Evanston resident Geoff Cordell used only a short Zen parable to express his feelings about the events of Sept. 11. But his message was clear.

One traveller on a horse passed a man by the side of the road. The man asked where the traveller was going.

“I don’t know,” the traveller responded. “Ask the horse.”

Speaking Sunday during a gathering of about 70 community members and Northwestern students offering creative responses to events stemming from last month’s terrorist attacks, Cordell compared the parable to the direction of the U.S. military action.

“I wonder if that is our situation today, ” Cordell said, referring to the U.S. war effort. “And I wonder about the horse we’re riding.”

The event, organized by the newly founded Evanston group Neighbors for Peace, drew a wide range of performers, from dancers and singers, to poets and political activists, to Lake Street Church, 607 Lake St.

Local businesses supported the event by providing more than $700 in gift certificates for the performers after they finished.

All opinions were welcome, said Anya Cordell, program coordinator for the event and spouse of Geoff Cordell. She said the overwhelming sentiment was for peace.

“There is no way to peace,” said Jordan Lome of Rogers Park. “Peace is the way.”

Lome read an article by a mystic shaman who said she could communicate with the people who died on the four hijacked airplanes. In the article, the shaman said the passengers asked that the United States not go to war.

“Leave punishment in the hands of those greater than us,” Lome read. “Do not let our lives be used as an excuse for war.”

Young people and others who felt victimized by a backlash since Sept. 11 were given first priority in speaking, Anya Cordell said.

Two NU students were among the first five to present. Speech sophomore Maya Kuper sang a song titled “A Nation United” from a play she is writing to be performed later this academic year.

“We must never give up,” Kuper sang. “We must never give in.”

Speech senior Dan Hoyle read a column he wrote for the Oct. 9 issue of The Daily that criticized U.S. foreign policy and the war effort in general.

Neighbors for Peace formed shortly after Sept. 11, when a group of Evanston residents met in a living room to discuss their feelings about the attacks. The group has about 30 members, said Anya Cordell, 50.

In 1999, she helped organize neighborhood gatherings after the fatal shooting of former NU basketball coach Ricky Birdsong.

She told The Daily that Neighbors for Peace chose to make this its first event because when people engage in verbal debates, they often do not listen to opinions they don’t agree with. When pure discussion fails, creative responses can open people’s minds, she said.

“People need to be willing to tolerate and celebrate diversity,” Cordell said. “We tend to do that better when people share personally and creatively.”

Although the church hall was far from packed, Cordell said she was pleased with the turnout. She said she was more concerned with the feelings of the individual presenters and audience members. The changes in each person’s feelings about the attacks after the gathering was more important than attendance figures.

“This is a moment to notice how you feel in yourself,” she told the audience.

The event’s organizers said they hope others will follow their lead and start creative-sharing events in the community and at NU.

Cordell said she will continue to fight for peace, though she wishes she did not have to do so.

“I thought the world would be in better shape by the time I was this old and this tired,” she said Friday. “I guess the world still needs all of us.”