Today I couldn't bring myself to pick up a camera. I didn't even try. 10 years ago beauty was obscured by the dust and rubble of a mad man's plans carried out by others believing they were seeking a higher calling. They saw self righteous retribution but their eyes were shuttered by hatred and intolerance and a blind belief in their need to purify the world. I think that the masterminds weren't so pure in their motivations but preying on the minds of those that seek to find a pathway to eternal salvation can sometimes be too easy.
On this day, 10 years ago, over 3000 people lost their lives as a handful of people sought to use them to further their cause. As the planes struck their targets, or thanks to unprecedented bravery, struck a field in Pennsylvania, the lives of so many were ended including the lives of those that set the course for destruction. My men spent this anniversary day watching shows that played video and displayed the images that others took during the darkest hours. I couldn't watch. I too vividly remember.
I thought about creating an image series of a slow burning candle or of children at play, something that speaks to the resilience of life, but I didn't. I couldn't see how to create something of beauty that day. I will say though that in the hours after the towers fell, still feeling shell shocked and finding it hard not to cry, I remember seeing beauty. I saw beauty in the images of people throughout the world in the streets praying for the souls of those who left us that day, in the stories of people rushing to the site to help in the rescue work, in the messages left on machines of the people they love from those trapped in a burning building or an ill fated aircraft. In those brief days, before the politics and me focus reemerged there was a world united in its collective shock and grief. It is in the hearts of the people who strive to better this planet that we find true beauty.
May we never forget the atrocities that befell us that day so that we try our best to ensure that they never happen again. With my heart breaking all over again... September 11th
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