Midnight Musings

I'm a weeper under the best of circumstances but I never cried during the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" in my entire life until I heard it played by Queen Elizabeth's Coldstream Guards in September, 2001. I still tear up when I think about it. I live about 40 miles from New York City and the skyline has always been a frequent background to my travel routes. I obsessed over the World Trade Center for months after 9/11 and still look away when I see it on television. The first time I went to Newark airport after the tragedy and saw all the National Guardsmen it felt like a funeral. I mouthed, "Thank you," to the first one who met my eye and he nodded and flashed me just the briefest of looks of relief before setting his jaw again. They have to put up with so much and are given so little...

Things have settled into a nervous kind of lull. There's always that simmering tension underscoring our day-to-day actions but patriotic displays tug at my heartstrings like never before. Selfishly, I'd rather feel removed from terror than part of it. I suppose we all would. I am part of this world, so that is neither realistic nor possible. Someone sent me this web site last month and I can't even imagine coming across the actual display. I would probably have to pull off the road and cry.

On a Rock in Rural Iowa