The Whole World Is You

"The whole world is you. Yet you keep thinking there is something else." --Hsueh-Feng

9/11

One year ago today, I gave a speech at my Toastmaster's club in Phoenix. While I spoke, I had two photographs circulating through the audience - one showing a close-up of a wall that had pictures of missing loved ones; the other was a panoramic picture of Manhattan at night with those two spotlights at ground zero shining high up into the sky. Several people in the audience told me that I should deliver this speech again on the sixth anniversary of September 11, 2001. Here it is:


Pictures on the Wall

I wrote a short song, but I won't sing. We'll call it a poem. I call it Pictures on the Wall.

Two lights into the sky
Where the towers once stood
It's night and I just sigh
This light does me no good

Two bright lights into the sky
Where the victims once stood
It's still night and I must cry
Is there hope for the good?

Oh, there came heroes, hope and strength
But I just see the pictures on the wall
While the fires burned for months
No reason, no reason at all

Yes, we had two bright lights shining proud and high
Up into that Manhattan sky
But I still see the pictures on the wall
While the fires burned for months
And we all just cried
It's still not over; we're not over it at all
I'll never be over the pictures on the wall
I'll never be over the pictures on the wall

My friends, a lot of time has passed, and we continue to be strong and have hope for the future. But I cannot forget. We meet on the fifth anniversary. Today I remember the pain. It is imprinted and easily felt. Today especially, after so frequently hearing it for such a long, long time, sometimes so carelessly tossed about, it actually hurts to say it or hear it. 9/11. September 11, 2001. I remember clearly. As we meet on this day, I need to connect to the raw feelings I felt on that day, five years ago. So I remember.

There is integrity in my feelings. It's authentic. I remember the purity of my anger and my agony. It's real. It's true. It's what I felt five years ago. It feels the same today. I need to remember, or eventually I might feel nothing at all. It's what we all need to do. Remember.

But there have been so many distractions. 9/11 dominates our foreign policies, our domestic policies, it's affecting our lives in many ways, whether expected or not. The first round of 9/11 movies has now been released. That's just the way it is. Like Pearl Harbor and the World War II generation, this tragedy and this era will spawn an industry, feeding our entertainment, our culture and our politics for generations. So much has become entangled with September 11, 2001. The images we share, the stories we tell, and the history we shape together will forever define that powerful day.

Our history, of course, is still being written. And the stories are still being told. Dramatic controversies, brutal wars and tough elections are constantly swirling around us. So many people live in fear. So many are pushing fear. All of this clamor can be dark and confusing. But my memory is distinct. It is bright and clear.

It is difficult to even have a conversation about 9/11. There are so many questions and so many opinions. How could this happen? Who can we trust? Where is the hope? There is so much noise; too many distractions. But my memory is always a comfort. It is true and clear.

I will not let this noise alter my connection to what happened. We got hit hard. Some lived through this, while many others, tragically, did not. But I was one of the victims. All of us are victims. Our children are victims. Their children may not remember, but I promise to remember my pain. It is still imprinted and easily felt.

Please, I implore you, on this day, to pay no attention to all the noise. Go back to that day. Remember, and feel, and let everything else go. Forget war. Forget the news. Ignore the voices telling you how you must react. Tomorrow, you can dive right back into the noise and swim wherever you like. But today, please don't take comfort from the distractions.

I challenge you: Face the feelings you had while you lived through this horrific act of terror. I say that we owe it to the victims, we owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to the generations to never forget. Why? Because the honesty and the clarity of our memories must live, and those memories must inform the future that we create. While we will, of course, engage in the noise as we grow together, we must never allow ourselves to get lost in fantasy and fear. We must not get lost in the noise. We must stay connected to the truth.

My memories connect me to what I know is real. So I have gone back, and I have said it out loud. Today, I remember the pictures on the wall while those damned fires burned for months, and we all just cried.

Time has gone by, and I am not over it. The pain is imprinted and searing.

Tomorrow, I'll see the two proud lights shining high into the sky.

Tomorrow, I will see hope.

But today is the fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001. Today I remember.