I was one of many first responders among the spiritual caregivers who ministered at the Family Assistance Center at Pier 94 in Manhattan for several months to the families and friends of the victims of 9.11. It was a time of unprecedented public, civic love and compassion and generosity.
I continue to try to fathom the calculus of carnage that devolved from the 9.11 catastrophe, and wonder when we will awaken and labor to heal the real wounding of that unimaginable, unforgettable day: the American soul, lost in the decade of loss, of the thousands lost in our penchant for retaliatory and preemptive wars.
May there appear for the wounded and bereaved of these longest wars in American history such care givers as appeared everywhere to everyone in need that day of terror, season of desolation, in our homeland. May we be in the solidarity of real understanding now of what "terror," what violence can bring - and renounce it in every, any form.
So for all our brothers and sisters everywhere who share the incarnate knowledge of what hatred can do, what rageful reactivity can occasion: this song for all who would rebuild a New City - a Beloved CIty - to house a New Humanity. Our prayer...