Osama bin Laden Dead

As I was looking at Twitter telling me the President was going to speak, and then the leaking of the subject matter, I didn't feel much at all. It was like there were words I understood, but didn't grasp. By the time the President did speak, it was catching up with me. I was remembering the day it happened, me at work in Vermont, worried and confused. I had lived and worked in New York City for 10 years, I knew people who worked in the Pentagon, and certainly knew people who served communities in Fire Companies and EMT Squads. When video of the Financial District came out, it was disconcerting. I had worked on a video shoot in that area. It was all way too close, although I was a safe distance away. As the President announced the assassination of the man behind that attack, it came back. Frankly, his death was surprisingly meaningless to me. But the flood of thoughts and memories were meaningful, and oddly brought a tear to my eye.

Rather than to give that man any more space or power, I thought it would be good to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks, and those who gave their own lives, and the families of those people, and hope it gives them some sense of closure, of justice. For them I will play the 2001 performance by Miss Barbra Streisand at the Emmy Awards, broadcast in November. She surprised everyone by singing You'll Never Walk Alone, and dedicating it to those lost in the tragedy. The Rodgers & Hammerstein song from the musical Carousel was a perfect choice then, as it is now. It speaks to strength of spirit, of heart, and the need to come together to assist one another.