September 11
Today is September 11, the fourth anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center's buildings. I haven't heard it mentioned once this week.
The news stations are filled with stories about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi. Thousands of people are homeless. Cries for donations are heard on every television channel.
There is not enough money in the whole world to replace what these people have lost, either on September 11 or this most recent disaster.
When a loved one dies, it is devastation to everyone who cares about that person. It doesn't matter if that person died with thousands of others or alone in a hospital bed.
On a larger scale thousands continue to die from hunger and disease in areas that don't have the flamboyance of a flaming building collapsing or a hurricane raging. What about them? I continue to ask, "What about the others?"
Best Things in Life
"The best things in life aren't things."
When I was little, my parents and I spent time with my grandparents on their farm with electricity, but no running water. I remember helping to bring in a bucket of water from the well. I was only about half again the size of the bucket. It was all I could do to keep it from dragging on the ground. The door to the kitchen was on the opposite side of the house as the well. So I had to haul it around the house. The water sloshed so much that I could barely make it with half a bucket full by the time I got to the kitchen.
I remember those days with great fondness. In fact, the other day, I bought myself a metal cup from which to drink water because it takes me back to those days with the really, really cold well water.
I am grateful to my parents for the time I spent with my grandparents even without the "basic necessities". I never would consider that I was mistreated because I would have to go without an indoor toilet or a faucet of running water.
My mother sewed my clothes or ordered them out of the Sears, Roebuck catalog. I always felt I was dressed beautifully, and I never realized that our family didn't have as much money as some other families that could afford the best clothes that money could buy.
The lesson that I learned from my parents is that I don't need material things to be happy. It's the people that count. As long as I am around people I love and people I love are around me, I don't need running water, indoor plumbing, or store-bought clothes.
If I had the chance to go back to the farm and visit my grandparents again, even without the basic necessities, I'd go back without any hesitation. I get teary-eyed even thinking about it.
Alaska is Grand
"There is one word of advice and caution to be given those intending to visit Alaska for pleasure. If you are old, go by all means. But if you are young, wait. The scenery of Alaska is much grander than anything else of the kind in the world and it is not well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeing the finest first."
Member of the 1899 Harriman Expedition to Alaska
Susan shared this quotation with the Alaska Living group, and I must say that I agree wholeheartedly.
