REMEMBERING 9/11



National Geographic picture

 

 

Imagine all the people,

living life in peace...

-John Lennon

 

                  And then, the twin towers exploded in a volcano of billowing smoke and human screams...

 

                 On the 11th anniversary of Sep. 11, I'm filled with both sadness and jubilation.  What happened in New York 11 years ago rocked our world so intensely that I'm stunned to discover that already 11 years have gone by.

 

                 11 years to reflect on untold, bloodied suffering; innocent lives lost in the carnage of war by an unseen enemy; the freedoms infringed by the passage of the Patriot Act, which ensures that no matter which American airport she flies out of or into, my daughter is searched because she wears an insulin pump; the tears shed when I attended a music concert the week after, and the names of the dead loomed large as they scrolled on the 60-foot screen.

 

                And yet, there is much to rejoice in.  If 11 years ago, it was an American nation savaged by brutality, then a year ago, it was an American nation that triumphed with the demise of Osama Bin Laden and the downfall of the Taliban.

 

                When President Obama announced the news from the Oval office that the Internet had been streaming for two hours before, I was brought to my knees, weeping with pure joy.  That unknown terror that stalked every American mind, when they boarded a plane, had been put to rest.

 

               I ran upstairs and scrounged through my son's toy box.  Rummaging through trucks missing tires, dog-eared books and misshapen and broken cars, I finally unearthed the crumpled two-foot American flag I'd been looking for.

 

              With nerveless fingers, I clawed through the damp soil and planted it jubilantly

among the low-growing shrubs in my front yard.  Let it be known, it said, as the tiny thing fluttered in the wind:

 

                                    "I'm proud to be an American"

 

 

 

 

L.A. Times picture