Memory

New York City 1985
Photo originally uploaded to
flickr on September 11, 2006. The
text of this post expands on what I
wrote that day.

This photo was taken on our visit to New York City, 1985. Scanned off of the original, the colors of the photo have changed with age.

I was there, I looked out the windows at the top of one of the towers. How can something so apparently permanent be gone? In one senseless and brutal day can our world change so much?

Of course, the towers are gone. And so many precious lives with them. People from all walks of life, from so many countries and backgrounds, all with their own loves and fears, beliefs and doubts, and people who held them dear.

And the brave souls on United Flight 93 when it crashed in Pennsylvania. And all the lives lost in or touched by the attack on the Pentagon in Washington DC. Hold them all in your heart, every one of them.

Bless them all, and also those who gave their lives to try to help them. And those who lost their health in the poisoned air after the fall of the towers. And all the loved ones of those who suffered or died on that horrible day. And all of the human beings who have paid too dearly since then, caught up in the storms of fear and hate and the shameful lies of politicians who dare to use this human tragedy to further their own agendas.

The destruction of that day was an agonizing example of the impermanent nature of the universe. And as the memory continues to touch our hearts despite the passing of time, distance, and our individual differences, we share a lesson in interconnectedness.

However we each may pray (or not), may we all take to heart our connection to one another in the human experience. We owe it to those who have lost so much to create some good in the face of the enormity of all that has happened since 8:36 AM*, on September 11, 2001.

Namaste.


*Eastern time.