Just a nice afternoon in winter and unexpectedly it started snowing. Where I live that rarely happens so I was pretty excited. You know that first day in winter when it snows. It might be just flurries or only last for 10 min. but it’s fun:)
"In the absence of a demanding grace.... I love this town, I love your face, and it won't last long ...you're here then you're gone....unless you roll the dice." Sweet song, love the lyrics:)
Today is a day of reflection for Americans. A day to mourn, to remember, to pay our respects. A time of prayer, healing, and forgiveness. We cannot undo the events of September 11th, 2001. We cannot unsee what transpired. But we can move forward stronger, carrying with us the dreams of those we lost. We can live our lives to the best of our ability, aspiring to be good people, and Americans that would make them proud; proud of their country's tenacity and resilience, so that their deaths would not be in vain. You cannot fight fire with fire. You can protect yourself against it and fight back to keep it at bay. But hate will survive, as inevitably as love will prevail. Love and time are the best defense we have. So in remembrance of 9/11/01, let us stand united, giving back love, respect, and gratitude to one another. This is the greatest gift we can bestow to all those affected by the tragic events that took place that fateful day.
Below is one of my favorite poems from William Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality. The following video is this poem in the movie "A River Runs Through It" directed and narrated by Robert Redford, one of my favorite actors, and based on the novel of the same name by Norman Mclean. This poem says so eloquently what I feel when I reflect on life's tragedies. I think it is particularly appropriate for this day.
"...Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass,
of glory in the flower; we will grieve not, rather find
strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring out of human suffering;
... In the faith that looks through death...
Thanks to the human heart by which we live
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears
To me the meanest flower that blows, can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
These photos below are from the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. They were taken during a ceremony on 9/11/11 honoring the fallen men and women who lost their lives to the terrorist attacks. The Memorial consists of a beautiful park where people can come and pay their respects. Diagonal from each other on both sides are two footprints of the Twin Towers. They are cascading, continuous waterfalls that seem to fall into a bottomless well. Lining each side of the memorial waterfalls are the names of those who lost their lives. The flowing of water reminds us that the spirit of life is eternal and goes on. It is symbolic of strength, purity, and grace. NEVER FORGOTTEN.
This is one of my favorite speeches of all time. I think it is eloquent and beautifully written. The words in this speech say what my heart wishes it could. I pay homage to the great Charlie Chaplin and his creative genius. Oh what a world it would be if we could all heed these words:)
"Hope......I'm sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor, that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, Gentile, Black man, White. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little; more than machinery we need humanity; more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aero plane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair”. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people will return to the people, and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers, don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate, only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers, don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty. In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written “the kingdom of God is within man”, not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you!
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, they never will.
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite!"
-Charlie Chaplin, "The Great Dictator"(Below are a few more excerpts from the movie)
"Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world, a kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.”
“The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up."
