Reliving Five Years Ago... and a call to love

It's hard to avoid or miss the fifth anniversary of the 9.11.01 attacks, even when you have your head tucked into books or your eyes glued to football. Everyone knows where they were. And I'm no exception. I still remember hearing it on the radio, all tucked into my blankets back at the Taft House, in that way you hear things when you're half-asleep. I roused myself once the radio station dropped it's usual morning banter. So I headed downstairs and turned on the television. And that's where I saw the rest of it.

I still remember the fruitless calls to Kurt and Alison's cell phones. I still remember just sobbing on the I-95 as I headed to class. I remember thinking "why am I going to class?" and not referring to not being prepared or caring in the topic. I remember walking into the 10am lecture room and finding a class finishing up while everyone else who came to school were downstairs listening to the television or radio or trying to call from the pay phone in the building. I remember heading back to the Taft House with Clayt and watching the lady down the street stare off at the little plume of smoke and haze that drifted the over the horizon. Her daughter. I remember noticing how pretty the sunset was and how quiet the night was.

It's amazing how fast things can change.

Fortunately, Kurt (trying to head down town) and Alison (away from her apartment when it all happened and then evacuated from the market district) were fine. Sadly, there's thousands of sad stories from that day.

But I remember. And I'm caught between wanting to hit back and knowing the people I'm hitting are just as innocent as the people hit on 9.11.01. We've already shown how phenomenally bad we are at getting the bogeymen. They will forever lurk in the shadows of our minds. They will forever pull you from a good night's sleep. That's what they do. As a concept and imaginary figure, they are powerful. And we know they hide behind rocks and mosques and families and children and farms and hospitals and who knows where else so that they stay just out of sight, just out of reach. There is evil in this world. There is no denying that. So we can fight that evil, take it head on, and fight until it gives up. But that's the thing. A concept doesn't give up. It will just appear somewhere else. Someone else takes on the persona and suddenly soldiers are off to Indonesia or the Philippines or central London. So rather than make a mess of every Mid-eastern, pan-Arab nation and neighborhood in the world in our quest to purge terror and evil while destroying thousands of innocent, young lives for every "target" we get, I say we try something different, beyond turning off the talking heads who seem to direct our national policy more and more every day:

Be human. Be human first. Be human last. Be human always. We all take joy at witnessing a birth, we all celebrate our achievements and birthdays, we all blush at first love, find quiet moments when we are at peace, sit with passing thoughts that run through the mind, and cherish friends and family. We laugh in same tones and mourn with familiar tears. We dream. Are we so different really? Then why must we insist so? And why do we let people insist for us? So, dear friends and readers, do your part and be human. Pull the lens back far enough and you'll see the truth in this.

And as St. Francis of Assisi said, "Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love."

"Love One Another."
~Judeo-Christian

"As the source of both internal and external peace, [love and compassion] is fundamental." ~Buddhism

"God loves those who do good."
~Muslim

"Teach me to love all my friends. By loving them, may I find Thy love in everyone I meet."
~Hindu

"To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage."
~Taoism

--goose
(and a special big shout-out to the good dr. mav, currently of st.louis, on his surgical boards! take names!)