Looking to the future knowing one cannot forget the past...

It is already nine years and yet it seems like only yesterday. We all remember where we were, what we were doing when the news of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York City rocked the world.

Its legacy was two-fold: a coming together of people all over the world, particularly across the United States, a standing together, hand in hand, in the darkness of the tremendous horror and loss that unfolded - a catastrophe that no one believed could ever be possible. If you have stood at Ground Zero as I have done, as millions have done before and since, you would also have felt the emptiness there, the disbelief, the grief, the outrage and the overwhelming respect.

We have been witness to the tears, the bravery and the heroism, hundreds of incredible stories of humanity and selflessness.

But 9/11 has also left a legacy of deep distrust and suspicion. It has bred intolerance and in many cases, racial hatred, simply through the sheer determination that such tragedy should never again be witnessed on American soil. Our ability to remember with peace and love this year has been tainted particularly by the recent controversies of the Park51 project and Terry Jones' threats to burn the Qoran which resulted in riots and retaliation across the world.... If we make space for hatred, we are allowing terrorism to take the upper hand whilst, at the same time, hindering the healing process both for ourselves and for others. 

That terrible morning is relived again and again by so many - the images still fresh, the pain still acute and the loss still raw... memories, experiences, the scars that linger and will do so for years to come.

``If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate,'' said Sandy Dahl, the wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.

THIS wonderfully moving memorial on-line is dedicated to all the men, women and children who lost their lives, the brave who gave their lives and the heroes who responded to the emergency call on 9th September 2001.

"Let us, you and me, pray for peace and let us make our hearts fit to accept it when it comes. Let us make our intellect, and our soul, and our will and our feeling ready to receive it and embrace it even before it comes. Let us in the stillness of our own soul go back to that ineffable Presence which is Peace and proclaim It even in the midst of confusion - that peace which is the power at the heart of God." Ernest Holmes

Comments

[sairj]

Dear Balbeck - I have been looking everywhere for news - and found nothing! Please could you send me the link and I'll blog it at once? How come everything has gone so quiet? What about Toma and those investigations? Why the silence? Any other news I've missed?!

[balbeck]

I have been in New York in 2006.I liked it.
@Bad news for Florentina Carstea.Another baby...6 now.

[Nicole]

It was a clear, crisp day, like today. I remember it because I was home thinking: "what a great day to go to New York", when the phone rang and a concerned friend from Canada alerted me to a plane who accidentally hit one of the towers. I immeditately turned on the TV and started watching in disbelief, while the reporters were scrambling for news, trying to to piece the events together. Then.. the unbelievable happened: a second tower was hit. That's when the confused anchors from all three channel networks started to ask themselves if it was just coincidence. Then came news that the Pentagon was hit and also that another plane landed on a field on Pennsylvania.. The news came pouring in all that day. It was frantic, it was one shock after another.. a day I'll never forget. By evening we knew who the murderers were, how they were able to plot such a despicable, heinous deed taking advantage of the freedom this country offered American citizens and foreigners alike. Those 19 fanatic murderers betrayed our trust and hospitality and managed to change our lives but also, indirectly, the lives of people all over the world. Mind you: even if it appears to be a national day of commemoration and mourning, this tragedy has impacted everybody and will be felt for generations to come.