Writings

Author: Lindy
Title: I Will Always Remember
Type of Work: poem
Source: CMv1 9/11 Tribute edition

i will always remember that day, a day that will live in infamy,
as they said of pearl harbor and as they said
of the day that kennedy was shot.
a day that people will always remember; remembering where they were,
what they were doing, and how important all those mundane
little details called life seemed to them, right up until that very moment.

within those brief moments, all our lives changed;
and it was not on the radio, as it was during pearl.
it was not on film, with walter cronkite narrating
his shock at the loss of our camelot and it's king;
alternately struggling to suppress his emotion yet convey
his own feelings, and express the feelings of a shocked nation.

in those brief moments all our lives changed,
and it changed on live television, right before our very eyes.
in real time, a real tragedy, an affront to the very heart
and soul of human nature itself.
a shocked nation sat stunned and watched as her twin towers,
the world's trade center, was bombarded and was felled.
as her nation's very heart, it's pentagon was threatened
and was struck hard by a mighty blow.

a blow delivered by cowards, a blow delivered by those who believed
they were better than those they chose to attempt to destroy.
believing that that very faith and sacrifice would take them
to a higher plane. so planes they used,
with our very own people wrapped inside those packages of death;
held hostage, killed, murdered as they simply and innocently
went about their daily lives in that former sense of untouchabilty we had.

yes, i will always remember that day,
as i walked into my safe haven, my home.
coming in from a hard night at labor, working while most slept safely in their beds.
slept, unaware of the horror that awaited them in the morrow;
feeling so tired, so unappreciated and so unappreciative,
devoid of emotion, drained, feeling the futility that the real world can bring.

until the moment i turned it on, that harbinger of doom, that direct connection
to the horrors unfolding at that exact moment in time.
watching, in disbelief, over and over, replayed and analyzed
as if analysis would explain what had happened and why
and take the pain away, making it surreal to me.

and then, the phone rang. it was my hospital, my workplace;
the place i go nightly to heal and care for others who need my expertise.
it was my hospital calling me to say, "we've had a disaster,
are you available to go and serve in whatever capacity you are needed?
and can you be ready to go on a moment's notice?"
and i could only give one answer, say one word..."yes.
dear lord, yes, tell me what i can do to help."

and that was what those cowards did not see,
did not take into account when they thought to cripple us.
they thought our power was money, and our government was power.
but they are not americans, so how could they even begin
to understand her heart, her nature, her very soul?
how could they comprehend our dedication to stand by each other in a crisis,
with not even a fleeting thought of the sacrifice to self,
our ability to forget our own safety,
putting ourselves in harms way for the greater good.

that is what they, with all their planning, with all their cowardly
terrorist activity did not take into account.
the spirit of america and the spirit of her people.
and how, no matter that we may be divided among ourselves,
we will come together as one when threatened by evil forces
from puppet goverments. forgetting at once race and creed,
gender and sexual orientation; remembering only what we all are,
remembering only what is truly important to us.

that we are americans and we are free and we will stand and fight the tyranny
of those who brainwash their innocent children,
suck them into their heinous plans, to make them slaves
to their own government, their own puppetmaster.
they who think they have the right to take the lives of others
and crush them in their evil fist of wicked schemes to rule the world.
how could they understand, they are not americans.

and i will always remember that day, those feelings that overwhelmed me,
bringing tears to my eyes and a closing to my throat, choking off for that one
brief moment my ability to even breathe, but just for that moment.
those feelings of horror and of hope, of injustice and of standing and raging
against that same injustice; of the incredulity of the moment
and the instantaneous way they changed our lives, or tried to.
but they did not take into account that we are americans.
they did not take into account our spirit, our dedication, our strength.
not the strength of money or power, but the strength of spirit.
and i will always remember, i will never forget
how proud i am that i am an amercian.

(lindy elizabeth cox....written august 28, 2002)