'Never Again' Honors Heroes Who 'Imagine'

via Flickr’s miki.cAnneTracker| The words ‘Never Again’ are often interpreted as a reflection of America’s post-Sept. 11, 2001 arrogance and vigilante, drone-driven mentality.

This is not my sense of these words.

Living in lower Manhattan, next door to the Deusche Bank building, I often thought of the people who died there.  More often, I thought of the NYFD firefighters who knowingly walked and rode towards their deaths the vision of saving lives, not extinguishing them.

They are the heroes.  The words I wrote in Aug 2007 continue to motivate me.

I don’t know these men; my friends and family didn’t die on Sept. 11; and yet, I feel a strong connection to these people who care for me.

My tears serve no purpose today, unless they create rebirth. The tears of the firefighters are the ones that count, and they wore none. Instead, my real heroes wore the calm, sober face of duty and an obligation to die, if necessary, to save the rest of us.

They call it a job; I label it courage in today’s world, especially in Manhattan.

Today I’m even more likely to snarl quietly, when I hear the word ‘hero’ tossed around so loosely. One of these days, voting in an election will be considered a heroic effort for which we are all honored in America.

For me ‘Never Again’ is a core inspiration for Anne of Carversville today. I feel so strongly about the violence, hatred and lack of communication in our world.

‘Never Again’ requires us to ‘Imagine’. Coming from me, the term implies compassion and not a curse word, not the third finger. Make no mistake that I am defiant in the face of people who hate my guts. But I’m also reflective about America’s own role in the problems that haunt our world order.