I searched a long time until I found the perfect website to symbolize how I felt about what our country (and those other countries that lost people on that dark day) was going through since that day and for at least the near future. Yesterday I found the PERFECT set from a linkware graphics site called "Island Creations". The woman in the picture on my 911 memorial entrance page (original art done by William Kramer) is strong and determined despite her ragged outer appearance and the harsh winds that blow her hair and cloak (the US flag). Perhaps the winds she faces are the coming winds of war, perhaps those of change brought on by the tragedy, but either way, she stands firm against the onslaught. That is how I feel the survivors and the countries involved in this tragedy have got to be. We cannot let terrorism make us fearful to live our lives. We should grieve for what is lost, but be determined to not make the same mistakes in the future that led to this loss. Most of all , we should not let the freedoms we have in this country be lost in trying to tighten our security and out of decisions made out of fear and anger. It is the very idea of our freedom and the choices we are allowed to make about our lives (especially for women) that the terrorists sought to destroy and which they themselves are so afraid of that they would act in such a destructive and violent manner. Let us not allow our fear of death or destruction cause us to limit the freedoms our ancestors fought so hard to keep for us over the last few centuries. Live your lives! Those that died would not want us to live a life of fear.

And yet, never forget those who gave up thier lives in those tragedies, including those that gave thier lives in trying to save the lives of others or those on United Flight 93 who fought for control of the plane so that the terrorists would not reach thier intended target. There is a chant (see below) that is often said at memorial /funereal cirlces for neo-pagans and wiccans (although it may originally been written by someone of a different religion entirely, I do not know). I sing this chant to myself whenever I find myself getting wrapped up in my daily life and not giving a moment of thought to those who died on 9/11 and for those who fight in Afghanistan (and not just American troops) to this day and the friends and family of all of them. This chant both gives me peace and reminds me what has been lost to the world and our country:

"WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU...WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER..."

And I never will forget. I have a good memory--especially (and maybe in this case unfortunately as I could not sleep for two days with all the images I had seen running over and over in my head) because I was watching TV livefeed when that second plane hit the WTC. I watched that plane as it made its turn in the sky before it hit the tower and I knew...I KNEW knew KNEW (my husband is a private pilot, I know what a turn of a large jet at that sharp angle can mean) what was about to happen. I had a couple of seconds of desperately praying that something would stop that plane and knowing nothing would. I had suspected terrorism when I got a good look at the hole in the first tower (before the second plane hit) and saw what a large hole it was (knowing that it was not a small plane that had gone astray), but I had NEVER expected the second plane OR the plane that hit the Pentagon or the crash of United Flight 93 (the crash site of which is less than an hour away from my house) all happening in one day. I could not forget that day even if I wanted to.

I hope you enjoy this site, and if you are offering or know of any other great memorial page links, please feel free to add that information to my guestbook so I can go and see those sites and add links to my site for others to see as well.

Namaste,

Owlie

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MY TOSHIGE KUGA MEMORIAL PAGE HAS BEEN UPDATED AS OF 9/11/06

WITH A NEW PICTURE OF TOSHIYA KUGE AND MORE INFO ABOUT HIS FAMILY.

YOU CAN SEE THE UPDATE BY CLICKING ON THE "NEXT" BUTTON BELOW.

THANK YOU !!!
This site is copyright 2001-2006 to Simone D. Bennett. I do not give up the rights to anything on my site, except for those items (such as graphics, etc.) not created by me, but for which I have given the original artists/writers credit. If you have any trouble accessing this site please e-mail Owlie.