We Will Not Forget!!!!

Survivors--Found

-Joan Murray

We thought that they were gone--
we rarely saw them on our screens--
those everyday Americans
with workaday routines,

and the heroes standing ready--
not glamorous enough--
on days without a tragedy,
we clicked--and turned them off.

We only saw the cynics--
the dropouts, show-offs, snobs--
the right- and left- wing critics:
we saw that they were us.

But with the wounds of Tuesday
when the smoke began to clear,
we rubbed away our stony gaze--
and watched them reappear:

the waitress in the tower,
the broker reading mail,
a pair of window washers,
filling up a final pail,

the husband's last "I love you"
from the last seat of a plane,
the tourist taking in a view
no one would see again,

the fireman, his eyes ablaze
as he climbed the swaying stairs--
he knew someone might still be saved.
We wondered who it was.

We glimpsed them through the rubble:
the ones who lost their lives,
the heroes' doubleburials,
the ones now "left behind,"

the ones who rolled a sleeve up,
the ones in scrubs and masks,
the ones who lifted buckets
filled with stone and grief and ash:

some spoke adifferent language--
still no one missed a phrase;
the soot had softened every face
of every shade and age--

"the greatest generation" ?--
we wondered where they'd gone--
they hadn't left directions
how to find our nation-home:

for thirty years we saw few signs,
but now in swirls of dust,
they were alive--they had survived--
we saw that they were us.

Ladies, Welcome To The Club!!!

Back in April, I attended a retirement party for Nancy Mack, a teacher friend.  Yesterday, I attended another retirement party for two more teacher friends, Nancy Cagle and Kathy Conte!  The Retirement Club is growing!!  Whoo Hoo!!  When you combine all their years of teaching, it's over 98 years!!!!  Talk about a ton of knowledge and experience!

All three of these ladies are gifted teachers....each one gave 100+% to their students every single day, loved what they were doing and touched the lives of hundreds of students over the years.  It is a true honor to know each one of them and to acknowledge what a tremendous impact they had in the field of education, on children and on other educators.  Thanks ladies for all you did for sooooo many children, for fellow teachers and for me!  YOU ROCK!

Now, it's time for their "New Adventure"!!!  So ladies, welcome to the club!!! 



You Live On!

You live on in days retired,
In the pupils that you inspired,
You lit the flame they carry high,
Now see it over the world fly.

You live on in parent's hearts,
Together well you did your parts,
To see with growing satisfaction,
Training up this generation.

You live on in student's lives,
Who have become husbands, wives,
Some are parents with children dear,
You have a part, deserve our cheer.

You live on for generations,
What you teach is building nations.
The seed you've been busy sowing,
Will day by day keep on growing.

You live on in memory deep.
Your legacy is what we'll keep.
If every church needs a preacher,
Every person needs a teacher.

You live on in our grateful mind,
How hard it is the right words find.
To thank you for your work done well,
Where it will end, can scarcely tell.

You live on in grateful spirit,
May you rejoice when you hear it,
You're an angel, a shining star,
May your light shine near and far.

-Paul Berchtold