CBS News, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC News, NBC News, CNN, NPR, The History Channel, NY1 (where Harris and the volunteers were twice selected as “New Yorkers of the Week”). Many international news outlets also featured his work at Saint Paul’s, including the BBC and German TV (ARD). Harris has been written about in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Washington Post, The Boston Herald, The Christian Science Sentinel, and others, including mention on A Prairie Home Companion. Harris is the author of the forthcoming book entitled The Little Chapel That Stood: A Story of Healing and Hope. Harris was recently selected for membership in the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches, USA. Harris is Executive Director and Co-chair of the Garden of Forgiveness with Dr. Frederic Luskin.   DR. FRED LUSKIN Frederic Luskin, Ph.D. is Co-founder and Director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Projects. Recently, Dr. Luskin's and other's research has confirmed forgiveness' virtues in the promotion of psychological, relationship and physical health. Forgiveness has been shown to reduce anger, blood pressure, hurt, depression and stress and lead to greater feelings of physical vitality, optimism, hope, compassion and self confidence. In the Forgive for Good workshop and class series Dr. Luskin presents the forgiveness training methodology that has been validated through his eight successful studies. His work combines lecture with a hands-on approach to the ancient tradition of forgiveness. Participants explore forgiveness with the goal of reducing hurt and helplessness, letting go of anger and increasing confidence and hope as they learn how to release unwanted hurts and grudges. In class practice may include guided imagery, journal writing and discussion all presented in a safe and nurturing environment. Dr. Luskin holds a Ph.D. in Counseling and Health Psychology from Stanford University. He is the Co-Director of the Stanford-Northern Ireland HOPE Project, an ongoing series of workshops and research projects that investigate the effectiveness of his forgiveness methods on the victims of political violence. He currently works as a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation and is the author of the best selling Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness (Harper San Francisco, 2003). Dr. Luskin presents lectures, workshops, seminars and trainings throughout the United States on the importance, health benefits and training of forgiveness. He offers classes and presentations that range from one hour to five weeks.