Thoughts about 9/11 and our deck and garden.
On that beautiful infamous day we were sitting on our deck overlooking our garden reading the paper after our usual simple breakfast. The small backyard brownstone garden brings us much pleasure, changing all season and also featuring much animal activity. It is a delight to view the plants, such as bright forsythia, aromatic lilacs and hyacinths, prolific roses, elegant lilies, voluminous hydrangeas ,stately rhododendrons, bright azaleas, plus holly and ferns, and more, doing their job all summer attracting bees with their blooms in order to propagate, doing their duty.
The squirrels delight us with their antics, chasing each other around the tree trunks, burying their walnuts, methodically searching for food up and down the decks in the garden, scampering across the cables, etc. Our sparrows have provided us with much pleasure as we observe them coming and going to our feeder, gathering twigs for their nests, feeding their juveniles, fighting for territory, and displaying all of their many different sounds. We love our mourning doves who coo so mournfully and also go to our feeder, but with extreme care and somewhat awkwardly. It is also a big event when the pair of cardinals shows, and less frequently, the bluebirds. Of course many other seen and unseen activities are taking place at all times.
What does this all have to do with 9/11? On that terrible day, around 8:45 we heard a neighbor crying out “Oh My God, Oh my God”. We thought of calling 911 for her. Then, we received a call from our daughter who was watching TV and she told us what had happened. Next we heard a loud noise which was obviously the crash into one of the buildings. The rest is history.
Now, while sitting on the deck I usually sadly think of the tragedy and think to myself that sitting on the deck and enjoying nature is such a nice thing to do, why don’t the terrorists find something equally pleasant todo and chill out instead of fanatically killing innocent persons. Why can’t they just live and let live? As far as I am concerned they can have any beliefs that they want, in peace, as long as I can have my beliefs (which aren’t overwhelming) in peace also.
(This is my first post, and I wanted it to be thoughtful.)
Frank