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Take a Moment


On this anniversary eve of 9/11.

Yesterday I was deep in grief. It came on suddenly, surprised me. I have all kinds of reasons, but I want to say first that it was not a dreadful thing. Grief happens because we are ALIVE and feeling deeply, because we love and realize that we have this moment, and everything in it.

Somehow, if you stand still and get that, you can become overwhelmed by so many feelings: gratitude, joy, wonder, mystery, humility, and bittersweet sorrow.

Photo from Zamnar.com

I wanted to get this candle up in time for the surgery of three friends, a wellness vigil for the others who are getting diagnosed or starting up treatment, to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11 and those that loved them, for those who were displaced by the hurricanes and may be by the next one, for all the troops (not just ours but ALL of them), for the politicians who I hope can stay clear on why the are running and what they really stand for, and for all those who are so blessed as to be in good health, who are happy, well-fed, well-rested and safe right here and now, in the moment.

That would certainly include me.

Even if today is a bad day, there's gotta be at least 10 things you're grateful for, including that you're here to go through it.

And in this moment, as you're reading this, know that whatever's going on, whether "good" or "bad," you never know what the next moment holds. So Trust. 

The trick is in seeing that it's all a gift.

******************************************************************

Transferred from an old blog:  Here was a comment:
Joaqin said...
As you know me and my family were in NY on 9/11, just 1.5 miles away from the WTC site. Up to last year I caught myself tearing up about it from time to time. Unexplainable and sudden. This year I heard somebody cracking a joke about it - a tad tasteless, but nevertheless I laughed about it. So time heals. Here in Hawaii they had to get over Pearl Harbor. Think they did. Still the Arizona Memorial is a solemn place to visit. So is Buchenau and Srbeniczka and Bhopal and Hiroshima.

But all of those souls probably waving us to go on, not to mourn for too long. Just a bit. And fewer tears each years.
September 11, 2008 at 6:07:00 PM CDT 

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