I cried on Monday, June 9th. Not much, a few small tears was all. I valued them though, physical manifestations of emotion I was glad to have felt. And it was all because of a flower and a tree.
Maybe you've picked up on my writing style by now. Casually flippant, winding far and wide to eventually double back on a point of some sort. Maybe I'll have lost you by the time I get around to making the point, but I hope not. For this post though, I'm going to be more direct. The reason for my Monday tears deserves as much.
On that dreary morning, I stood at The National September 11 Memorial in Manhattan, the memorial for the victims of the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. In place of the fallen towers reside two large, four-sided waterfalls pouring down into collecting pools - tears themselves shed continuously for the memory of those lost.
And they are remembered indeed. Cut into the bronze surrounding the waterfalls are the names of all those we lost, offering an everlasting tribute to lives cut tragically short. I did not know any of these men or women personally, but my heart overflowed in love for them.
And then the tears began. I noticed that in several of the victims’ names, small white roses had been placed with great care. A sign noted that a rose is placed in the name of each victim on his or her birthday. I couldn’t help but be moved. Here in this place, this memorial to a death-filled day, the elegant beauty of a simple flower is used to mark the beginning of life.
Then there is the tree. Scattered throughout the plaza are dozens upon dozens of swamp white oaks, enhancing the Memorial’s powerful sense of serenity. This uniformity is broken on the west side by a solitary Callery pear tree, known as the Survivor Tree. It was found at Ground Zero on that fateful day, broken and burned. Nursed back to health by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, this link to the past left me awestruck. Though I would have traded that pear tree to save just one lost father, mother, son or daughter, I was grateful to this determined tree - out of the destruction of that Tuesday morning 13 years ago, life emerged. That is how it should be.
Solar panels are important. Composting and water efficiency and clean air are too. But we must all remember that, ultimately, sustainability is about life. Even more so, it is about lives, whether past, present or future.
God bless those souls lost on February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001. And God bless their families.
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