The Power of Light...
September 11, 2001
Images From the Heart...
September 12, 2001: Yesterday was a day filled with a horror derived from hearts & minds closed over - images of death & destruction beyond comprehension in a civilized world. Yet, they are images familiar to any of us who have taken pause to consider our own sometimes rage. "But, we're different...!" some would protest; "We're not like that...! We wouldn't be that barbaric...!" Once, before I had children, I was baby sitting the 14 month old son of a friend - they'd gone to a concert for the evening. He would not go to sleep, and no amount of my carrying him, rocking him, singing to him, soothed his obvious anger, and he cried incessantly. I was brought up short when I of a sudden realized I had this very strong urge to throw him against the wall...! I didn't, but the realization struck me very deeply, and I remember it with some compassion for what must have driven yesterday's carnage.
I remember working on a presentation a number of years ago, the subject was something to do with the roots of war. I came across something that, to this day, I don't know if it was legend, or for real - the anecdote went like this: In a museum in Europe was a fine specimen of a cannon of one of the Medieval French kings - in raised letters around the muzzle of the cannon was this inscription - The final argument of the King. The implication was that all previous efforts to reason, discuss, negotiate, to talk, had failed. I suspect that threats had also failed. This was the final & ultimate response to a failure in the meeting of minds. How often do we resort to the final argument in our dealings with colleagues, family & friends, let alone with anyone we would consider the enemy? Have we exhausted all avenues to bring us closer together in a dispute? Have we listened to the other person, and more important, have we heard their words, their arguments, their perspective? Is what we as a nation, and really as a world, experienced yesterday, so different from this? Perhaps, but only in the matter of scale.
My mind still reels from the images - but, I hold to those instances in all the chaos & death where the deep-seated human spirit of goodness came to the fore, and as the day progressed there were an increasing number of them - the courage & heroism of rescue workers in the face of their own imminent deaths, selfless examples of aid to a stranger as the sky literally came tumbling down, the tremendous response from across the country with offers of help and very necessary blood. In the darkest of moments yesterday, the light of the human spirit shone through - this we can hold onto...
Today, and in the days, months, and perhaps years, to come, we will be tested as a nation - we will be tested in the principles upon which our nation was built, in our resolve & spirit, and most important, our grasp of the reality of the world in which we live. It is a small world, a global community, and given our resources, spirit, & abounding capabilities, we have an obligation to reach high in all of this, perhaps now higher than our normal grasp. We must think & act in such a way that we lead ourselves & the world out of this period of darkness, and in a manner that doesn't do violence to our basic principles. While we must strike a light to push back the fingers of darkness, we must do so with a resolve tempered with understanding & compassion, a dedication braced with reason, and an initiative honed with the principles of our beloved freedom. We must stand as an example against the powers of darkness, for sure, but our example must be beyond reproach, lest we merely emulate those same fingers of darkness, and in the end forfeit our essential principles, our honor, and most importantly, our selves - then, darkness will have won... |
|