Well - I've finally got this little blog ready to go "on the air" - I'll get links as soon as I can get the template HTML to behave, and more features as I gradually relearn my HTML - Can't believe how easy it is to forget!
Please feel free to send me comments - I'll have those nifty comment boxes set up as soon as I figure out how, shamelessly copy some code, or whatever...please note that I'll feel free to publish comments unless you tell me otherwise. You can send comments to bandllemond@yahoo.com Enjoy!
I've tried to somehow put some of my grief, horror and other feelings about 9/11 into words, even though I'm not sure I can completely. Somehow, I had to do this; it's a part of facing up to this evil, and it will remind me not to forget why we're fighting, or should be fighting, this war. I would like to thank all of the blogosphere, especially those who are from NYC or Washington, who have helped me realize why we must never forget.
9/11 Before and After
Twin cities in the City, in the sky,
soaring to meet the clouds; greeting the sun
with joy, gladly catching golden light that
kindles answering golden light in glass
and metal.
Rank upon rank of lights,
gleaming in the night like strands of diamonds,
carefully arranged in ordered rows by
a proud master jeweler.
Humming with people, busy at their work;
“Just work!” Perhaps, but careful, constant work
kindles and keeps a dream’s light glowing in
one’s heart, and in time gives it solid form.
And dreams can kindle other dreams in
other hearts, light answering to light,
life after life made brighter.
Thus rose the mighty skyline
all around, and thus the towers themselves;
built by, and built for, dreamers, who could keep
their dreams alight, and, as the metal, stone,
and glass were thrown higher and ever higher
into the sky, rejoice as they took shape.
Evil comes, killing a lovely morning,
screaming out of the sky, flashing twin knives,
unnatural weapons, filled with stolen lives.
They strike. The wounded towers now bleed smoke
and fangs of flame that race like hellish poison,
tearing at their steel. Sadly the twins falter
and fall, weeping tears of splintered glass and
metal, floor smashing into floor, their strength
and gladness crumbling into smoke and ruin
as they plunge downward, taking with them lives;
so many precious souls, that vanish, with
their dreams, their strength and gladness , love, and tears,
leaving lonely bits of paper flying
in the gray, choking dust that rolls like waves
of surging water down the streets, to whisper
mournfully of those destroyed.
The skyline
now is wounded; a gash of emptiness
where once the towers stood echoes the wounds
in hearts and lives.
But God still reigns; He steers all things to suit
His purpose, even in this horror, and
has promised to one day share that purpose
with us, speaking face to face. He also
is never neutral between fear and freedom,
good and evil, and would have us fight
evil to the last ounce of our strength.
Take courage from the courage of all those:
Who fought the toxic smoke, the killing breath
of the twin ravening, snarling infernos,
to save all whom they could; who faced those
hells whose slashing fire-claws brought the towers
thundering down, rather than leave a comrade.
Who wrenched another weapon from the hand
of evil, choosing to face their own fiery
death, rather than risk other lives.
Who deal with grief and horror day by day,
sifting through each scrap of the twisted pile
of wreckage, a long-smoldering mass grave,
hoping to find some trace of those who died.
So may we truly honor
the lives lost that day, in Pennsylvania,
in the Pentagon, in the twin cities
in the City, in the sky.
Well, here we go... Type...type...This shouldn't be too hard, I hope, with all the coding I did for the net site at work...type...type...type...Oh, Hi! I'm Liz, and maybe I should tell you a bit about myself. I'm the librarian at a Bible college in Indianapolis, IN; my husband is a computer programmer/anaylst. We don't have kids, unless you count three cats, who think they're small people, and whom we've never quite had the heart to disillusion about this. This also means I have a few cat tails/tales I can post here on a really slow news day. And did I mention that I can never resist a truly bad pun?
As to why I'm blogging, Pejmanpundit inspired me. Towards the end of one of his best posts ever (I've forgotten the date, so I'll add the link as soon as I can), he pointed out how bloggers can support the war effort by taking aim at and refuting the bad ideas that can drag down our morale here on the home front. I've been praying for our country and our leaders, but I've been wishing I could do something more active, so I've decided to go ahead and dive in. I don't mean to sound pretentious, but if I can give any bit of encouragement, or even one round of intellectual ammunition, to anyone out there in the blogosphere, I'll be very happy.
As to what I'll be posting, I'm thinking that I mght try to include some background research on specific topics, pulling information together from as many sources as I can find, and summarizing it. I hope that this might be useful, and I think it's something I might be able to pull off. I'll just have to see how this works out, and I'm always open for suggestions. Outside of that, I'll try to have the usual mix of commentary, sharp wit, links, and so forth. I suspect I'll be keeping an eye peeled for any little niche or corner I can fill, so this will definitely be a work in progress!
Now, I probably should explain my world view, so you'll all know where I'm coming from. First, I'm a Christian, saved by faith in Christ, who died for my sins and rose again. Theologically, I'm a Baptist, somewhere between evangelical and fundamentalist. I add that last phrase because while I believe in the fundamentals of the faith, I do not by any means always agree with the words and actions of fundamentalists such as Jarry Falwall or Pat Robertson (more about them later). Please, folks, don't let this scare any of you away; I will always do my best to answer questions calmly and logically, and I will always do my best to speak the truth in love. Politically, I'm your basic Reagan conservative with Republican tendencies, but I've been known to vote a split ticket, and am willing to concede a point when called for to folks who might be to my left. (Now don't get any bright ideas, Noam!) I also have a little libertarian streak, thanks primarilly to Ayn Rand; I believe that we have been asking government to deal with far too many problems before we've even considered if government should deal with them at all.
My other interests include history, politics, and science fiction (Star Trek, David Weber's Honor Harrington novels, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, and Robert Heinlein, among others). I also enjoy epic fantasy, especially Tolkein's Lord of the RIngs, and historical novels. And I've been fascinated by astronomy and space exploration ever since I was a kid.
