"The Nited States of the Merica"

Megan has been learning and growing up so much since she started kindergarten in August. She's mastering everything from reading sight words to buying lunch. But I was especially proud of the mouthful of words she memorized in her first month at school...

Take time to reflect...

...and remember how united we became.

Never Forget

A year ago today we were in the middle of a very heated presidential campaign. My post on that day was a plea for the insults and criticisms to be put on hold long enough to remember what united us on this date in 2001. A year ago I never imagined we could be more divided than we were then. Unfortunately, a year later it seems as though we are.

Anyone over the age of 15 probably has memories from that day eight years ago. I remember watching the morning telecast with my 6 month old baby in my arms wondering how the world she was going to grow up in was going to be changed. That same 6 month old is now a 3rd grader and one of this week's homework assignments was to interview us about that day. What were we doing when we heard the news. How did it make us feel? Our answers were the same as probably most of the other parents. Dumbfounded and numb at first as you were transfixed on the TV...making sense of what you were watching. Then as you heard about the Pentagon...terrified. What would be the next target?? Then the towers fell. And it turned to anger. An anger that brewed from deep inside. An anger that you didn't even know you possessed. That anger turned us all into patriots. The flags were proudly displayed everywhere. We all shared our stories, our fears and our unity. We were proud to be Americans. For months that followed...we were not Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians or Independents. We were Americans. United.

Call me idealistic. Call me a fool. But I continue to pray that we can come through this turmoil and become united again. And that it doesn't take another national tragedy...a tragedy that claimed 2,996 innocent lives (and that's not counting the lives of servicemen and women lost in the war that's followed), to get there.

A dream come true.

On August 28, 1963, a man delivered a speech on the steps of Lincoln Memorial. It is the birthday of that same man that many of us are enjoying a day off for. I find something poetic in the timeliness of that man's dreams coming to fruition tomorrow. Regardless of political party, I hope that we can all appreciate a dream, likely beyond his expectations, come true....

Excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr's speech,

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true."

Hope

So today I find myself in a strange place. It has been difficult for me to find the appropriate words to express the feelings I’ve had over the last 24 hours. As the poll results came in from PA & OH last night, I admit to feeling disappointment. But then I began to feel elation. You see, although I do not agree with all of his political positions, I do admire his accomplishments as a human being. This man – a grandson, a son, a husband and a father to two young girls – has defied the odds. This man has broken down a barrier that sadly has remained in many corners of this country far too long. And for that I commend him. And that feeling…the one that I feel for him as a human being and for what he will represent forever in our history books…perhaps that is a feeling of hope.

Never forget

In my September 11th post I used a picture from our local newspaper. The picture was from the Tempe Beach Park Healing Field Memorial. On our way to a company picnic in downtown today, we stopped at the Memorial for an in person visit.


The Memorial display, there for September 11th over the past several years, is made up of rows of flags. One flag for every life that was lost in the attack on the United States. 2,996 flags. Each flag has a yellow ribbon and a laminated card that displays the name, home town, place of work or profession, where they lost their life that day and in most cases, a photo. Some have stuffed animals at their base. Those represent the children. I anticipated that it would be an emotional sight. I’ve heard that the number of flags is sobering and it was. And the fact that planes fly low overhead in the flight path to Sky Harbor made it almost eery. But as I began to look at the cards -- reading the names and seeing the photos – I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I needed to look at them all. I didn’t want to walk by a flag without looking at the photo and reading the name. It was the least I could do to honor them. To pay them and their families respect for their needless loss. Not to think about what I was doing or where I was when I first saw the news, but to think about what it must have been like for them in those last moments on what began as a typical Tuesday morning.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the time today. But I will go back. Perhaps each year. And I will read the names and look at the photos and remember.

In remembrance...

During this politically charged time, my wish for today is that both parties can refrain from the insults and take a moment to remember what united us seven years ago today and the weeks that followed.


Photo credit: Mark Henle/Arizona Republic, Tempe Beach Park Healing Field Memorial

Happy Birthday America!