The lack of male bonding in Rodney’s life has been difficult. We tried Boy Scouts for two years. I was the only woman there, but Rodney didn’t feel comfortable with that. I try to fill in the gaps, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t replace a male. Sometimes kids can be mean. Someone asked him why would he watch football if he didn’t have a dad. he felt excluded because all of the boys watch football with their dads. I told him I could teach him. I told my son that he was part of something big. I said because of what he went through as a child, he can do great things one day.

–Patricia Wotton, 49, speaking about her son Rodney who was born in 2001 and whose father Rodney Wotton, an IT Manager (and Patricia’s husband), died at age 36 on 9/11, People Magazine (September 12,2011, issue), page 67

It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
The dark threw its patches down upon me also,
The best I had done seem’d to me blank and suspicious,
My great thoughts as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?
Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil,
I am he who knew what it was to be evil,
I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,
Blabb’d, blush’d, resented, lied, stole, grudg’d,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me.
The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting,

Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting,
Was one with the rest, the days and haps of the rest,
Was call’d by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as
they saw me approaching or passing,
Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of
their flesh against me as I sat,
Saw many I loved in the street or ferry-boat or public assembly, yet
never told them a word,
Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping,
Play’d the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,
The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like,
Or as small as we like, or both great and small.

–Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

Read it all.

On Monday this week [in September 2003], the last of the 343 firefighters who died on September 11th was buried. Because no remains of Michael Ragusa, age 29, of Engine Company 279, were found and identified, his family placed in his coffin a very small vial of his blood, donated years ago to a bone-marrow clinic. At the funeral service Michael’s mother Dee read an excerpt from her son’s diary on the occasion of the death of a colleague. “It is always sad and tragic when a fellow firefighter dies,” Michael Ragusa wrote, “especially when he is young and had everything to live for.” Indeed. And what a sobering reminder of how many died and the awful circumstances in which they perished that it took until this week to bury the last one.

So here is to the clergy, the ministers, rabbis, imams and others, who have done all these burials and sought to help all these grieving families. And here is to the families who lost loved ones and had to cope with burials in which sometimes they didn’t even have remains of the one who died. And here, too, is to the remarkable ministry of the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, who played every single service for all 343 firefighters who lost their lives. The Society chose not to end any service at which they played with an up-tempo march until the last firefighter was buried.

On Monday, in Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, the Society therefore played “Garry Owen” and “Atholl Highlander,” for the first time since 9/11 as the last firefighter killed on that day was laid in the earth. On the two year anniversary here is to New York, wounded and more sober, but ever hopeful and still marching.

–First published on this blog September 11, 2003

A mother in Malaysia greeted her dead son. People in Manila left roses for the victim who helped give them homes. And mourners in Tokyo stood before a piece of steel from ground zero, remembering the 23 bank employees who never made it out alive.

A decade after 9/11, the day that changed so much for so many people, the world’s leaders and citizens paused to reflect Sunday. But there were also those – including a former Malaysian prime minister – who reiterated old claims that the U.S. government itself was behind the attacks.

From Sydney to Paris, formal ceremonies paid tribute to the nearly 3,000 who perished from more than 90 countries. And, in a reminder that threats remain, Swedish police said four people were arrested Sunday on suspicion of preparing a terror attack as authorities in Washington and New York beefed up security in response to intelligence about possible plans for a car bomb attack.

Read it all.

Try to look at them all (the autoplay feature is helpful to me).

This video is a long download but an important file to take the time to listen to and watch; I make myself do it every year on this day. There are a few pieces I would have wished to do differently in terms of the choices for specific content, but the actual footage and the music is valuable. Be forewarned that the raw images and sounds of the day are emotionally taxing to try to take in, so one has to be in a prepared state before one begins–KSH.

Lord,
Source of Life, Creator of all flesh,
From out of the depths we call unto you.
Protect us from the hand of all our enemies.
Comfort Your children who now stand alone
without parent or brother or sister or child.

Strengthen us to stand with those orphaned by this attack on our country.
This country, our country, shelter of peace to the downtrodden,
which has gathered in millions of the peoples of the world
stands as a beacon of light and justice,
but today is dimmed with horror and tragedy.
New York and Washington, shining cities,
Diminished like Jerusalem after the destruction of the holy Temple,
need Your comfort, and our aid;
help us to maintain our courage and our efforts to support our people.

Strengthen the hands of those who defend this country,
and those who try to maintain peace against these attacks.
Teach us to speak to our children
with love and support and courage and understanding,
for we are all fearful, although their fears may not be our fears.

Gain for us a heart of wisdom,
that we may act out of compassion and thoughtfulness,
and not out of anger or prejudice.

Accept with mercy our prayers for our country and
its government for its president, judges, officials and
institutions who faithfully toil for the good of our country.

May they, with Your guidance, lead us back to lives
of peace in a land we have come to love.

Watch it all.

Shield of the fearful,
Source of hope,
as we mourn the sudden violence
and the deaths of our brothers and sisters,
show us the immense power of your goodness
and strengthen our faith.
Come swiftly to our aid,
and have mercy on all who call on you.
Comfort those who mourn this day
and gather the dead in your mercy.
Bring to us at last the peace
you promise in Jesus Christ
who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

–Archdiocese of Chicago

Dear God:

Thou who has been our help in ages past, thou who dispenses your comfort to all those who mourn. We seek your grace to strengthen us as we commemorate the lives of loved ones who have been lost on this day of anguish for our country and our world.

Wipe away the blinding tears that plummet down our cheeks like gushing streams of an overflowing riverbank. Our heavy hearts still search for the solace of your guidance through the maze of pain and the myriad of complex issues such tragedy releases.

Though hurt, we are compelled to commemorate those who are fallen on this day. Remember those who may not have lost a life but instead they lost a limb, those who gave their health for our wholeness, those who lost their emotional stability to help us regain our national security.
Read it all.

Israel sent a pair of military jets into Cairo at dawn on Saturday to evacuate its embassy staff after six members had been trapped in the embassy overnight by thousands of protesters who invaded the building and tossed documents from the windows.

As an angry mob stormed the embassy and tore down its flag for the second time in a month, Israel appealed to the United States for help. Coming a week after Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador over its refusal to apologize for a deadly raid on a Turkish ship, the attack left Israel facing crises in relations with its two most important regional allies, and ambassadors in neither country.

The violence also raised concerns about whether Egypt’s military-led transitional government would be able to maintain law and order and meet its international obligations, and to what extent popular rage unleashed by the Arab Spring would send a chill over the region.

Read it all.

Dr Rowan Williams is understood to have told friends he is ready to quit the highest office in the Church of England to pursue a life in academia.

The news will trigger intense plotting behind the scenes over who should succeed the 61-year-old archbishop, who is not required to retire until he is 70.

Bishops have privately been arguing for Dr Williams to stand down, with the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, telling clergy he should give someone else a chance after nearly ten years in the post.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reflects on the events of September 11th 2001 when he was in a building located 100 yards from the Twin Towers at the time of the terrorist attacks in the US.

In this interview for ‘Songs of Praise’, first broadcast in March 2010, Dr Williams describes the horror of that day, and how he and his companions reacted.

Read it all.

Germany’s Finance Ministry is studying the potential impact of a Greek debt default, working through scenarios which include Greece abandoning the euro to reintroduce the drachma, Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday.

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Wow.

Update: Novak Djokovic prevailed, but only after saving 2 match points on Roger Federer’s serve.

[KIM] LAWTON: At Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik says the lingering spiritual impact of 9/11 is profound. He was and still is a chaplain for the New York Fire Department and says he’s been especially inspired by the families of the 343 fire fighters who died on 9/11.

RABBI JOSEPH POTASNIK (Congregation Mount Sinai, Brooklyn Heights, NY): So this is a special reminder of many, many special people who are in our midst and who were in our midst.

LAWTON: Potasnik has experienced 9/11’s aftermath on several fronts: as an FDNY chaplain, executive vice-president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and spiritual leader of a synagogue just across the river from Ground Zero. The twin towers loomed large for his congregation, such as during High Holiday services, when they would walk down to the water for the traditional Tashlikh ritual. Eight years ago, Potasnik told us his people had been deeply scarred.

Read or watch it all.

The new facilities include a four-changing room clubhouse with meeting and training areas, as well as official’s changing rooms and catering facilities. The project will benefit in excess of 300 players and more than 20 teams who play at the site.

The new building will be the masthead for a club that already has excellent ground amenities, with more than 11 acres of playing fields and a large car park. The site consists of three, full-size 11-a-side pitches, and six Mini Soccer pitches.

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