They were buildings I always wanted to go and visit:--
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I wanted to stand at their top
and be thrilled by the wave of vertigo that always comes ...
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They were buildings I always wanted to go and visit:
... but then one morning fall morning as
I was getting the kids ready for their day ...
... the radio broadcast said "a plane has hit the World Trade Centre in New York"...
... Details were sketchy ...
..."What?" I asked aloud ...
... curiousity got the better of me ...
... I strolled into the living room and switched on the tv ...
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... I remember the striking image ...
...the impact point that looked like the outline of a plane ...
... I called my 7 year old son to come and see ...
... he walked in the room as the second plane hit the second tower ...
... "OH MY GOD !!" I cried ... "can I finish my breakfast?" he asked ...
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... In that moment we knew the world was changing ...
... and it seemed unlikely that that change would be for the better ...
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Before the day ended ...
... thousands were dead ...
... skyline was altered ...
...two buildings ... two landmarks were gone ...
... two other planes ended thier journey in a crash ...
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Before the day ended ...
... the world began a slow descent into the madness of war against a ghost ...
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... Today ... Five years on, we pause to remember ...
... we remember the dying ...
... we remember the collapsing ...
... we remember the clouds of choking dust ...
... we remember the sounds ...
... we remember the lines of airplanes sitting, waiting ...
... we remember a world caught in the moment of grief and sorrow ...
... we remember the families who continue to mourn ...
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... Today ... Five years on, we pause to remember ...
... we remember, because those who saw it, even at a distance, can never forget ...
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... Today ... Five Years one, we pause to remember ...
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They were buildings I wanted to go and visit one day ...
... that day has come and gone ...
... I never made it ...
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... I never stood and looked across one of the greatest cities of the world ...
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... One day I WILL go to visit where they once stood ...
... One day I will go to the place they once reached into the sky ...
... One day I will stand where their shadows once stretched across the land ...
... One day I will go to visit the buildings I always wanted to go and visit ...
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... They will be there only in our memories ...
... But as I stand in that place, like countless others before me ...
... I will pause to remember ...
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... I will pause to remember and never forget ...
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... and may the lasting legacy of 9/11 be simply this...
... that one day the ancient words will finally come true...
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"and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks:
nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree;
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree;
and none shall make them afraid ..."
- The Prophet Micah
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... Today we pause to remember ... and pray that maybe one day ...
1 comment:
Dear Rev. Shawn,
There are countless stories of that day, there is poetry and there are remembrances. Your words travel, from the small Canadian town in which they were composed, to the streets of Manhattan where they land home in the heart of this New Yorker, this fellow human being, and in the heart of anyone fortunate enough to receive the love you so kindly offer to the Universe.
Thank you.
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