10 Years

There are so many memories of that day.  10 years later September Eleventh is still as incomprehensible to me as it was when I was a kid watching it unfold on the tvs in the classrooms.   It was the catalyst for so much that has come since.  It was the defining moment of my childhood.  It was the line of departure.  The before and the after.

So much loss of life.  So many heroes.  Rick Rescorla.  FDNY. NYPD. PAPD. Everyday civilians who took the opportunity to help others when it was presented to them.  So much good and so much evil in the same day.

How do you process it?

So many questions remain.  So many lessons are left to learn.

Since 9/11 I have become and adult.  I have watched my friends who sat in a classroom with me that day when someone announced that our country was at war and we were going to be the ones to fight it go off to war.  I have said goodbye to my best friend and prayed that  I have seen some friends of them be wounded in war.  I have been to funerals for others.  I joined an organization that has provided me with more experiences that I ever could have though possible.

9/11 was the catalyst for all of it.

With the death of bin Ladin in May, I am left to wonder if there will ever be closure.  I, like many others, had hoped that that is what his death would provide.  But I think it was just the metaphorical "end of the beginning."  I think though that it will always be an open wound.

 9/11 changed so much.

God bless the families of the lost.

2,996 souls.

Never forgotten.

4 years

Never Forgotten

August 16, 2007

Taramiyah, Iraq

OIF

  "If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.

    
Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your
own.

     And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978

Of Three Or Four In The Room by Yehuda Amichai

I have fallen in love with this poem.  In so many ways it encompasses the past 7 years for me.  There are lines of this poem that stay with me like few others do.  Part of me will always be standing at the window.  Part of me will always see the ones who left whole and came back in pieces.

Of Three or Four in the Room

Out of three or four in the room
One is always standing at the window.
Forced to see the injustice amongst the thorns,
The fires on the hills.

And people who left whole
Are brought home in the evening, like small change.

Out of three or four in the room
One is always standing at the window.
Hair dark above his thoughts.
Behind him, the words, wandering, without luggage,
Hearts without provision, prophecies without water
Big stones put there
Standing, closed like letters
With no addresses; and no one to receive them.

Not Taking it for Granted

There are so many little things that you take for granted.

Following your favorite teams.  Sharing those experiences with those you love.  Especially sharing those moments in the forms of instant communication that are available now.

Got to do that again this week.  Pretty cool moment to realize, hey, the Marine Corps gave him back!  I can do this again!

So many things can happen in the world. I am reminded of that again this week.  Of close calls and almosts.

I am grateful for all the little moments.

And all the moments I get to enjoy again with the ones that I love.

Go USA!

Dreamlife: Sleeping At Last

Beautifully and eloquently put. ~W


Dreamlife by Sleeping at Last


As our hearts lay sleeping,
As our bodies rest,
The Heavens open up for us.
Put down your weapon, child,
And close your eyes,
Because you and your enemies
Are innocent tonight.

I never wanted you,
I never wanted you to go.

There's a voice inside your soul
That resonates through your skin and bone,
Up through the blades of grass,
Underneath the feet of God's only son.
The war that you're fighting
Has already been won.

I just want to survive with you by my side.
With you by my side, I just want to survive.

Crooked mouth, quiet down.
Let your fists come undone.
Miscarried love will be reborn.
When we sleep,
The devil's arms are tied.

The war that we're fighting
Has already been won

I never wanted this,
I never wanted this to go away.
I never wanted this,
I never asked for it,
I never meant to let it go.

I just want to survive with you by my side.
With you by my side, I just want to survive.

Wartorn: 1861-2010

HBO has done an excellent documentary on PTSD called Wartorn: 1861-2010.  It gives a good accounting of the scope and history of the aftermath of war.  Through individual accounts it shows the personal devastation and change that these invisible wounds can have on soldiers and their families.  I was particularly interested in the Civil War and WWI letters and video imagery.  Definitely worth a watch.

Volunteer

Ronald Reagan Memorial Day Speech:

“…Each died for a cause he considered more important than his own life. Well, they didn’t volunteer to die. They volunteered to defend values for which men have always been willing to die if need be – the values which make up what we call civilization. And how they must have wished – in all the ugliness that war brings – that no other generation of young men to follow would have to undergo that same experience.

As we honor their memory today, let us pledge that their lives, their sacrifices, their valor shall be justified and remembered for as long as God gives life to this nation. And let us also pledge to do our utmost to carry out what must have been their wish – that no other generation will ever have to share their experiences and repeat their sacrifice.”