The World Trade Center is America's phantom limb. Missing, but a source of pain. New Yorkers look to the skies and expect to see it. Imagine the ache they feel, the wound to their spirit caused by the loss of something they took for granted for so long. Even the rest of us, knowing it is gone, are ill at ease when we think of it. Not only because of what happened, but because of what it was before. It was there always for us as well, even when we were not conscious of it. If there is such a thing as a man-made Grand Canyon, a Mount Rushmore made of steel and glass, an architectural force of nature like the Golden Gate Bridge that becomes a part of each of us even though our thoughts and works are elsewhere every day, then this could be it.
We do not dwell on the material underpinnings of the American Spirit such as this monument to ingenuity, labor and commerce was any more than we ponder the Constitution daily, but it was no less real.
Now, of course, its symbolism is transformed to fierce resolve, vigilance and a steely focus; a meditation on unity, compassion, a horrific instantaneous clarification of our role in the world, tenderness for neighbors in pain, which is all of us more or less.
How does that bond become reality? By living the lives we choose, by being who we truly are, by being excellent at what we do and by healing ourselves. That's a lifelong task in itself. No matter how many victories or setbacks there may be ahead, personal or collective, we can never go back to what we were and we can never forget. The phantom limb never goes away. |
