September 11th: The Empty Space

WTC: Absent people, absent buildings; an empty space made sacred by circumstance.

"Life stood on the top stair a moment
Waved her last gray slander down the stair,
I will not forget her absent eyes
Her other smile like one rose
Falling, falling everywhere...."
~ Allen Tate (1899-1979), U.S. poet, critic. "Resurgam."

Many have written tributes to the victims of September 11th. Many have written their own memories of that day. They are beautiful tributes and awful memories that still bring shock and a sense of disbelief even now, five years later. But, it is so important to remember and keep on remembering.

Nyssa and I visited the WTC site this summer, this "hole in the ground" as many say. Some are angry that a memorial hasn't been built, that more progress hasn't been made to rebuild something... anything. I don't live in New York. I know the empty space is a reminder of that day to the people there, they see the hole in the skyline and in the ground each and every day. It has to be hard to even disguise the sadness in their eyes; this empty space is a reflection of empty chairs and absent smiles at so many dinner tables in the homes of those lost. But when we walked up to that empty space, that deep pit where once the proud towers stood, I knew that most Americans felt the pain of that day. I wish that every person could visit that "empty space" before it is filled with a beautiful and pristine memorial. The emptiness brings home the magnitude of the loss that we should never forget. It also gives us the courage and strength to continue on.

"It is only by going down into the abyss
that we recover the treasures of life.
Where you stumble,
there lies your treasure.
The very cave you are afraid to enter
turns out to be the source of
what you were looking for."
~ Joseph Campbell

I hope putting names and faces to each of those lost that day and remembering their lives, will help history remember. Perhaps if we knew of each name, each face and life details of each of the millions murdered in the Holocaust, both Jewish and non-Jewish alike; we would not have those who propose that the Holocaust did not happen. Perhaps we would not have those who already say that September 11th was a government conspiracy or that a missile hit the Pentagon. Perhaps we could finally learn from history.

Moody Monday's topic this week is "absent". It is something and someone once there, now gone. It is a feeling of loss. Today I feel and see it once again. (end of post)