Religious belief is a wonderful thing. It can help us make sense out of our world, it can explain the mysteries of the cosmos, it can even bring peace to us at the end of our days. What it can't and should not do is determine the entire zeitgeist of the world - particularly through the murders (and let's be serious here, that's all it was) of thousands of innocent people.
The title of this particular entry is Ten Years After and long ago there was an incredible band by the name of "Ten Years After". Actually, technically there name was Alvin Lee and Ten Years After. Anyway, about 40 years ago they recorded a song entitled, "I'd Like to Change the World". While some of the lyrices of this song are completely out of place ("Dykes and Fairies" really is no longer appropriate unless you are using the words to refer to yourself as we are reminded by Father Roger Schmidt in The Laramie Project ) but so much of the rest of the song could have been written today. Its funny how 40 years ago, the sentiments coming out of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, The Oil Embargoes, and the Recession of the early 70's could still be applied today;
Ten years after what can truly be considered a cathartic moment for our nation, so much has left to be done in our country. We are facing the biggest economic crisis in decades, our government is disfunctional, the unemployment rate is reaching astronomical proportions, and yet we are still embroiled in the blame game. We even have people who wish to perpetuate the idae that this disaster was either staged or was somehow cuased by the U.S. Government in order to start a war against Islam. Well for those of you who believe it was staged just remember these images;
9/11 will be for our generation what Pearl Harbor was for our grandparents and Kennedy's assasination was for our parents - we will always know where we were and what we were doing when we got the word of this tragedy.
For me, I was in a Production Practicum class in the Little Theatre with Megha Nabe, Katherine O'Connor, Megan Taggart, Jordan Ross and some other students whose names are slipping my memory right now. This was in the time before EVERYONE (at least not me) had cell phones or smart phones so we weren't really sure what was happening. My office is right off the Little Theatre so I became aware that someone was trying to call me and the phone kept ringing. I finally excused myseflf from the class and answered the phone.
It was Amy and she was in hysterics. She was watching it all unfold on our television at home and she couldn't believe what was happening. We had friends (Lauren and her husband David) who lived down in Batery Park and I had been working in 1 WTC only a few years ago for a little while because Goldman Sachs had kep an office there and I would sometimes have to go over there for my boss. Now it was on fire and we didn't know what was going on with our friends.
And then she called later to tell me the second one had hit and it was clear it was on purpose. A few of my kids had phones and started getting calls. Right then and there the lesson was out the window and we started talking about what we knew. Then she called again, the first tower had fallen. I remember her being in hysterics and some of the kids as well becuase they had just gotten updates. And then the second tower fell and we were struck by all the devestation that had just happened 40 miles away.
This was on a Tuesday morning and the rest of the day there were televisions going on in the faculty cafeteria, the library, every computer in the school was following what was happening. Students were being picked up by fearful parents and everyone just wanted to be home with those they loved. It was a day that was surreal and seemed as if it would never end. But I know that part of what got me through the day until I could go home and be with my wife and my beautiful little girl was the support my theatre kids gave each other those terrible 40 minutes in the Little Theatre and the support they gave me.
Now it is ten years later and there are moments when those fears are still there. I still find myself looking up at airplanes sometimes and wondering if I'm going to see them explode in mid-air or if they will start plummeting towards the ground. Its a strange and terrifying thing to think about and to think that my children - the three of them now - will be growing up in a world in which we seem to be forgetting the lessons learned during that terrible time. Forgetting that what saves us is our ability to pull together, to comfort each other, and to minister to each other in times of need. When we lose our belief in our duty to help others, we lose our humanity. Amy's uncle Arthure Gudeon is just such a man. He never lost his belief in his duty to help others, even though it eventually cost him his health. If you follow this link to the 9/11 Memorial website and the rescue and recovery page, you can find him. Click on his podcast link and hear his story.
I guess thats one of the reasons I want to join the rescue squad at the Northport Fire Department. Its something I've been wanting to do since 9/11 and now that my School District Administration duties are finished I think I might have the time. I want to give back and I want to help others - I guess I always have and its part of why I became a teacher. I think another reason was early on in my teacher studies I read the book To Serve Them All of My Days and to tell the truth, that's really what I think teaching should be about. Its why I work at Sunrise Day Camp and why I want to help those kids by riding my bicycle across the country. If I could only get some people to donate funds to the effort!
Okay, so you knew that it was going to have to come back to riding at some point right? And today, to help me make sense out of my thoughts and feelings of what happened ten years ago I went for a ride. Not a long 50-mile hammerfest mind you. Just a nice 25 mile ride that would help me clear my head, provide me some catharsis, and push me to think how lucky I am to live in a country where I can come home and write down these thoughts and share them with whomever wishes to click on my blog. America is a pretty amazing place. Despite the crazy demonstrations, the crazy politics, the crazy trends and "reality" television shows (for which I sometimes feel bombing us is sort of justified), we live in a country where at the end of the day we can get on our bikes, wear spandex in public and express our displeasure with others by what we wear on our backs.
And yes, in this country we do have that option as one of our freedoms! But rest assured, in eight months when I embark on my 3600 mile journey to raise $50,000 for Sunrise Day Camp by riding my bicycle from San Diego, CA to Wheatley Heights, NY I will be FULLY clothed!
But today, as I rode in my Connor's Army bicycle jersey and watched the sun rising in the West on a new day that is so far removed from that tragic morning ten years ago there was a song playing through my head that was recorded and released about the same time as Ten Year's After's "I'd Like to Change the World". That song is "Imagine" and it kept playing over and over in my head - but never as wonderfully as it sounded as performed by the man who wrote it (who also had a propensity for nudity as well), John Lennon;
And for those of you who still don't get his Liverpudlian accent after all these years, here are some important lyrics to know - the second verse and the chorus):
"Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one."
And those my friends are words to live by. There are worse things that could be repeating themselves in your heads as you ride along!
Stay well and I will see you on the road!
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