Prayer Flags

The onslaught of media this weekend commemorating the tenth anniversary of 9/11 left me feeling empty.  Reliving the event is horrific enough, but reflecting on the ten years that ensued disheartened me even more.  I find the hip, hip hooray for America hypocritical as we grieve for those lost in a bloody civilian battle, yet we continue to kill.  Do unto others as you would condemn others to do unto you.  Of course,  I mourn the lives and innocence lost that day, but I wish the response to the terrorist act had been different.

At a loss for how to comprehend my emotions this weekend, I found some clarity when I stumbled upon Carla Shapiro's Prayer Flags.  In the weeks after 9/11 Carla turned her lingering loss into an art project.  She hand copied The New York Times obituary for each victim onto a single vellum sheet of paper, and strung them over the creek that runs past her cabin in the Catskill Mountains.  For an entire year, she photographed the 1,910 flags, documenting nature's impact on the ink stained pages.  Over time, the elements washed them clean, returned them to blank pages, and allowed Carla to release her pain and grief.  This was a memorial I could embrace, for it was personal, spiritual, healing, and appropriate.