Don't Tell Me Not To Be Angry...

You were my fellow citizens. You were my brothers and sisters. You were Americans (and some of you were not). You were crimeless, blameless, guiltless. You were human.

And you were all summarily, unmercifully murdered.

Don't tell me it's a "day of service"...

It is A DAY OF REVERENT MOURNING!!!
DO YOU HEAR ME, MR. OBAMA???
...IMBECILE!!!

Don't tell me to forget...

I cannot and will not. Nor should I. Nor should you. Nor should either of us... ANY of us, EVER allow our children to. It is our most basic duty of respect to always teach and relate the true history of that tragic page turned.

Don't tell me to "move on"...

Your thinly shrouded code is designed to erase my memory. I function, I work, I live and I love. The innocent victims of cold blooded savages do not. I continue... but I will never "move on".

Don't tell me to "toughen up"...

Don't interpret my tears as weakness. They are the purest drops of resolve to avenge Our tragic loss. You don't know my strength... for you have nothing from within with which to compare. You are sickeningly empty and consumed with self. Thus you run and hide from the unending pain of such a sinister stealing. I bear my pain. And I bare my pain... in recognition, acknowledgement and in an honoring, raging flame of memory.

Don't tell me "life goes on"...

It does not for Them. 'This' Earthly existence and consciousness for Them was robbed. Life's essence was torn from Their clutching hands to become the prey for a Godless immolation. They were extinguished... but for Their souls.

Don't tell me We are to blame...

This beacon nation of freedom's light has given more aid, comfort and sustenance to the world's people, from all nations, including those of the perpetrators, than all others combined. And we continue to do so to this very moment. And we will continue to do so tomorrow... as long as we have something of assisting value remaining to give.

Don't tell me the assassins had "reasons"...

We offer liberty's torch to every man, woman and child who's outstretched hand will grasp it. We demonstrate the gift and all its' hallowed empowerments to those who are blessed with its' experience... and to those who would be. We spill our blood and fight on foreign soil to unchain the oppressed from the very enemy that attacked us. If you truly believe that these murderous savages had reason beyond corrupt, totalitarian authority and self appointed autocracy, further effort of explanation is to place pearls before swine. Avail yourself of the difference between a reason... and an excuse.

Don't tell me it was an "inside job"...

Read, research, learn something... Or perhaps you could have considered simply opening your frickin' blind eyes... Moron. Find a life beyond Facebook and GreenPeace... And get away from me... nutcase.

And don't tell me not to be angry. I will always, unfailingly, enduringly be angry!

May the good and righteous Lord forever bless Their unchosen sacrifice and rest Their spirit within His loving arms.

~D.I.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I Didn’t Know You -
But I Will Always Remember You ~

In the blink of an eye, September 11th, 2001 transformed us as a nation.

Lives were forever lost. Lives were forever changed. And from that day forward, the names of 2996 people have forever been associated with “a list“ of victims who never made it home.

But beyond that list - beside each number - and behind each name is a story.

I recently spent some time reading about each of these victims - these heroes who had become such an important part of my life. It seemed strange somehow that they were still virtually unknown to me. Collectively, they had impacted my life with a tremendous force - and yet individually, I knew nothing about them.

I wanted to get to know them better.
And this is what I learned.

Hero 344
I didn’t know you -
But we had the same last name - even though we are not related.

Hero 685
I didn’t know you -
But we went to the same high school.

Hero 945
I didn’t know you -
But I recalled a time when our family was lost while driving through Staten Island. The door of your fire station was open - and we stopped to ask you for directions. Our youngest daughter ‘spotted’ your Dalmatian puppy. You waved and invited her to come over and pet him while you drew us a map. You knelt down and slid your arm around the puppy for 20 minutes while she hugged him and then you gave our daughters a tour of the station. You were warm and gracious. And I am deeply saddened that your picture was among the firefighters lost, when the Towers fell.

Hero 938
I didn’t know you -
But we drove the same kind of car.

Hero 584
I didn’t know you -
But I know someone who had an appointment to meet with you at Cantor Fitzgerald on September the 12th, 2001.

Hero 2183
I didn’t know you -
but you produced television shows such as Cheers, Frasier and Wings that filled my house with laughter. And I thank you for that.

Hero 1837
I didn’t know you -
but we shared the same birth date.

Hero 1984
I didn’t know you -
but we both have three children.

Hero 309
I didn’t know you -
but we were born at the same hospital.

Hero 2947
I didn’t know you -
But we both have big, Italian families.

Hero 1483
I didn’t know you -
but I watched you on television and admired you as a strong, combative political commentator. Your conservative voice is missed.

Hero 714
I knew you.

You are my cousin. Our parents were married in the same churches. Our grandparents are buried in the same cemeteries. We shared the same traditions. You are my family. Although life too often allows us to drift away from those we should know better - we should know better than to allow that to ever happen.

And that was the one recurring theme, throughout these tributes that I encountered. There was one message, to the fallen, written many times over.

“I wish I had gotten to know you better.”

Beyond this day - beyond the numbers - and beyond the names…
Perhaps that is a message that should live on.

~Miradena

Will You Remember?


There are shadows that lead us -
and there are shadows that follow us closely behind.
They can be clearly visible on the brightest of days although some seem to be completely hidden in the darkness. Perception is the key to discovering them. Reflection is the key to understanding them. But we should never be content to think that our shadows can ever be truly gone simply because we no longer are perceptive enough to notice them or reflective enough to care.

I know that I will always carry with me the shadows of 9-11.
With every step I take, the shadowed memories cloud my footsteps like silhouettes of a burden too large and a sadness too great. They are a part of me. My gentle reminders never to forget.

Some of the photos in the video below were taken within a few months of September 11th, 2001. The dust had barely settled on Ground Zero and there was still a dizzying nervousness reflected in the faces of people wandering the streets, desperately searching for answers that would never come. Closure that would never be possible. Makeshift memorials lined the streets and a papered wall with thousands of posters of “missing” faces was a solemn reminder that many of the missing would never be found by their loved ones. A truly unfathomable reality. I slowly searched a posted list of names, sliding my fingertip down the printed pages until I found the name of my cousin. I paused. Holding my hand over his name, I said a prayer. And then I stepped back into my waiting shadow to reflect on the depth of that one moment. The importance of that one day. The horror of that one tragedy that would forever change us as a nation.

We have lost the innocence of our days prior to September 11th.
And the memory of that innocence has now become a shadow.
In the darkness or in the light -

We Can Never Forget.

Miradena