Somewhere on top of the hill at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, there is a beautiful place called the Heroes Garden. The place is dedicated as the Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. Heroes Garden, commemorating the fallen heroes of September 11, 2001.

It is not a very big place. It starts with a small water fountain feeding water to a narrow channel that leads in a straight line to a small pool overlooking the beautiful rolling vista of the university campus all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Along the Channel, the structure combines colorful slab stones, unevenly set short stone walls and boulders, native shrubberies, flowers and trees. The structure comprise of chambers separated by the stone walls and leading to the pool.

It is a lovely garden, but I want to draw your attention to the gentle call of this place to pay attention, not only to its beauty, but also to the inscriptions and messages on its walls and boulders and to the whole surroundings.

The narrow channel of green brown and gold stones is short and shallow, it points like a straight arrow to the promising prize at its end – the infinity pool.

When I arrived, I wanted to quickly get to the pool and absorb the beauty. I skipped up the few steps, followed the channel, but my way was blocked by a wall. I had to slow down, turn away from the prize, cross the channel, and face the inscriptions. At this position, the writing penetrates the consciousness and you read. Then I moved forward, and the sequence repeats few more times as I moved from one chamber to another.

By the time I reached the pool and the beautify vista, I was moving slowly, marveling at the calmly cascading pool water, the campus colors, the ocean, Santa Monica mountain range and California blue sky; while my mind was contemplating all the inscriptions I just read, the people who built the place, and the people who we should remember.

And there was one more thing on my mind. I felt a special connection to this simple channel of water that was constantly in my way, calling to me: may I have your attention please. Without it, I would not have slowed down to observe all that was there to observe. What a way to call for attention, without uttering a word. I wish I could be as subtle when I ask for people’s attention. I wish that all those who call for my attention would do it in the same way.