Get Tim Keenan talking and he’ll tell you about the profound and lasting effects that war had on his life.

Barely a day goes by that he doesn’t think about an enemy soldier he shot and killed in Vietnam. While searching this man’s body for maps or other information, he found a stash of family pictures – a heavy, humanizing moment that changed his life forever and instilled a deep disgust for armed conflict.

He’ll tell you he later found out that his mother went to the basement and cried every single time the doorbell rang during his time overseas, afraid that it was the military bringing the worst news a mother could hear. You’ll hear about a very real and pervasive fear of the woods that took him years to shake after Vietnam.

Finally, he’ll remind you that millions of people before and since have had their lives impacted by the seemingly senseless ravages of war.

“Nowadays, an enormous part of my PTSD stems from me thinking of the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends of my friends who I saw die, and how often they must think of their young son, brother, friend,” he tells The Ticker. “They are missing him forever.”

Keenan, a Traverse City resident and longtime peace activist, is one step closer to a 20-year dream of getting a peace monument built in the city after the city’s parks and recreation commission this week greenlit the concept and passed it to the city commission for approval. City commissioners are expected to discuss it at their Jan. 21 meeting.

The monument could be installed in Hull Park (behind the library on Woodmere), though if approved it may end up elsewhere. Though the concept could change, the preliminary design includes a spire that’s roughly 12 feet tall encircled with names of people – local or otherwise – who have worked to promote peace.

“Parks commissioners were extremely supportive of this, and the main takeaway was just how important and valuable something like this is for our community to recognize,” City Parks and Recreation Superintendent Michelle Hunt tells The Ticker. “It’s pretty special that the citizens of Traverse City care so deeply about something like this.”

If and when it’s formally approved by the city, Keenan – president of the local Veterans for Peace chapter – hopes to raise about $30,000 for the monument’s creation and installation. He anticipates a committee of some sort regularly adding names to the monument, perhaps at a cadence of three per year.

Mayor Amy Shamroe tells The Ticker that the installation makes sense in that the city has been denoted an International City of Peace by an organization of the same name that works toward peacemaking around the world. The city already has monuments that complement such designations, including the Coast Guard monument for its Coast Guard City status.

“As a whole I think the concept is great, and it’s another piece of art that follows a precedent of using art to honor these different ways that our community is recognized both locally and internationally,” she says.

For Keenan, it just makes sense to have a monument to honor those who have worked tirelessly to end conflicts.

“There are memorials throughout our city honoring veterans from all wars, and rightly so, as many of them are heroes. But we have none that honor community members and other peacemakers that have dedicated their lives to end violence, abuse and terror, both home and abroad,” he says. “They’re also heroes, just a different kind.”

Keenan recognizes that war and conflict are so deeply ingrained in national and global culture that change seems daunting, if not entirely hopeless. He also doesn’t think a monument in Traverse City will fix things. But a visual representation of peace is at the very least something that will spark conversations about the topic, he says, and potentially inspire dedicated peacekeepers.

“It has to start somewhere,” he says. “If you just give up on it and say no, this is the way it is, the hole is so deep, (nothing will ever change).”

Peace is also something that can be worked towards locally and individually, Keenan says. It doesn’t always involve laying down physical weapons. Perhaps a monument could remind people to work towards peace in their personal and professional interactions as well, he says.

“I just hope that it would inspire people to start thinking about the different ways of dealing with conflict,” he says. “Negotiating and doing things in a positive way rather than retaliating and revenge seeking. Peace comes from within.”

Photo: A rendering of the monument. Inset: Keenan