Less than one month after four planes dropped from the sky along the East Coast, bombs fell on Afghanistan.
In response, a gathering on the free speech area behind the University of Utah Union Building marked the terrorist attack?s one-month anniversary and promoted peace all day Tuesday.
When the afternoon rain hit, the scattered few who had shown up on the lawn vanished.
?It was a lower-key version of what we would have liked,? said Brian Emerson, a student involved in planning the gathering.
In the wake of retaliation against Afghanistan, anti-war protests have cropped up elsewhere in the United States, but Salt Lake City has remained quiet, Emerson said.
And despite some anti-war messages written with sidewalk chalk, the U has yet to see active demonstrations.
Organizers intended Tuesday?s event to implant the idea of peace in the minds of passers-by, Emerson said.
?I don?t think violence solves violence,? said Sara Baldwin, a student who sat studying between the trees marked with white ribbons.
Under any circumstance, she feels peace is a fundamental priority, and the U.S. action in Afghanistan leaves her looking for words.
?Honestly, I don?t know what to feel,? she said, ?I?m scared, confused and saddened?I don?t support war in general.?
Sitting at the Lesbian and Gay Student Union table nearby, Don Decker, a graduate student, supported the pro-peace gathering.
The war in Afghanistan is a sad thing, he said. ?We need people who are focused on peace when so many are focused on retribution.
?But I don?t think there?s any way we could not do what we?re doing,? Decker continued.