I am in love with Ocean
lifting her thousands of white hats
in the chop of the storm,
or lying smooth and blue, the
loveliest bed in the world.
In the personal life, there is
always grief more than enough,
a heart-load for each of us
on the dusty road. I suppose
there is a reason for this, so I will be
patient, acquiescent. But I will live
nowhere except here, by Ocean, trusting
equally in all the blast and welcome
of
her sorrowless, salt self. (Mary Oliver)
In
the same spirit, the ancient poet of Psalm 93 writes about the voice of the
waves that crash against the shore, Mikolot
mayim rabim…that the Divine spirit of love and memory rings out above those
sounds, even above the crashing sounds of breaking glass, and metal, and the
sounds of horror and disbelief we remember from 15 years ago, even as if it
were yesterday.
We
continue to mourn with the families who lost loved ones that day, with the
families of first responders – keeping our police and fire and EMS crews in our
prayers as they work day and night to protect us, we mourn with the workers who
contracted illness after working at the site, and pray for their healing.
And
we also remind ourselves that we should not think of 9/11 as a historical
event, something that happened at one time but as representative of how
tragically we must still work together to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and
suspicion in our world – to ensure that we can celebrate the wondrous diversity
around us and how we can come together in unity to support one another.
15
years after Sep 11, 2001, let us commit to doing 15 acts of gemilut chasadim,
acts of loving kindness, and may we then fulfill the teaching I share from my
tradition, mizvah goreret mitzvah, that one good deed leads us to do another,
until the world is overflowing with deeds of kindness and compassion like the
waves that flow onto the sand. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment