9/11

Fifteen Years Gone: Never Forget

It is not about looking back and fanning fires of hatred and anger.
It is not about revenge any more, if it ever should have been.
It is about hope
and freedom
and being Americans together.

If we keep looking back we will never move forward.
If we only remember what happened we will leave those who died stuck in a world of no hope.

To look at what we can do and be - Americans of all colors and faith, all ethnic and cultural varieties...

that is the ongoing legacy of 9/11

a spur to move into a world where freedom is possible for all
and an incentive to sing our own individual hymns to freedom.

The video I produced last year after my visit to Freedom Tower, One World Trade Center holds up that hope with the inspiration of Oscar Peterson's moving Hymn to Freedom. Never Forget- and keep moving forward.

When Will We Ever Learn?

With the latest school shooting in Oregon, this one line from Pete Seeger's antiwar song kept coming to mind:

When will they ever learn?

But often Pete and others would change that last line the last time through to

When will WE ever learn?

In memory of the latest names added to the tragic list, here is Joan Baez's version. When will we work to end this war that is happening in our own nation with the victims being innocent people like any of us?

Ten Long Years of War

October 7 – War in Afghanistan (2001–present): The United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations.

A 10-Year Memory: A Difficult Time Continued

September 18 – The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer. 22 in total are exposed; 5 of them die.

A 10-Year Memory: A Day The Music Died

June 4, 2001: John Hartford, incredible bluegrass, country, and folk musician died at age 63.

I first heard John in the late 1960s when his Gentle On My Mind was used by Glen Campbell. I never saw him in person, but fell in love with his style and music. To this day I can't listen to his music without a sense of the great musical loss his death brought. And a smile crosses my face with the wonder of his music.

His legacy lives.

Here is a tribute video with him singing about The Goodle Days.