|
POEMS
May
it…
…always remind us of lives lost.
…challenge us to embrace our souls.
…always remind us of our neighbours.
…lead us to love.
…allow us to find the strength.
…lead us to restraint
…become
a gift from those who died.
…help us to recognize oppression.
…become a gift to those born tomorrow.
…teach us to listen.
…serve as a catalyst for compassion.
…teach us to grow;
And may it never happen again.
-- Jean-Michel Picher - 09/12/01
this was our world trade center
this was our world trade center,
which made people surrender
to the beauty of this engineering wonder,
but,at times with a lurking danger
that someday, someone might shatter
this great twin tower center.
came Tuesday of 2001, 11th September,
a day full of horror & terror,
'cause, there was this perpetrator
who gave the fateful order
for the most dreaded disaster....
people ran helter -skelter,
stricken with anger, panic & fear,
holding onto their lives dear
praying & hoping for loved ones - near & dear
i am just an onlooker,
a helpless by-stander,
filled with a grim wonder..
is this a life in perfect order?
is this world in perfect order?
all said & done, i continue my prayer
for all souls - victim and survivor,
each, someone's father, mother or brother,
or looking to find their peer,
i also pray for the ever growing number
of firefighters, workers & volunteers
to join hands & work together
to emerge out more stronger , richer
and strive to make the world safer & better.
-- 'ami'
Summer's End, 2001
The crows flew toward the waterfall
knowing they would drown;
their silent shadows rippled on the ground.
And though a blue sky held them
and though the hills were green
their minds were on a prize that neither
they nor any other bird had ever seen.
They saw their faces closing
but never meant to sing
they only left a silhouette of wings
that lingered briefly there before
the broken water fell
and crashed down on the granite
so hard the dark clear water shook in every well.
The river boiled in protest
and stumbled on its bed,
every field beside it stained with red.
And every thirst it tried to cool
it slickened into flame
to show that from that moment
no ancient spell that river knew could work the same.
The water flowed on raging
until it found the tide
and fouled the currents dolphin used to ride.
And through the shoal of minnows there
a dark shape rushes now
too fast for any shark to swim
the eastward flying shadow cast by one more crow.
-- Brady Earnhart
|
LETTERS
An
Unfair Gamble
I made
a life or death decision yesterday. I booked a plane ticket. The
simple question uttered by the travel agent, "Which airport
would you like to fly out of - BWI or Dulles?", had overnight
turned into a decision of momentous proportions. The question immediately
played through my mind as, "Which airport, plane, day, and
time do you feel the terrorists will not use to launch an attack
on the US?" I cannot answer this question with certitude. Thus,
I am left hedging my bets on what I feel, with my limited information
garnered from news reports, is the safest time and place: BWI (since
the terrorists used Dulles), Saturday (since the attack was carried
through on a weekday), and the rest I leave to intuition and fate,
and the hope that the increased security after the crisis will make
air travel safer now than it ever was before.
Yet, by
the simple fact that the aspect of another terrorist attack looms
large in my decision-making process is an indication that the terrorists
are, as of now, winning the "war." Terrorism can be defined
as the fear of the unknown, as the constant lurking of ever present,
yet unforseeable danger and violence and death. Like my fellow citizens,
I am struggling to carry on with my life while at the same time
carrying the knowledge that terrorists who would give their lives
to destroy this country are still at large, perhaps planning their
next grizzly attack as I write.
It is
unfair that an answer to the question that was so routine and mundane
before the September 11 attacks -- "What time would you like
to fly?" -- has become a weight that I now find difficult to
shoulder. But "unfair" is a relative term. Some Muslims
may argue that it is unfair that US troops are stationed in Saudi
Arabia, the home of Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina.
They may argue it is unfair that the US supports Israel, providing
them with a military and financial advantage in the conflict against
their Arab brethern, the Palestinians. Some Muslims believe it is
unfair that we back the Saudi royal family, who have not exactly
been the poster children for Muslim piety.
While
the merits of these three US policy positions must be re-examined
in light of the recent terrorist attacks, the question which stretches
before us now is: are we going to become like the Israelis, a fortress
state, constantly expending a large majority of resources and energy
in trying to protect itself? As the Israelis have discovered, this
is an impossible task. And for a country as large and pourous as
ours, it will prove even more daunting. At stake is the very foundation
of our country, our civil liberties and freedoms of which we are
so proud. The US cannot control its population if it hopes to maintain
a democracy.
What then?
How does the US balance its security needs with its committment
to democratic freedoms and its Middle East interests? This is the
tightrope that our leaders will have to walk in the coming weeks,
months, and even years. While I do not have any easy answers for
our leaders, what I do know is that until terrorism ceases to terrorize
Americans and effect our decisions, we as a country will never return
to the idylic "Garden of Eden" we were living in before
September 11. I fear that this return to a simpler time, a time
when I can make an airline reservation without feeling I am gambling
with my life, is very far off in the future. And that is what scares
me most of all.
Melissa
Vinitsky
|
