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 Did Your World Change Too?
Author: Wren
Posted: September 17th. 2001
Times Viewed: 5,686
Tuesday was simply another ordinary morning. Fritz and I shared a cup of coffee while C-Span played in the background and the kitties were busy tidying up their paws. Fritz left for work and after I made the bed, I went back for that all-important second cup of Joe. The subject being discussed on C-Span had changed to one that I wasn't particularly interested in, so I began to flip through the other news channels. And right then, somewhere between the split second that separates one press on a button from another, my world changed.
Just how much that it had changed wasn't apparent at first. By the time that Fritz called in from his office, several initial reports had already been recorded. 'It was a small plane.' It was a large plane.' It was a bomb, an explosion.' I don't know what happened.' It was after my second call to Fritz- the one that I made right after I saw the second plane hit the second tower- that it became clear that this was no accident. This was a deliberate act. And as the two towering buildings that were the landmark and pride of the World Trade Center burned, I knew that the world had that Tuesday morning become a very different place.
How can you put into words such things as no words were ever meant to express? How can you understand what defies understanding or cope with what seems both so very real and yet so unbelievable that your mind cannot hold onto any one thing long enough to provide any equilibrium? And just how are you supposed to steady your own racing heart when you know- when you can feel- that suddenly and without warning so many other hearts have just been broken? And still it was not over.
Fritz came home for the day and we did what many of you did- we watched the news programs and learned that the horror that we imagined did not come even close to the horror of what the reality had become. My world has changed. Fritz's world has changed. Your world has changed. Our world has changed. That is the new reality that we all faced on a Tuesday morning. And still it is not over.
For the people who lost loved ones, it still is not over. For those whose eyes peer out from a blank or tear-stained face and hopefully thrust the pictures of their missing husbands, wives, children, friends, co-workers, in front of everyone that they meet, it still is not over. For the brave and exhausted firemen and women, the military servicepeople, the police officers, the city workers and all of the countless civilian volunteers sifting through tons upon tons of rubble, it still is not over. And we all hope and we pray that anyone who is still alive under all of that concrete can hear us when we whisper to him or her, "Hang on. Don't give up on us because we will not give up on you. We have begun the search for you and it still is not over."
And as the search goes on, people from all walks of life and from all religious faiths are coming together to pray and to comfort and to remember. In large public services and small private devotions, in churches and wooded groves and in living rooms and on the streets, Pagans and Christians and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and atheists are lighting candles, wiping away tears and sharing each others pain and grief. And even though a few hateful voices here and there have tried to rend this unity of spirit asunder, still we continue to hold on, still we continue to share, still we continue to hope. And in the midst of concrete dust and flickering candles and national emergencies, we have come together as a nation and as a world. And still it is not over.
For we have only just begun to realize our combined strength. We have only just begun to realize the possibilities for cooperation and trust that we may now develop with other peoples and with other nations. We have only just begun to believe that yes, while it is true that the world has been changed, perhaps it is also true that through our shared grief, our shared challenge and our new-found shared resolve, we can tranform what was meant to make us smaller into something that makes us bigger and better.
And to those who changed our world on Tuesday morning, we would say only this: We don't know as yet who and what we will deploy in order to track you down. We don't know as yet in what form our desire for justice and/or our need for retaliation upon you will manifest. We don't know as yet what the cost will be and we don't know how long it may take. But we do know that we will find you. This is not over. It has only just begun.
And finally, we have to say to our beloved Pagan/Heathen communities: If it were not for you, there would be no words here for you to read today. On Wednesday, Fritz and I just had nothing left to give and we were simply going to put up a black page and leave it at that. But then one or two of you posted your words on the forum. Then tens of you began to post. Then hundreds of posts and thousands of words came forth from Pagans and non-Pagans. From all over the world, you came. And you shared not only your words, but you shared your actions and invited others to meet together for vigils and prayers and magickal workings. And you posted resource information, addresses for relief agencies and other contact and networking points. We thank you.
And to those of you who have written to us over the years to say thank you or to tell us that something here at TWV inspired you in some small way, we say: That in our own time of travail, it has been YOU who have inspired us. And we thank you once again. Pagans have come forward and have shown themselves to be peoples of compassion, of power, of love and of strength. And all who would rise up against such peoples cannot prevail. We are stronger, wiser and more powerful than we were on that Tuesday morning that seems so long ago. And it's not over yet. We have just begun.
Walk in Love and Light,
Wren Walker
Co-Founder - The Witches' Voice
Sunday, September 16th 2001
Photo Credit: The photo above is from the J.K. Williams, visit one of his many web gallaries for more beautiful images
Article Specs
Article ID: 4528
VoxAcct: 1
Section: wrenwalker
Age Group: Adult
Days Up: 4,268
Times Read: 5,686
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