God Bless America - Memorial for 9/11/01

This page is a memorial in respect for the people who perished and for their loved ones, friends and families. It is also in honor of the heroes and the volunteers that gave of themselves - some who also lost their lives while trying to save others. Let us never forget the people who were lost in this most regrettable terrorist act.

Now, as never before, America is united to stand against anyone who tries to take away our Freedom and way of life. God Bless America!

Many of us are flying Ole Glory from our homes, cars, businesses and here is a link that gives "Flag Etiquette". I hope you will find it useful. I did.

Feel free to take a quilt square for your peace quilt or just as a remembrance to put on your website. No link back is required:

WHERE WAS GOD?

"I know you're mad at Me right now. That's alright. People have been mad at Me before and will be again. Being mad is part of being human. My Son got mad, too. It's alright to be mad sometimes at injustice, for example, or the lack of charity."

"You probably think I am unjust and uncharitable when an airplane goes down like that. All those people lost. The children gone. It doesn't seem right; it can't be loving. You ask, 'Where was God?' Why did He allow that to happen?"

"I allow it to happen because I allow you freedom. I could have left you on a string and made you dance all day without getting tired. I could have moved your mouth for you and made you sing all night without growing hoarse. I could have pulled a wire that would have let you soar skyward and never fall."

"I could have, but I didn't because I love you so much. I want you to be free to decide when to dance and sing. Free to determine when you will come to Me in faith and hope. Because you are free, some of you choose not to dance or sing. Some of you select hatred over love, revenge over forgiveness, bombs over a helping hand. As you choose, I watch. I do not disappear. I listen to both the songs and the bombs. AND I REMEMBER."

"Where was God?" you wonder...I was there. I whispered in the ear of a little girl, 'Don't be afraid, I am with you.' I held the hand of a business woman as tightly as she clutched mine. I cradled a pilot against my shoulder as if he were a baby again."

"Amid the paralyzing fear, I was there, as I was there with my Son in the garden. Amid the unbearable pain, I was there, as I was with Him. Amid the terrible realization that life was ending too soon, I was there, with Him as He hung on the cross and asked, like you, "My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

"I had not forsaken Him. I did not forsake them. I was there as they fell, and as they rose to eternal joy. I listened to their anger, answered their questions and showed them why they had been created. Not to end that way, but to live with Me forever."

"In an instant, they came into existence. As you did. In an instant, they left this world. As you will. But beyond that last instant, I kept my promise...A little girl dances, a business woman sings, and a pilot keeps his wings forever."

Author Unknown

Please Read the following article! I have heard this read over many radio stations in the days that followed:

Leonard Pitts Column From the Miami Herald;; Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001

It's my job to have something to say. They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering. You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard. What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed. Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause. Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve. Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.

Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae-a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though-peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God. Some people -- you, perhaps-think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.

Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before. But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain.

When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice. I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future. In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too.

You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold. As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish. So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started. But you're about to learn.

On March 11, 2002 these lights came on as a memorial to the Word Trade Towers, the lives lost and to the heroes of 9-11. They stayed lit for 32 days. May the lights stay lit forever in our hearts. They were also lit during the memorial on 9/11/03.

Please feel free to take the graphic below for your website. No link back is required. Spread peace in your daily lives and on the internet and hopefully Peace will also spread far and wide around the world.

War does not determine who is right,

war determines who is left.

The links below are to the author, Paul Rogat Loeb. If you don't look at any other links, please do take a look at these:

http://www.embracingyourspirit.com/breaking_the_cycle_of_vengeance.htm

http://www.embracingyourspirit.com/an_alternative_to_silence.htm

George Carlin very appropriate post 9-11

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but
shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend
more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses
and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more
degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts,
yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke
too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too
angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV
too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but
reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've
learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years
to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and
back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We
conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but
not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've
conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We
build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever,
but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods
and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow
relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier
houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway
morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from
cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom
window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology
can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to
share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not
going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who
looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and
leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because
that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a
cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones,
but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it
comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for
someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak and give time to share the
precious thoughts in your mind.

Don't go through life - grow through life!!

The U.S. Dollar Bill

How much do you know?

Take out a one dollar bill, and look at it.
The one dollar bill you're looking at first came off the
presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper
money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue
minute silk fibers running through it. It is actually material.
We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of
ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted
with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant
and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.

If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States
Treasury Seal. On the top you will see the scales for a balanced budget.
In the center you have a carpenter's square, a tool used for an even
cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury. That's all
pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar
bill is something we should all know.

If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both
circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States.
The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin
and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years
to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.
If you look at the left-hand circle, you will see a Pyramid.
Notice the face is lighted, and the western side is dark.
This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore
the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization.

The Pyramid is uncapped, again signifying that we were not even
close to being finished. Inside the capstone you have the
all-seeing eye, an ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklin's
belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men,
with the help of God, could do anything.

"IN GOD WE TRUST" is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid,
ANNUIT COEPTIS, means, "God has favored our undertaking."
The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means, "a new
order has begun." At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776.

If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will
learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States. It is
also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National
Cemetery, and is the centerpiece of most hero's monuments. Slightly
modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States, and it
is always visible whenever he speaks, yet very few people know what the
symbols mean.

The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons:
First, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong, and he is smart enough to
soar above it. Second, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from
the King of England. Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country
can now stand on its own. At the top of that shield you have a white bar
signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation.
In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM", meaning, "one from
many unite".

Above the Eagle, you have thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original colonies,
and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one.
Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This
country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle
always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.

WHAT THE AMERICAN FLAG STANDS FOR - 12-year-old Charlotte wrote this
essay for a competition in her 6th grade English class in Presque Isle...

The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is
against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying
when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect. You can
tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it
gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the
ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without
anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.
School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No
one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human decency. No one
has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or
affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all
have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth. Betsy Ross
would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But
Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag's real
meaning remains.

Charlotte is a very wise 12 year old.

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This site originated on December 30, 1999