Today, I'm glad to be alive.

[KillerMuffin]

It's very selfish, but it's very true.

I am glad to be alive even though it probably hurts the living far more than it hurts the dead. After all, we have to live with the horror and we have to clean up the mess. We have to find a way to pick up the pieces and move on. We have to find a way to live with this, not only be exacting retribution, but by living with the fact that tens of thousands of people died, an imporant piece of American culture was demolished, and our innocence was lost.

I have been listening to both sides of the fence using this opportunity to bash the other side. It's the dem's fault we- it's the GOP's fault we- Bush is a- Clinton did- In a way, this is much like a very violent rape. We didn't ask for it, we could not have prevented it, and it is neither Bush's nor Clinton's fault this happened. Rather than beat each other up over who did what in the past several decades, we should silently learn from what we did wrong and move on. There is blame to be assigned here, and all of it rests squarely upon the heads of those who perpetrated this.

I personally have been openly critical of Clinton in the past, I've disagreed with him, and I never voted for him. However, I followed his orders. Had this occurred on his watch, I would have followed his orders even if they'd gotten me killed (doubtful, wrong job). Right now is not the time to criticise either side. Bush cannot declare war. Congress does that. Congress cannot command the armed forces. Bush does that. Right now I firmly believe that our leaders, dems, GOP, and others, need to come together and work together. We need to let them know that at this time we will NOT stand for bipartisanship. We don't just expect them to work together, we DEMAND it. Both sides offer something valuable, and between the two we can make this tragedy into something even more unprecedented, a united US. Together we stand, divided we fall.

But right now, I'm alive. I can breathe, I can feel the keyboard under my fingers, the breeze through the window, I can see the pictures of my family on the wall, hear Filter singing Paint my picture and the dog grunting and groaning at my feet. I can read messages from people all over the world who are exactly like I am. Glad to be alive and mourning a great loss. I am bereft, but I am alive and I am not terrified. I am not afraid of tomorrow because I know that no matter what happens, I'll have breathed life.

Tomorrow, I'll worry about how to get my message across to those in the capital who are bickering about policy decisions that had nothing to do with this. Clinton did not cause this terrorist attack. Bush did not cause this terrorist attack. The terrorists alone caused this terrorist attack. Tonight, I'll just be alive.

 

[lavender]

 

[Starfish]

Thank you KM.

Denomination, Politics, whatever.....

Those distinctions within those terms, that people tote around on their collective personas, seem to mean very little to me in general, but in times like these they are almost a hurdle if we don't toss them aside.

They are like clothing.. they can be worn, changed, and taken off completely for a time, in order to show who we are under them, so others can embrace us on a really significant level.. the human level.

I am naked most of the time, but in those storms where we think the shelter of what those 'clothes' do for us, they actually weigh us down in the storm waters, and can drown us.


Breathing does seem to be a thousand times more important, doesn't it.

Take off your 'clothes' for a week or so.
Please.
Be naked and innocent again. It may be just what we need to do to renew this nation and our souls.

I am too, just glad to be alive, and am trying to live with this.