I wanted to write this down, while my memory was still clear, and the event just hours before.
I had spent today listening to NPR while in the car, and CNN while home, and all the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001.
In particular I was struck while listening to former President George W. Bush speaking at the Flight 93 Memorial about the bravery of those on that flight that day and how we now have to defend against threats not only from abroad but from within, He spoke of unity, in a nation that seems to currently know only dissent and division.
I found myself for the second time today, just wanting to pray. So I drove to downtown Saratoga's High Rock Park where the "Tempered by Memory", a 9/11 memorial sculpture using steel artifacts from the World Trade Center Towers is. There I stayed, sometimes on my knees and just prayed.
It was silent most of the time, except for the sound of crickets and the occasional other visitors who were mostly silent in the own contemplations.
I ended up on a bench, just lost in thought and prayer, and paused every now and then to look at the twisted steel that was the memorial. Then I closed my eyes, to pray some more. Then I looked up again and the sun was just at the angle where the light shown and obstructed the sculpture. In fact the light seemed to take on a presence all of it's own, bright and all encompassing. For a few moments there it felt like a holy place, and then the sun lowered slightly in the sky and the memorial was visible again.
It came to me in the moment that Light will always defeat Darkness. That what brought us together twenty years ago and united us, is not lost. It is just there waiting, waiting for us to take hold of it again.
9/11/21
