My Country 'tis of Thee...

Sing, oh Muse...

I have spent most of this day trying to find the words. I have spent today trying to discover the best way to voice the thoughts that have been nearly bursting from my skull.

I am still not sure how to proceed.

I could follow the examples of others...and tell you where and what I was doing when our world changed. I could join still others in evaluating where we are now and what has changed for better or worse. I could give a defense of the path we have taken, I could argue for the path that still waits to be tread. I won't bother with those that would belittle it, or scorn its significance

But that doesn't seem fitting. Speaking of my memories seems so...small when one considers the epic events of 5 years ago. Talking policy seems too heartless, and even I get tired of fighting that fight.

So...what to do? How do I honor those innocent dead? How do I challenge us to stand with honor in the place of those that gave their lives for the victims? How do I urge us to grieve for those that have lost so much and are asked to give still more? How can I call us to demand that there be a reckoning for such violence? Can my voice even be heard crying for a real, meaningful peace?

No...in the end, I think I am just a hobbit, lost in the tumult of Middle Earth's great saga. So what can I say, let alone do, to pay homage to those heroes of this all-to-hero-less age?

In the end...I am at a loss in the face of trying to encompass it all...and all I can do is reflect on the life that I spent this day, five years after the disaster. Perhaps I could have done nothing better with my day than what I did do with it. I went to my job, and talked about how best to lead a discussion on Genesis, and why logic is important, and how wisdom is the knowledge of God and the source of life itself. I sat in on two and a half hours of discussion on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and I drove my wife to a bible study. I honked my horn in support of the small groups of men, women and children I passed on my way to and fro, holding flags on street corners. I listened to radio tributes and songs dedicated to those that were lost...and teared up at traffic lights. I bought a bible. I behaved as (practically) only an American can, and as practically everyone should be able to behave. Can I do more?

My heart wants to rend and a song wells up in me; I feel I will shatter with the force of it, but I am no Emrys, no Wizard, no Elf, and I don't know the words...

Sweet land of Liberty, of Thee I sing!

There must be something said...to those that had their lives cut short by madmen 5 years ago, to those that gave their lives trying to save those that were doomed, to those that have given their lives since that fateful day trying to bring those murderers to justice and prevent them from being able to wreak death and destruction on innocent civilians...and of course, to all those that continue to stand for liberty and justice, and who walk the line for us every day and night...to those children of this nation of Free Men, I pay tribute. It may not amount to much...but I do pay you tribute, and I will continue to live the life of a civilian of a free land. I will sing of the land where ideas are discussed; where God is worshipped and men may live in peace with other men that they may never agree with. This country has its faults, God knows, but it is a blessed nation, one that has shed light on much of the world.

Even still, Come, Lord Jesus, Come. This world is growing darker with the hour, and we yearn to follow You to the Kingdom of Summer, to dwell in the light of Your face forever.