It’s almost the end of September 11,
the same as it’s been for a number of years;
avoid newsertainment,
give thanks for the moment,
remember the fight as we dry off our tears.
We will not forget.
We will not go flailing about with crazed eyes, moaning and wailing for revenge.
We will hold fast, and firm.
We will push back when pushing is needed.
We will be watching.
We will never forget.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Captain Kimo
Time has a way of reminding us about how small we can be.
I was pondering some Deep Thoughts while scrolling through news feeds on my hand-held device. These led to how quickly things have progressed. When I started this blog, there was no practical way to get internet data in real-time wherever we were. We had to rely on old-fashioned wired connections to dusty old computers stuck in a home. Laptops maybe, if you could hook into a open Wi-Fi signal from a beneficent business or unsuspecting homeowner who’d left his or her Wi-Fi signal open for all to surf.
So in the span of a few years we’re performing instant communication and news reporting in real-time.
Zip. Zang. Zoom.
Then a memory popped into my head, a memory of being amused and amazed when I saw a sign on a church in a new neighbourhood (new to me, not new to the area) saying something to the effect that they were celebrating 400 years. My North American time frame was very much impressed – 400 years is an unimaginable time frame when we’re used to thinking that an 8 hour flight overseas is far too long to sit through.
Then I looked closer, and no, the church wasn’t 400 years old; they were celebrating 400 years of a major restoration. The church itself was (roughly) 735 years old at the time I saw this.
So WOW. I was very impressed.
Now I’m reviewing this memory and am even more impressed.
In a world where we measure quantum news slices in minutes, where we get frustrated when the fast-food queue takes longer than 10 minutes per person, where we write something down and people across the globe can read it almost instantly, we see this. People gathering in the same spot for over 700 years to visit, worship, gossip, grieve, explode with joy, you name it.
I’m not one to give a place or structure a sense of holiness – to me, buildings are buildings, like clothing for collections of people. But some folks hold a religious honour for a place. I respect that. Any group of people who can peacefully maintain existence (relatively peacefully, anyways) in a single spot for this span of time has my respect.
The world is moving quickly. But it is also moving unimaginably slowly. That’s an odd but comforting thought.
I haven’t thought about that church or that sign for 8 years. Funny how time flies.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by jovike