Now It Catches The Gleam Of The Morning's First Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wednesday, September 11, 2002 --  tork

In this pause then of recollection, while the storm is ceasing, and the long agitated mind vibrating to a rest, let us look back on the scenes we have passed and learn from experience what is yet to be done.Never, I say, had a country so many openings to happiness as this. Her setting out in life, like the rising of a fair morning, was unclouded and promising. Her cause was good. ...It is not every country (perhaps there is not another in the world) that can boast so fair an origin.

-Thomas Paine, The Crisis, XIII

Dedication fuels the million fires of perseverance, and today, on the one year anniversary of the 9/11 events, the recovery of a nation has been nothing short of amazing in the face of sadness, loss, fear and, at times, blind hate - action, consequence, compassion and sacrifice are now very real words to a country formerly lulled into the comfortable cadence of complacency.

It is with anger, and insult, gall and indignity that I am witness to the rampant idiocy being flaunted today, and in the days since, by what amounts to Monday Morning Geopolitical Quarterbacks of meager mind and even more humble credentials; that these people breath my same air is ignominious, vaguely disturbing lest I be infected by the same manner of ignorance that could possibly see with a cold indifference or lace with sympathetic insinuations the words justified, moral or due, terrorist actions which killed so many individuals that to read the list of the dead would take more than 8 hours - but the legacy and blessing of this event is a perfect memento, however mori, one Voltaire and Madison would be proud, in our nation we allow, no - we encourage and we sanctify with a resolve that belies public and political differences, the freedom to believe whatsoever you want, to say what is in your heart, to assemble in places and in the company of our choosing, to believe, disbelieve or decry whatever religion strikes you. No other nation was founded with a charter to preserve these ideals, with underpinnings and tenets in sanguine etchings across more than 200 years, dedicated to preserving our right to disagree - for that, America and Americans are hated most in the world, that we promote unchecked thought and expression and thereby threaten the milked facade of crushed knowledge.

I, personally, could not be more proud to be hated so much - principle, integrity and honor are tangible, their cost exorbitant, but their meaning priceless, and yet endure only so long as I live up those ideals - this path is not for everyone, but perhaps the greatest tribute to 9/11 is to live your life today and revel in it.

It would be wrong to consider this just another day, regular update tomorrow.