On This Day
On this day a group of men
Inflicted terror great and then
Sat back to laugh and brag and boast
Of acts of which they were the host
Understanding this for most is hard
To look at life with so little regard
It’s sickness they suffer as a whole
This sickness starts within the soul
Think back today, but don’t despair
Those long gone they still are there
Urging all to trust and pray
That more will see the light some day
For now, do what small part you can
To carry out your role in God’s plan
Growing always in love and light
Striving ever to do what’s right
Forgiving others who strike out in pain …
This kind of thought is never in vain
For love’s the only thing that’s real
The only way to truly heal
Release the anger, but never forget
Into your hearts true love to let
For hate and anger were the cause
So do not give them further pause
Only when man can love one another
Living together like sister and brother
Can peace and love truly reign
And stop the spread of further pain
A lofty goal – impossible you say
But man will never see the day
Until these truths he does enact
Your future rests in this one fact
From Suzanne: On this date 15 years ago I was aboard the last plane in U.S. airspace. I was the aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and we were on our way to Europe, where later that week my general was to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth. We never got there. Instead, our return flight path to our burning office building, the Pentagon, took us directly over Manhattan. These are my personal photographs from that day. That is the day I truly began asking the deep life questions we all eventually ponder. Little did I know then that as the result of the death of my step-daughter, SGT Susan Marie Giesemann, USMC, in 2006, I would come to know that those who died on 9/11 transitioned to a far greater reality where love prevails. I had no idea that I would learn to communicate with those who passed and receive the poem above on this day in 2009. These words are printed in chapter one of my memoir, “Messages of Hope.” As we remember those who passed and watch over us today from the greater reality, may we never lose hope for humanity. It is love that keeps the soul evolving ever onward, ever upward.
