Two Anniversaries to Remember

Gotta play catch-up: Two blogworthy events happened recently, and it's taken a little bout with the flu for me to have much time to say anything about them. I'll put them both under the category of difficult, but beautiful.

I was lucky enough to catch up with one of the city's hardest working men about town, Brian Andersson. And I was also lucky enough to be invited to an event celebrating the 15th anniversary of the ADA at Gracie Mansion back on August 16. Talk about inspirations! Not only is Brian running everywhere and doing everything, it seems, all at one time, but a more than significant portion of those in attendance had physical issues obvious enough to be recognized upon meeting them. And many of the folks at the event seemed to have transcended those issues completely enough that they made someone like me look as if I were standing still. It was a humbling experience, to say the least.

Brian himself pointed out what might have seemed to have been a blog-snub of the event after checking out my site. I beg a little indulgence because of the daunting nature of the considerable folks I met that evening. Some things take a little longer than others to seep through one's consciousness. My apologies to my most gracious hosts!

Speaking of daunting, I also recently attended the dedication of my home county's September 11 memorial, which was unveiled just in time to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and over the skies of Pennsylvania. I took a day off without pay. I hitched a ride with some nice strangers (don't ask -- but I can give you the name of an excellent quick lunch place in Montco that delivers!) In all ways, I basically moved heaven and earth to be there, just barely on time.

I was afraid I'd have to hold my tongue about the artistry or the appropriateness of the memorial, which incorporates a 1,200-pound steel beam from the Lower Manhattan site. But, while the statue is not a traditionally uplifting, feel good memorial, I must say I liked it much more than I thought I might.

It depicts a pair of rough, hard-working hands cradling the ragged beam in an almost prayerlike gesture. It's a challenging statue. When I heard its creator, Sassona Norton, speak about the relationship she developed with the twisted metal she inherited for a time after being commissioned I began to wonder a bit about the wholesomeness of the its message. But, as difficult as the piece may be and as bizarre an undertaking the artist undertook -- to live with the remains of such a storied attack -- I can still say the piece was well-conceived, well-intentioned and that it has something positive to say about the attacks and their aftermath.

For someone who had to look at remnants of the site and smell the smells of the charred earth and worse, the statue's not easy to look at. But not everything difficult is bad.

Don't take my word for it. The statue sits at the Swede St. entrance to the courthouse in Norristown, Pa. Go there and make up your own mind.