The picture Deb took this week offers a great snapshot of Central Pennsylvania agriculture with our fields in various states of harvest. The sun is going down. Because we’ve just had the full moon, it’s easy to imagine it rising orange across the river, our Harvest Moon. Life is fertile here, a product of the bounty of the land, the generosity of the climate and the hard work of the farmers. And we give thanks.

Contrast that quiet beauty with the terror of the city that beautiful day in September — the hatred that engendered it; the hatred that it caused, both a by product of so many bad decisions. So many words written, no more needed, just our deep sadness for this incalculable loss. I looked out the window at those towers in that city every day for many years. I had tiny bits of history there. I worked in the investment industry. I left the city to pursue dreams, but the city never leaves your heart… and even without a personal connection, the horror is overwhelming. If you haven’t gone to the memorial, do it. you begin to understand the immensity of what happened; of the deep imperative for Peace.

And then a personal sadness for my sweet nieces whose father ended his life years later.

Peace is needed. Honesty. Understandings that actions have consequences and a willingness to think those things through — as true globally as personally. Healing. Love. When we arise from yesterday’s pain, we must go to work.