El Parque De La Paz

It is through honesty that one constructs a monument with meaning and impact in the twenty-first century. Yet in this era, we still witness the creation of monuments over the foundations of glorification and lies. The people of Colombia are inundated by these deceitful monuments, but El Parque de la Paz (The Park of Peace) will break through the walls of deception and raise the curtain of illusion to reveal honesty. The park will come to represent the yearning in every Colombian’s heart for a new future, a new road, and a new life for their bloodline. The golden tree of peace, centered in the core of the park, will shade all from the anguishes of war and represent every drop of our ancestors blood that has been shed to nurture it. This tree will link every man and woman and child together. In addition, it will bind them with the natural landscapes present in the life of every Colombian, no matter whether they are rich or poor, young or old, affected by La Violencia or not. With coffee trees from every region of Colombia, El Parque de Paz will unite the diverse cultures of the country in the heart of Bogota, the capital, and shine its brilliant light of truth over all.

As you enter the park, you stand over a glass mirror that floats over the clear surrounding lake. Looking down, you notice the water quivering under your feet, rushing and splashing against the roots of the coffee trees that encompass you. The sound of the flowing water cleanses you and lifts you into a mindset of peace and acceptance regarding the tragedy of La Violencia. As you walk further in, the golden tree of peace reflects the sun’s warm rays over your skin from the center of the park. Its rich light emulates the small statues of broken children, shining gold wisps into the water. The mirage of light seems surreal as the crisp wind of the mountains of Bogota entangles itself through your body and clears your mind from all outside thoughts, pulling you into the reflection that gapes at you in the mirror. When you look up at the golden tree of peace in the heart of the park, you see the names of every Colombiano that has died at the hands of La Violencia. Every coffee berry shines bright, bloody red with the name of the one who has died engraved in gold. The sheer volume of berries overwhelms you with agony. The memories of your loved one flower through each detail, and the wind rustling through the leaves of the coffee trees carries those memories away to the heavens.

El Parque de la Paz not only represents the endless metamorphoses of the world around us, but also, with its circular shape, the unity of every region and person in Colombia. By being in the capital and in the center of the country, it would provide every person in Colombia the same opportunity to experience it. Situated in a protected natural environment, the park would evoke the strength of the mountains every Colombian cherishes. The water flowing under the glass mirror epitomizes the cleansing and healing properties embraced in each drop, and encourages the viewer to let their woe wash away and clear a path of promise for a better future. The coffee trees surrounding the centerpiece sway and shed their leaves as we humans shed our sorrows. These nine different coffee trees symbolize the nine distinct regions of Colombia and the various cultures nurtured within them. They embody the archetypal symbolism of the number nine, which represents pain and sadness (britannica). Only with the golden tree of peace will this number evolve to the number ten, which represents what a peaceful Colombia will look like: complete and united. (britannica). The golden tree of peace will have bright red coffee berries with the names of the 218,094 victims of La Violencia inscribed in gold. These berries will characterize the fruits of peace sown by those who have died in the hands of La Violencia. Scattered throughout the park, golden statues of children picking coffee will embody the youth who have lost their limbs and the future generations that will make a brimming cup of progress with the ripe fruits of peace. In overall, the gold of the statues, the red of the berries, and the blue of the water will come together as one to represent the three national colors that make up Colombia’s flag: yellow being the abundance of gold, blue being country’s oceans and seas, and red being the blood of the fallen in the name of progress, love, and strength.

The impact I envision El Parque de la Paz will make is a sense of unity amongst the Colombian people. Everyone in Colombia has been affected by La Violencia in one way or another, and by bringing all of Colombia together in one monument, it will help heal the nation from the tragedy and death of this 60 year war. El Parque de la Paz is deeply apolitical, rejecting the political conflict between the guerrilleros and the government because, truthfully, more innocent lives were slaughtered than the amount of lives lost by the soldiers who fought in the war. The park, unlike any other in Colombia, will not focus on antagonizing over the past. It will reconstruct the nation’s hope for a better future and chance to shatter the labels of being a “third world country”, a “poor country”, and a “drug-ridden country”. It will help the future generations of Colombia to refocus on the task at hand; they must build a better future for themselves and harvest the fruits of peace in order to mold a greater millennium. My people, the people of Colombia, have faced disillusions of the truth for too long. We have found ourselves trapped in the ivy of lies sown by the politicos and narcotraficantes. This ivy does not feed off the ignorance the world claims we are plagued of, but instead feeds from the words that sputter out of these men’s mouths. Today, this ivy has thickened and strangles the hearts and minds of Colombians. But we persevere with the seed of truth in our hearts, and this seed, nurtured by the cries of justice, has now grown into a tree of truth, and its shade provides hope to the cafetero on the hottest days of war for peace.