A Rememberance

I light a candle.I wish I could say I watched some of the coverage, or went to a memorial, but I couldn't. I remember it well enough on my own. I watched all day five years ago, and I went to my memorials over the next few days. And I waited, and waited, for my roommate to call and let me know she was OK. She worked next to the towers, she had just moved to NYC that year. It took three days for her to call everyone she knew, she had me let everyone in the dept. know she was fine.

I light a candle.
She was fine, but I remember the waiting and I can only imagine what it was like for the people who had family there, who lost family there. And it hurts. It hurts for those who have lost, for those who were found while others were not. It hurts for the children without parents, husbands without wives, lovers without their loves.

I light a candle.
I remember what happened after, I remember the flags and the songs. I can hear the crowds murmuring softly in front of storefronts, watching the news through the windows. I can see politicians standing together, and then fracturing again as, sadly, they often do. I see suspicion, and I see trust. I read of failure and I read of success. I feel pain and hope, wonder and bewilderment.

I light a candle.
And I remember that we are not the only ones who have lost. Madrid, London, Mumbai, Istanbul, Nairobi, Jerusalem, Oklahoma City, Lebanon, Columbine, Laramie, Darfur, China, Sarajevo, Belsan... Five years ago, five years from now, twenty in the past, twenty in the future. Hate knows no religion, no border, no nationality, no home.

Neither does Love.

So I light a candle and I can see, and I can remember.As do we all.