There is not much to say today...

Although it defies conventional wisdom - and practice - there is really not much to say today on the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.  To be sure, politicians will want and need to say something - but even when it is heart felt it will sound banal. There will also be the usual cast of characters using today to scape goat Muslims and fan the fires of fear, bigotry and hatred throughout the United States as they pretend that confusing xenophobia is the same thing as authentic patriotism. There will be paranoid rants from the lunatic Left, mean-spirited anthems from the self-righteous Right, interviews ad nauseam by a shallow culture's new clergy - celebrities of every passing genre - to say nothing of the faux-documentaries TV networks will be compelled to run in order to exploit their footage of the Twin Towers collapsing over and over again in slo-mo.  And at the end of the day we will feel like asking, "To what end?"

I think of Lou Reed singing "Strawman" form his master work: New York.

We who have so much to you who have so little
to you who don't have anything at all
We who have so much more than any one man does need
and you who don't have anything at all, ah
Does anybody need another million dollar movie
does anybody need another million dollar star
Does anybody need to be told over and over
spitting in the wind comes back at you twice as hard

I woke up with that song going through my head - with my own snarky questions - that start with: Do we really need another orgy of self-pity? Has nothing changed in our hearts and souls during the past 10 years? Are we even more self-absorbed and afraid of being partners with creation rather than its arrogant masters?  Has the ancient Roman plan of "bread and circus" become such a part of our national diet that we are unable to reflect and respond with depth and compassion? 

I can't really answer... and that is why I don't think there is really much for us to say today. It would be wiser - and healthier - to be still.  Like the mother of our Lord, let's keep pondering all of these things in our hearts rather than try to fill the void with noise that has no content. Only a few artists have been able to help us go deeper into the silence so I am going to spend some time with Springsteen as he shares, "Into the Fire" and "You're Missing" from his brilliant The Rising album.  Everything else rings hollow for me today...