Sept. 12, 2001
To the terrorists,
Though I do not yet know your names, I know what you have done.
You should know that though you knock down our towers, you can
not bring down our power. Though you shadow us in smoke- born
darkness, know from within our hearts, within our minds our
Light will still shine. Though I mourn our dead, I celebrate
their lives. What each gave can not be stolen from us no matter
how hard you try. Our will to go on is their shrine. I let them
all be reborn in me today. Though you alter our flights and
metal birds fall to ignite columns of solidity to flame, our
souls by violence you can not claim.
I do not know your names yet. But be assured that today, I will
ask the name of someone who passes me on the street. I might
have let an unknown person slip away last week, but today I will
offer comfort to all and make love known. Today there is no such
thing as a stranger. Many have asked me Were you there? Many
have asked if I knew anyone who died or was injured there. I
tell you that without doubt that I knew them all. I have held my
child in love as they held their children. I have dreamed as
they did. I have eaten food as they did. I have climbed stairs
only to run down them for my life with an unthinkable threat
behind me and the hope of life ahead of me. They are all me no
matter what name they answered to. I am them. Mothers, brothers,
fathers, sisters, sons, daughters friends, my self, my family.
Though you tumble our towers they can not bring down our power.
Be assured my blood will continue to beat in a million hearts.
For in all your inflicted horror, I will love with greater depth
today. Be assured that today, I am the new mother and father of
each child you rendered an orphan. I am the one who will fill in
the gaps your violence had left. I will lift rubble. I will bury
the dead. I will comfort the sorrowing. I will righteously rage
at your injustice. I will rebuild what you tear down. I will
heal what you damage. I will give back what you take. In this
way, I will not l not you win. For in the end you seek to bring,
I vow that a greater Unity will begin. Though you bring down our
towers, you can not end our power. I will not let you make me
hate. In Love I will move forward, onward and upward. This you
can not stop. I am Love Rising from the ashes you have left us.
Though metalic birds crash , you can not ground the soaring
spirit of those who love. Know this, for every part of me you
have killed, for every part of me , you have wounded, you have
awaken a stronger part which refuses to become as you are. I am
the Phoenix-Eagle rising from the ashes of your burning hate.
Though you have stolen many feathers from my united wings, I
will fly in your face. I will make the immortality of my will to
rise known. I am the spirit that nests in all human places.
Though you rob me of thousands, more have opened themselves to
me in the wake of your destruction. I will not be defeated. I
will not become like you. I will love in the ashes. I will nest
in the rubble. I will love and I will protect all for I am no
longer separate from those who have been knocked out of the sky.
I am one with those who have been cast down from the very top of
all we have built and dreamed of. Though you bring down our
flights and topple our towers, we know our true power. It shall
not die but rise above all you have done.
I have awoken and you have been warned. Make no mistake, we are
now One. Still we will fly and reach new heights for in the
depths of the horror you have inflicted each ended life has been
reborn in our determination. Though you bring down our towers,
still my love move and will go on in true power. You will come
to know that their is but one name now. I am Humanity. I will
not lose my soul though you kill my bodies.
I am Love. I will speak, give of myself and fight hate from
every willing heart. I vow to be the blessing in the face of
your curse. Long after all of you are forgotten dust, I will
remain. In me will be preserved all that you tried to end. I am
the healing after the
wound. I am Love and there fore hate's ultimate doom. I am no
longer a
victim but victorious.
Rising in Love,
Rev. Laeaurra Flamehawk-Mitchell,
Interfaith Order of Intercession
I wrote this letter not because I am some sort of special or
holy messenger but because within my grief and my rage I have
words when many do not. Read it. Sign it and pass it on if you
agree with what it says and are willing to be one of Love's
answers to hate. Let it circle the globe. Let it be a message, a
vow and an answer from this moment on. Let it be one of many
united memorials and monuments. Though we sign this with many
letters of many languages we are one name, Humanity.
Blessings,
Rev. Laeaurra Flamehawk-Mitchell |
