I did not know where it was or what it was named, and I had only the dimmest glimmer of a memory of seeing it.

I remembered seeing it soon after the Persian Gulf Conflict started. It was a plaque that commemorated a walkway somewhere in the park. I could not remember what the plaque said or what the walkway was named.

According to my fading memory, the plaque stated that this walkway had been designated a place for peace, and had been established as a hopeful reminder that wars will come and go but something could always be counted on as a symbol of the better things in the world.

I could not remember what that something was, but I was reasonably certain that the word "war" was not even used on the plaque.

Something besides the fact that I found it soon after the start of the Persian Gulf Conflict had made me connect the message on this plaque to the ongoing reality of war and political hostilities.

I thought September 11 would be a good day to try and find such a place. And I wanted to know if it was real or if I had only imagined it.

I have made a concerted effort over the years to not memorize Central Park. So it came as no surprise that I could not remember much of anything specific about where this place was located or what it looked like.

When I wander around Central Park it is with the hope that I will not know where I am going or what will come next. The endless pathways and statues almost always seem like a discovery when I walk along them, even if I’ve seen the individual landmarks dozens of times.

EVEN DURING PERIODS OF HARSH CONFLICT AND CONFRONTATION THE DELICATE BEAUTY AND FRAGRANCE OF THE LILAC HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL ANNUAL REMINDERS OF LOVELIER ASPECTS IN HUMAN RELATIONS. IN TRIBUTE TO THOSE ASPECTS, THIS LILAC WALK IS DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK NELL SINGER   LILAC WALK APRIL 8, 1970

I did not expect to find what I was looking for, but in due diligence I spent nearly an hour walking around the areas I walked on during 1990 and 1991.

That was what lead me to the Sheep Meadow, and that was what lead me to the Lilac Walk, on the north-east corner of the Meadow. There it was. This was the place! It was like finding treasure, to know that this was actually real, and that I had not imagined it.

I read the plaque over and over. I saw the date of its dedication – April 8, 1970 – and remembered why I had connected the meaning of this plaque to Vietnam. In 1970 the war in Vietnam was accelerating, and Central Park was a site of protests.

The date of its dedication and the fact that I found it in the early days of the Persian Gulf Conflict were what connected the message of this memorial to war and hostilities from the past, present, and future.

I walked along the Lilac Walk and ran my hands through the leaves and flowers on the fence and smiled and thanked Nell Singer for this place. It felt like I had discovered it, and that no one but I had ever seen it.

As I turned to wander around more of the park I heard bagpipe music, and over that I heard a band performing "New York State of Mind," by Billy Joel.

The bagpipe music accompanied a memorial service that had just moved from a nearby chapel to a place somewhere in the park. A long line of observers filed in. Most people were collected and calm. Others were crying rivers.

I told this story to a friend of mine on September 12th, and he informed me that the singer I heard singing "New York State of Mind" really was Billy Joel, because Mr. Joel had done a concert on the Great Lawn that day.

I regretted not walking further north to the Great Lawn. It would have been something to have just wandered into a Billy Joel concert.

But in a way, I'm glad I didn't see it. It might have made this story hard to believe.

The park was beautiful that day. A little windy. But people were out there flying kites, jumping up and down, talking and throwing frisbees.