From Ruins to Rainbows - Never Forget!

I recently had the wonderful fortune of being able to see Billy Joel in concert at Madison Square Garden.  For me, it was particularly special.  You see, Billy Joel is to me and my hometown, Oyster Bay, Long Island what Bruce Springsteen is to Asbury Park, NJ.  The iconic Piano Man played all of his hits as well as some lower profile songs that only a die-hard Billy fan would know. One song that really resonated with me than ever before was "We Didn't Start The Fire".

If you aren’t familiar with the song and its background, “We Didn’t Start The Fire” includes brief, rapid references to more than 100 headline events between 1949, the year of Joel’s birth and 1989 when the song was released.  Joel said that the song was written “from a place of malevolence” and that it reflected the attitude of “waiting for the other shoe to drop.”  He sums up 40 years of famous Presidents, celebrities, kinds of cars, types of music and novels, political issues and tragic events into a 3 minute song.

There were plenty of noteworthy historical events that had unfolded in my 47 years and I actually think it would be cool to research them and see which ones were the most impactful.  But for today, I can say with much certainty that, it was September 11th when the biggest shoe dropped for me and all of America.

As the anniversary of that terrifying attack on our Country is eerily upon us again, I reflect…

I still brace myself for the wave of emotions that overcome me on this day.  I compartmentalize them for 364 days a year and allow myself to release on this day.  As I sat at Church early this morning, I found it more difficult to process and I find it harder to write about. 

After 14 years, it feels like it was just yesterday.  My memory often fails me at my age, but I can remember every detail from that horrific day. It's as vivid as the days I gave birth to each of my children.  Fourteen years later, I am still in disbelief over the events that unfolded and how it literally and figuratively turned that city black on such a beautiful, perfectly crisp, fall day.

The events on that day forced me to morph from the Wall Street wife who at the time was probably a little more consumed with what was had as opposed to what should have been offered.  Since then, I have committed myself to being more true to myself, my kids, my family, my Country!  I have learned to embrace the good out of the ruins of 9/11 yet on the anniversary each year, I am overcome with anger or the similar malevolence that Billy Joel describes in his powerful song.  Each year at this time, I mourn not only those I lost, I mourn the “what could have been?”  The things that never happened as a result of the actions of those vile terrorists.  The questions are just too long to list.

And as I sat quietly in a dark Church early this morning, I mourned the fact that I will never receive the answers to the “what could have been” questions.  I also reflected upon the incredible image of the rainbow that was captured over The Freedom Tower yesterday representing those lost but also reminding me of the many people, places and experiences that I have been blessed with as a result of the attacks upon our Country 14 years ago.  So I wipe my tears, and I buck up, shake it off and express my gratitude for all of the adversities that have forced me to grow into who I am today. 

I pray for all of my friends who have lost parents, spouses, and children.  I pray for the healing and growth of those directly affected.  I thank God for the brave acts of cops, firefighters and service men and women who became heroes that day at a very high cost.  In this critical time in our Country’s history, I beg for the safety of my family and friends and, my Country and I again attempt to embrace the uncomfortable realization that life must and does go on.

 

In the words of Billy Joel…

“We didn’t start the fire! It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire, No, we didn't light it but we tried to fight it…

We didn't start the fire, It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire, but when we are gone, It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...