This morning, as the names of those who perished on this day are being read aloud by their still grieving loved ones on the CBS broadcast, we are listening to people whose heart-broken voices express the courage to go on. In their honor, and in memory of all who perished, I offer a poem commemorating those who build the Freedom Tower.
Listening to the Names... on the 12th Anniversary of 9/11
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How can there ever be a beacon of light,
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a Freedom Tower,
unless we build it?
I listen to the broken voices this morning,
loved ones reading names of those lost on this day,
broadcast with pictures and ages on the screen,
and remember
those I did not know but now love.
I listen to those who build the Freedom Tower,
the ironworkers, some the descendants of ironworkers,
Irish and Mohawk, fathers, brothers,
sons balanced on steel beams so high above the street
we cannot see them,
like eagles with ten-foot wingspans
riding the airstream, and I hear the ironworker’s voice:
My father was paralyzed when he fell
two stories while working on the first tower.
When I saw the tower my father helped build fall,
I knew I had to leave the bar I was tending
To work like my father did, in the sky, building
the new tower for all who fell: We build this new tower
to be a beacon of light.
So story upon story rises, week by week,
and concrete pours a solid core: now 1776 feet high,
recalling the year our Declaration of Independence
made of many one, e pluribus unum,
whose voices speak in each beam that rises,
this beacon built from our brokenness,
day after day, cherishing the names of those we lost,
spoken by those whose courage
makes of many,
one.
The photo is of family members of 1st Lt. Joseph J. Theinert, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2008. Led by Joe's mom, Chrys Kestler (on the left in the ball cap), the family is creating a memorial to benefit returning veterans. You can find out more at rememberourjoes.org. Then in high school, Joe was inspired to dedicate his life to military service in response to 9/11. Now his family continues that legacy, inspiring us all.
