911 Musings

My daughter turned eight years old on September 11th, 2001. I remember planning to have a small, family party at home that night as I watched the towers fall and heroes die and evil have a field day. I remember thinking that my daughter's birthday would be forever tainted by the collective memory of that day. That night we turned off the televisions and radios and celebrated the life of a little girl.

As my daughter turns fourteen today I am struck with how the world has changed, in both good and not-so-good ways, in the few years since she blew out the eight candles. I get angry when I think of all of the senseless death caused by people who chose to believe the propaganda of negativity provided by the radicals who designed a way to spectacularly kill human beings. I am saddened by the resulting war which has become so much a part of the lives of people in many countries that we will never fully recover from it's effects. I feel a sense of loss for the innocence of children everywhere growing up in the "Age of Terror".

Then I look at my daughter's face. And that of her brother and sister. And my wife and friends and family. And I remember where those faces came from. They were not a product of war or hatred or zealotry or greed.They were a product of love.

There is a great British film called, "Love Actually" that was played this afternoon on the USA network that has these words as its opening voiceover:

"Whenever I get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrowe Aiport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed - but I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified, or newsworthy - but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

So, at the end of this day, I prefer to remember and celebrate the life of that little girl... and all the love that surrounds her.

- Mark