911 - Dark Days

Even though it has been just six years, "9.11" seems like a memory from long ago. As fast as time seems to go for me, I'm not surprised that it feels like ancient history, and just like yesterday at the same time. The morning that the horrible thing took place, I was sitting in bed watching the morning news. When the show switched to the live feed, I was aware that it was happening in real time, however, the physical reaction I was experiencing felt like the same one I had on the afternoon that President Kennedy was shot.

I felt sick, nauseous, light-headed, and frozen in place. All the old, past, horrors I had witnessed on television came flooding back. First, the assassinations - Jack and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, the attempt on Reagan, movies I had seen where Gandhi was shot, the death of Princess Diana - memories that haven't faded. Then the memories of violence - the Oklahoma bombing, the first World Trade Center attack, clinic bombings, racial struggles with water cannons and tear gas, police with clubs and guns watching their cruisers burn, looting and fires, photos of concentration camps, the silence and smells at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Israel - all events that I had seen on TV, in photos, and some, places I had been.

Natural disasters bring dark days too. I've never felt an earthquake, but I have seen the destruction repeated in newscasts and documentaries. The 1964 Alaska Earthquake, the "Good Friday Quake," occurred the day after my son was born. In 1989, the Cypress Freeway collapse from the Loma Prieta Quake crushed 42 people. On a morning in 1994, I was awakened by news reports of a massive earthquake in California, the Northridge Quake. The stations were showing scenes of the damage and I saw the pinnacle of my denomination's "Mother Church" lying on its side in the street at a good distance from the building. The Sumatra quake and tsunami will be a part of my grand children's memories of dark days. This morning the news reports were remembering Hurricane Katrina and giving updates on the Mississippi bridge collapse and the lost miners.

Dark days are a part of every one's lives. As children it may when we fail a test in school, suffer a disappointment that hurts our feelings, when a best friend moves away, our pet dies, or we lose a family member. When we are grown, those times may alter the course of our lives and bring changes that we weren't ready to face. When our parents die, we understand what it means to be truly alone. If serious illness forces us to revise our "life plan," career choices, or how we spend what time we have left, it may seem that there are only dark days ahead of us.

The 6th anniversary of "9.11" is two weeks away. Those who lost loved ones in the attacks will never forget that day and neither will we. The lines in my sketch both separate, and join, us to the events of "9.11," as the towers did that day. Once again on the anniversary, our tears will join with the souls of those who were lost. (Pen, ink and watercolor, large watercolor Moleskine)