For Todd, Nine Years Later

This summer, with our friends at the Guv's 20th prep school reunion, we celebrated reaching a milestone for a friend, Todd, whom we lost on 9-11: at our alma mater, we endowed a full scholarship in Todd's name in perpetuity.  This friend was a big man on campus, always ready with a smile, full of such joie de vivre that he infused you with positive energy when he was around.  It was an honor to give some money and some time and effort to memorialize a guy who made everyone around him feel good.

When I sat down to write this post, I was prepared to spout off some angry thoughts about how America is tainting Todd's and other friends' memories with our political posturing, divisiveness and bigotry -- but I just can't go there today.  What I want to hold onto this day is the memory of a friend who made everyone around him feel good.  I want to spread that good feeling around, from the Facebook friends of my childhood who struggle with bigotry to my Muslim ones who are persecuted senselessly ... from California to New York to Afghanistan ... I want the world to know that America is a place where everyone has the right to feel good, however each of us defines it.

In closing, as my 9-11 prayer this year, I share these words from Mahatma Gandhi:

When I despair,
I remember that all through history
the ways of truth and love have always won.
There have been tyrants, and murderers,
and for a time they can seem invincible,
but in the end they always fall.

Think of it - always.

Todd, in your memory today, I pray for peace among all peoples, here in America among faiths, and, abroad, among nations.

Each year since I've been blogging, I write a tribute piece for 9-11: here are my thoughts from 9-11-2007, 9-11-2008 and 9-11-2009.  May we never forget.