Remembering

"I am sure that most people at some point today found themselves answering that question "where were you when?" I was in bed asleep. I was woken by my son saying "mom, something really bad has happened." My daughter hadn't realized it was real. In her early morning brain fog, she thought the same movie was playing on all the channels. I sat there watching CNN, in stunned shock, barely able to comprehend that this was real. That someone, somewhere had found a new and shocking way to kill people and frighten an entire planet. To this day I cannot understand what motivates such hatred and rage. I don't understand the desire to kill in order to win or prove your point.

I did not watch tv today. I don't need to watch images or hear names read or watch people cry in order to remember. What I will do instead is stand in vigil next Friday, and every other Friday, on the street corner with other women who want an end to this seemingly unending wave of death that sweeps across our world in the name of religion or country or values. We will stand there with our signs calling for an end to war, to hatred, to violence. We will stand, as other women around the world do, and hope that everyone, everywhere, will hear our silent cries for peace instead of hatred and that someday we will no longer need to stand.