The Other 364 Days

It’s easy enough to know what to do on September Eleventh.

We mourn the dead. We are in awe of the bravery. We remember exactly where we were that day in 2001.

Some choose to use the day for their own purpose. To jump start a political campaign. Or to transform themselves from a pathetic little man in Florida to a national religious leader on Fox News.

They need to look in their own mirrors.

It is what we do the rest of the year that matters.

Do we exhibit grace in grief? Do we choose kindness over hate? Do we open our minds? Heal our hearts? Listen to our own voice?

"If I am to wear this mourning cloak, let it be made of the fabric of love, woven by the fine thread of memory."
~ Molly Fumia, in Safe Passage, Conari Press

Lee Ielpi is a retired firefighter who carried his son’s remains out of Ground Zero …


"Tomorrow can be a better day. I can't bring my son back. I wish to God that I could. But maybe I can make a better day for my grandkids. That's what we're trying to do."





This is Abdu Malahi …



This is a bit of his story …

Grew up in Brooklyn of Yemeni descent. 37 years old. Died at WTC. Audio visual manager at the Marriott. Left wife and 2 children. He married in Yemen and he was working to get a visa for them to come to America. He was one of the true heroes of 9/11.

One survivor wrote, “Abdu saved me from the Marriott World Trade Center the morning of Sept. 11 about 15 minutes before he died when the first tower fell on the hotel. He was a true hero. Despite being told by hotel management to evacuate, Abdu took it upon himself to run from floor to floor to see if any guests remained. I remember him shouting in the hallways and taking guests personally to the stairwell to exit before continuing his run. I'll never forget his face.”

Another survivor wrote: “Abdu saved my life. Because we were told not to evacuate the hotel by management via the intercom system (before the intercom system was destroyed by the second plane crash), Abdu took it upon himself to alert the remaining guests that they must leave. I was waiting in my room when I heard him shouting in the hallway. I opened the door, and he told me I must leave immediately. He escorted me to the stairways before continuing on to save other guests. He is constantly in my thoughts. He is my guardian angel. I love this man whom I only met once. It is still hard for me to comprehend his sacrifice for strangers. Abdu was a very special man, indeed.”

Mr. Malahi was a Muslim as are many of our soldiers serving all over the world.



"To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward."
~Margaret Fairless Barber, The Roadmender



Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen