Mimi, over at Mimi Writes, has asked us to fly a peace globe in remembrance of 9/11 this Sunday. Mimi spearheads the annual Peace globe blogblast every November 4, participated in by peace-loving folks from all over the world. Each year it grows; we are starting the countdown now for this year's blogblast.
I remember 9/11. My daughter called me up and asked if my tv was on : "The States has gone crazy. They're flying planes into buildings down there. I was bed-bound that month, after a car accident. I grabbed the remote, turned on the tv and watched in horror all that long terrible day.
With a sinking in my heart, I knew there would be a war. I had predicted war, when Bush got elected, and now I knew it for sure. Between my horror and pain over what had happened, and my concern for what the response would be and whether it would escalate or detract from world peace, (I already knew the answer), it was a sickening feeling.
What struck me the most forcefully, of all the images we have seen over and over of that terrible day, were the young women dressed as angels, all in white, with wings, their calm smiling faces, their reassuring presence, as they walked among the people on the streets of New York, that day and the days that followed. A reassuring sight to lift the heart with hope, in the midst of despair and fear and hopelessness. To remind us that humans, while capable of terrible things, also are capable of transcending, elevating, choosing peace instead of more hate, more war, more oppression, more suffering. Capable of choosing light over darkness, in our response, when sometimes that is the only choice we have any control over.
I remember those angels, still.
[image by brucespeaks.com]
