7 is my lucky number
(featuring in birth date and birth weight)
and every 7 years our cells are renewed,
leaving us with a whole new body,
so maybe there's a reason
I am remembering so much today--
the silent skies overhead,
the fear when an F-15 broke that silence,
the tears of a college student,
alone in the ladies room,
before she accepted a hug
from a complete stranger
old enough to be her mother,
and went with her to talk
about how people
can do such horrible things
to other people,
while sharing a cup of tea
in an office
dedicated
to Holocaust Studies--
but reason offers little comfort
when past and present collide.

Katherine Quimby Johnson --All rights reserved.

My favorite book written in the aftermath of 9/11 is Joyce Maynard's The Usual Rules. It's a novel that will, I think, hold up even when there's more historical perspective on 9/11 than there is now. It's really a study in grief, and in how it feels to have your very personal grief be somehow public. Although I don't remember the main character's name any more (I read it two years ago), I will never forget the way events (father on the West Coast, stepfather and stepbrother on the East Coast) conspire to show her who her real family is, as well as all the supportive strangers she meets in California. It's a good novel, as well as a 9/11 novel.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close doesn't quite reach the same territory for me, although I find it's experimental structure really interesting. I also love the expression "heavy boots." It is so apt for that feeling. The connection between the events of 9/11 and the Holocaust are interesting, although I'm not sure how far I'd want to take that. But I wasn't as engaged by this as I was by The Usual Rules.

Anyone else have some titles to recommend?

Something that happened yesterday  (September 10) made me think more about the significance of September 11 than I normally do on its anniversary. 

I am doing a bit of work for my previous (non-freelance) employer and while I was in the halls I ran into a former colleague. Her daughter is spending her junior year abroad, in an English-speaking country, yet she was frantic with worry about her until the daughter called to say that all was well. This woman's older child told her that she was worrying to much, but she thought there was plenty to worry about. When I mentioned that I hadn't particularly worried about my high-school-age daughter being on a 3-month trip to India in high school (12 students, 3 teachers), this woman said, "But they could have covered her with a burka and you might never have seen her again." She was clearly petrified. 

I was not. Not because I do not love my child. Because I do, deeply. I am so happy that she is enjoying college and has found a place where she feels she can fully be herself. If something were to happen to her, I would be grief-stricken. 

But if we let ourselves be overcome with fear and anxiety, then the terrorists have won. They have done exactly what they wanted to do--create terror. We defeat terror when we live by the values this country was founded on--the belief that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are what give life meaning. When we show that we are not afraid--not because we do not know better, but because we will not let fear be the driving force in our lives--then we show the value of democracy. 

Every day, whether we know it or not, we risk our lives. Not because of terrorists, but because of an accidental situation, the weather, or some physiological flaw we do not know we have. We are mortal. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, at the moment, thisright-here-right-now is all we've got for the moment. Why not embrace it and accept that the world is neither a wonderful place, nor a place that is out to get us. It is as it is. 

Or, if you want the same thought in fewer words, there's always FDR's, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

Peace and joy to you all.