by Carolyn K. Long
Columbia, MD_September 1, 2009__ Regardless of faith or lack thereof, 9/11 had the world on its knees, praying, promising, and realigning priorities. With scenes of horror emblazoned on our minds, and raw pain rending our hearts, we vowed almost in unison to love one another, to keep our faith, to embrace a new perspective, to cherish life and make more time for those we love—and for a time, we did. But eight years later, have we? Or has the impact of 9/11 faded?
“We must never forget this fateful day” resounded throughout the land. But have we just stored it safely in a quiet corner of our minds and resumed our old patterns? Or does the memory of September 11, 2001, still evoke the promises, prayers, priorities, and new perspective we held dear in the shadow of the worst event on our soil since the Civil War?
It is human nature to release the intensity of pain. It is healthy to heal. To heal, we must grow. To grow, we must open our minds and hearts. We must turn the mad kaleidoscope of life so the little beads create a new pattern, shedding light on a reality we had never seen before; giving us an altogether new perspective.
The memorial poem and video “Angels Over America” offers just such a new perspective. This moving tribute to 9/11 victims and heroes is designed to preserve and renew the indomitable American Spirit, while providing perspective, healing, and hope.
The work’s unique metaphor is powerfully grounded in the reality of the event and spiritually uplifting. The four segments of “Angels Over America” trace the evolution of shock and awareness, emotion and understanding that lead to transcendence.
The events of 9/11 will be a part of the American consciousness forever. The lens through which we continue to view those events will shape our future. “Angels Over America” is dedicated to an America that lost its innocence on September 11—but never its hope.
Award-winning New York arranger and producer Mark Freeh co-produced the video from Carolyn K. Long’s poem, “Angels Over America,” with never-before-seen clips and photos of the event against the backdrop of his stirring arrangement of “America the Beautiful,” and moving renditions of “Amazing Grace,” both performed by the New York Staff Band of the Salvation Army, and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” played by Imperial Brass.
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The “Angels Over America,” poem and video can be viewed or downloaded from the website www.AngelsOverAmerica.org. A YouTube version is also linked to the site. The final version of the video on DVD with poem, a laminated poster or printed copy of “Angels Over America” can be ordered online from the website or by email from Carolyn@AngelsOverAmerica.com. Carolyn K. Long , author of “Angels Over America” and co-producer of the 9/11 memorial video of that name, is a professional speaker, consultant, writer and photographer, based in Columbia, MD.
The events of 911 will be a part of the American consciousness forever. How they are held there will shape our future. |
by John DiJoseph, Ph.D.*
Columbia, MD_August 28, 2007__ Had George W. Bush asked himself that question following the horrific events of September 11, 2001, might he have acted differently? Lincoln left wise counsel for future presidents.
The crisis facing Lincoln as he entered office has parallels to that facing President George W. Bush following 9/11. The United States was facing a great war over which the country was strongly divided—a war that would result in death and destruction on a massive scale and tear asunder the very fabric of this nation. Two weeks before Lincoln strode to the podium on March 4, 1861, to address the nation, Jefferson Davis had been inaugurated President of the Confederate States of America. Such was the climate of discord in the nation that Lincoln had to travel to Washington by a secret route under guard of the U.S. Army, but refusing advice of security forces, he rode in an open carriage with President James Buchanan to the Capitol to make his enduring Inaugural address.
In this moment of crisis, Lincoln urged:
“My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject [of impending war]. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it . . . . Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty”
Lincoln closed by reminding Americans of their compassionate heritage:
“The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature”
The speech represents the depth of Lincoln’s moral perspective. What might be our situation today, on the anniversary of 9/11, if Lincoln had been president? Would he have once again called on the “better angels of our nature” to guide our actions? Would that have led us down a different path?
In “Angels Over America,” the 9/11 memorial poem and DVD commemorating heroes and victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Carolyn Long reaffirms Lincoln’s appeal to our “better angels” . . .
“Help the angels of our better natures rise to freedom’s song/And lead the charge of justice on her path,
So our own avenging angels do not strike in blind revenge/And wreak unbridled ruin with their wrath”
© Carolyn K. Long, 2001
“Angels Over America” reminds us that a horrific crisis can be an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to cherished values, and that as Americans, we have the power of choice.
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* John DiJoseph, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Loyola University in Maryland; author of Jacques Maritain and the Moral Foundation of Democracy, Rowman & Littlefield Pub., Inc., 1996.
The “Angels Over America,” poem and video can be viewed or downloaded from the website www.AngelsOverAmerica.org. The video on DVD, a laminated poster or printed copy of “Angels Over America” are available online from the website or by email from Carolyn@AngelsOverAmerica.com. Carolyn K. Long , author of “Angels Over America” and co-producer of the 9/11 memorial video of that name, is a professional speaker, consultant, writer and photographer, based in Columbia, MD.
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New research proves that music can reduce depression and pain and help people reclaim their sense of power. It has been shown to increase endorphin levels, promote healing, reduce stress—and the need for pain medications. “The healing power of music can alter our moods and body states,” says well-being coach Lynn Durham, RN. “Since ancient times, healers have used songs and chanting.” But in a world where science has established itself as the primary knowledge, “we have lost the historical thread of the arts as healers for every man,” says Carolyn Kenny, Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research at University of California, Santa Barbara. “In our attempts to become more and more civilized, we have stretched beyond the sacred limits of intellect and are only recently starting the journey back to center.” The need for the healing arts is particularly important in times of crises, when meaning is strength, says John Fox, author of Poetic Medicine. “And the deepest meaning is the language of dreams, symbols and archetypes. Poetry speaks this language and helps us hear meaning in illness, in the events of our lives, often for the first time. Finding such meaning feels like revelation. Like grace.” “If ever an event called for healing, strength, or grace, it was 9/11,” says writer and poet Carolyn Long. “The events of September 11, 2001, will be a part of the American consciousness forever. The lens through which we continue to view them will shape our future.” “Angels Over America,” an 8-minute memorial video incorporating images, music and poetry, is both a stirring tribute to 9/11 victims and heroes, and an artistic work whose unique metaphor offers healing perspectives on this pivotal moment in our nation’s history. Award-winning New York arranger and composer Mark Freeh produced the video from Ms. Long’s poem, “Angels Over America,” against the backdrop of powerful 9/11 images and his stirring arrangement of “America the Beautiful” and moving renditions of “Amazing Grace” and ”My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” The “Angels Over America,” poem and video can be viewed or downloaded from the website www.AngelsOverAmerica.org. A YouTube version is also linked to this site. A DVD of the video and a laminated poster of the poem, “Angels Over America,” are available from the website or by email from Carolyn@AngelsOverAmerica.com. Carolyn K. Long , author of “Angels Over America” and co-producer of the 9/11 memorial video of that name, is a professional speaker, consultant, writer and photographer, based in Columbia, MD.
The events of 911 will be a part of the American consciousness forever. How they are held there will shape our future. |
Two gallant towering Titans gleamed In morning’s early light
With a welcome to a working world In the Land that hope unites.
Their myriad eyes looked on like ours Transfixed with disbelief,
As flaming arrows struck their sides ‘Till even steel felt grief.
The raging fires recalled the time They first were forged to be
The stalwart standards of New York, Two pillars of Liberty.
What forger called the furnace hence? What next were they to be?
No time to think of the afterlife, Or the pain of this savagery.
They awoke to their call in this perilous fight! For, you see, they had oft heard the song
Of “the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,” And knew they must still be strong.
The twin sentinels held firm as long as they could To protect each fragile ward,
Though the fires that ripped through their very bowels,
Left them battered and shattered and charred.
And if hearts they had, they surely broke, As they watched their dear charges fly
From the shoulders of those who were tasked to protect;
The whole world heard their audible cry!
But as their eyes dimmed, they were let to behold What no others on earth could yet see –
The angels who caught every soul ere it fell, Which on wings of its own, then flew free.
At that they each gave a wrenching sigh; They had no more left to give.
Their shame evoked one humble prayer: Forgive! Forgive! Forgive!
Then one by one, those warriors brave, Sank as nobly to the earth
As tons of concrete, steel and glass Could, to still prove their worth.
And as molten steel passed each undaunted heart Of those heroes who’d all come to serve,
It captured a beat from each precious one It so valiantly hoped to preserve.
Does a tiny heart of steel still beat Beneath the rubble deep?
And will those Titans be recalled, Or will they forever sleep?
© 2001 by Carolyn K. Long
The above lines are from “Titans,” Part I of the 9/11 Memorial poem and video, “Angels Over America,” by Carolyn K. Long, author and executive producer of the video. The poem and video, co-produced by award-winning arranger and composer Mark Freeh, can be viewed or downloaded from www.AngelsOverAmerica.org or secured by contacting Carolyn@AngelsOverAmerica.com.
Carolyn K. Long is a professional speaker, consultant, writer and photographer, based in Columbia, MD.
Columbia, MD, September 2006 . . . By all accounts, the ranks of terrorists have expanded dramatically since 9/11, validating the prediction of some terrorism experts that a course of revenge and punishment would create more terror and danger throughout the world.
“In the aftermath of 9/11, U.S. foreign policy has fueled the appeals of terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Laden to fight western culture in all its forms for the sake of preserving a traditional Islamic culture,” says terrorism expert and author Dr. John DiJoseph. He explains that “terrorism is a form of noble cause corruption; the terrorist kills for what he perceives to be a noble cause, in this case, Islam and the oppressed Arab masses.”
“In the aftermath of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln called on the nation to recall ‘the better angels of our nature.’ We might call on them again to help shift the tide of hatred from American shores,” observes DiJoseph, “by increasing humanitarian efforts to innocent civilians injured in war areas, and by using our vast media resources to appeal directly to the Arab masses with popular music and other forms of entertainment emphasizing the positive aspects of western culture, and teaching core western values of freedom with responsibility and democracy. We must become the embodiment of a noble cause to fight their perceived one.”
By following our “avenging angels” in lieu of our “better angels,” DiJoseph notes that we have set the stage for the potential of “unbridled ruin,” as described in the 9/11 Memorial Poem, Angels Over America, by Carolyn Long:
“Help the angels of our better natures rise to freedom’s song
And lead the charge of justice on her path,
So our own avenging angels do not strike in blind revenge
And wreak unbridled ruin with their wrath.”
Both the poem and the 9/11 Memorial video Angels Over America created from the poem by award-winning arranger and producer Mark Freeh can be viewed or purchased from the website, www.AngelsOverAmerica.org or by contacting Carolyn Long at Carolyn@AngelsOverAmerica.org.
Carolyn K. Long, author of “Angels Over America” and co-producer of the 9/11 memorial video of that name, is a professional speaker, consultant, writer and photographer, based in Columbia, MD.
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The events of 911 will be a part of the American consciousness forever.
How they are held there will shape our future.
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