September 11 Anno Domini
There are words in the millions spilling over the internet today on the seventh anniversary of the most successful attack on America ever made by a foreign enemy. I have no great wish to add to the flood of verbiage that will wash over you like storm water in New Orleans. But, as the saying goes: "Attention must be paid."
It's difficult for me right now since I am still fighting my fires within. Just to torture the analogy, I can't help but think of the collapse of the twin towers as the fires ate away the steel bones until there was not enough inside to keep them standing. But my situation is small beer compared to what so many lost and how many lives were changed at the points of impact.
I wish God's blessings on all of you who have to face up to the losses, to the losses our country has had to stomach in the years since. Too many carefree days, too many good men and women, too much rancor and too little willingness of the citizenry to admit to a state of war. My wishes for you on this day: May your losses be small, your pain bearable. May you always hold onto your strength within, even when the burdens come down. May you never be alone in the dark even if it's in a shaking stairway choked with smoke and heat from the fires above. May there be some place of joy and laughter even as tears pool in your eyes. May you live. May you love. May you be happy.
Our country will survive and be greater still. Our enemies will come to rue the day they underestimated us. Our fair-weather friends will find us remade in our understanding of who they really are. The world will come to understand, again, that from its servicemen to its street sweepers there is no greater friend and no greater enemy than an America called to defend herself.
I live in the greatest country the world has ever seen and wish for myself no more than that I can live up to its ideals.