9/11 In Memorium

Nine- Eleven. The combination to our hearts opened on a  clear-skied September morn in 2001 when the world stopped turning and we remembered as a nation that we are one people capable of courage and conciliation.

Our collective memory is wafting. Let today be a day to refresh the goodness of America when we pull together. I invite you to re- visit George Bush's address to the nation, given 9 days post terrorist attack.   
The contemporary record reviewed from the perspective of now is a landscape of how far we've come; how far we have yet to go.

Read it. Watch it. Understand why there is actual reasoning behind the controversy centered in New York concerning a certain proposed Islamic Center to replace a building damaged by infamous attack. The label of the project depends upon the purpose of the speaker. Some call it the Cordoba House after a historic Spanish city of religious/ cultural importance. Some call it Park 51 for its address, hoping the locked and loaded connotative connections associated with Cordoba disappear from discussion.

 With respect. Particularly to my Islamic friends; to visitors from other countries seeking understanding. In this country we stop construction for many reasons. Land where dead dinosaurs roamed. Ground where where fragments of  Native American ancestors may lie. We stop construction for flies of questionable value, not for any particular significance, simply because they are rare.

In prioritizing our values, please understand the sensitives of survivors of the 9/11 victims are rightly the highest consideration.

The United States  is a vast nation. Wounds do not heal by force. Show your good faith by building this center elsewhere. Let wounds heal as they must. With time. Be patient with those who grieve. You cannot give them their loved ones back. You can only offer understanding, condolence and justice.

Someday this all will pass. This is just not that day.

Gloria's Tears is by Washington State artist Gloria Whitley is pastel on sanded paper.  Tear's flowed as she created it in the days that followed 09-11-2001. Interest in her work can be sent to her in care of her  newly founded blog  Beads and Banter.