The Daily Whim
Piling Pixels For The People
Fri. Sep 14, 2001
Catharsis
Catharsis – At noon today I wanted to honor the innocents killed, as a part of our National Day or Remembrance and Prayer. So I headed downtown, simply because I felt a need to stand among the tall buildings today.
Woodruff Park is apparently undergoing renovation, so I continued walking north on Peachtree street, following what seemed to be a crowd. Just north of the main business district, there are three churches, one of which is the First United Methodist Church, where people were filing in. Soon, there were over a thousand of us.
People of all types, all colors, all Americans. We may believe in a separation of church and state, but there was little of that today. We sang, we prayed, we meditated in silence. We cried. We were even accused of being all Methodists because we’d refused to sit in the front two rows (I don’t know the name of the kind reverend who spoke, but he struck a perfect tone). I don’t know about anyone else, but by the time folks were filing out, I felt some sense of catharsis. Perhaps that’s the point.
Some stayed to pray after the crowd had left. They prayed together. They prayed alone.
For many of us, it will take a lot longer. But it’s a start. One made collectively, in random gatherings of individuals who’d never met before, but left as one people.
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I wish that I could find comfort in prayer. I can't. I'm glad for those who can.
ditto.
The prayer wasn't the point. People can pray alone, at any time. The point was coming together in remembrance, as Americans. Sharing grief, in hopes of beginning to move past it, so that we can focus on the tasks ahead.
Your comment has bothered me since I read it. You missed _my_ point. I addressed only the ability to pray in my answer to you. I looked in a familiar place to come together with Americans and "friends" to cry, to rage, to grieve, find answers, ideas, comfort, to finally find reason..whatever, but the MindSpring groups were deserted--as though they were blown up on Tuesday, too. This is the only place I have felt--not alone.
I didn't mean to mischaracterize your comment, just express my reason for going. And I know what youmean about the Mindspring groups. As we both know, they've been fairly quiet for some time, but I figured if anything would revive them , this would. But the truth is, even many weblogs have been realtively silent. Some, like Elise, have decided it's not the way they want to spend their time anymore. People are re-ordering their priorities, and their lives. But I'm glad you feel comfortable here, and I welcome your comments anytime.