Moving Beyond the Horror-Beyond the 11th

(Arzu)

I think what I will always remember most viscerally about that morning is the sky. It was a September sky, that rare blue, clean and clear, that reflects the perfection of a late summer/early fall New England day. I wonder now how often I looked at the sky that day. How could a sky that glorious have held such horror?

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was watering the late summer flowers willing them to keep summer going a few more weeks. I drove to my office with only a small news blip of a plane having flown into a building in New York. By 2:00 as I drove back home there were no planes allowed to be flying in the sky. When the roar of a plane's engine streaked through the complete silence of that afternoon I pulled the car over with my heart pounding as I realized the aircraft I heard were fighter jets from one of the Massachusetts bases. Once again I looked to the sky.

Living in Boston we all had six degrees of connections to the thousands of tragic stories of that day. Some of those stories lived their lives less than a mile away. Susan Retik and Patti Quigley lost their husbands, David Retik and Patrick Quigley, on flights that left from Boston that day. Susan was pregnant with her third child and Patti was eight months pregnant with her second child. They became single Mothers, Widows, living within a drama that changed everything for all of us but for their lives most of all.

Patti and Susan watched as the country prepared to strike back somehow in some way and saw that the women of the country that housed and trained their husband's murderers had been left alone too. The stories of the women of Afghanistan moved these two American women to action, to turn an unspeakable, deeply personal, tragedy into a promise of hope. Susan and Patti soon learned about the vast number of widows in Afghanistan who had no assistance, financial or emotional for themselves or their children. They felt a connection to these women whose lives were shattered by war and had no where to turn to rebuild their lives, none of the support that helped Patti and Susan get through. From that connection came Beyond the 11th "...to help provide financial and emotional support to these widows and their children and to give them hope for a better future."

Despite the changes for many women in Afghanistan since the Taliban was "removed" women without means, property, men to provide for them, are entirely dependent and live within poverty and desperation. Beyond the 11th works to aid non governmental organizations that make a difference in these women's lives by providing training, emotional guidance, child care, clothing and teaching them skills to help support themselves and their children and toward a life of self sufficiency.

Patti and Susan and Beyond the 11th have  been featured in a documentary by Principle Pictures, Beyond Belief . They also cycled from Ground Zero to Boston in 2006 to raise awareness and funds to help the women of Afghanistan through Cycling Forward last year on the 10th anniversary Beyond the Bike. When they asked women of Afghanistan whether they would ride bikes if they were given to them..." they all began to giggle. They explained that in their culture women do not ride bikes and people would laugh to see a woman on a bike. They could not believe that we ride bicycles and when we explained to them how far we ride to raise money for their programs, they were astonished. I hope that one day the widows we met will have the experience of riding on a bicycle with the wind blowing in their hair."

“There’s a way in which each of us makes small choices every day. And after a period of time those choices develop into a pattern. Each moral and ethical choice forms our identity. It seems to me that the terrorists who flew planes into the buildings on September 11th, they started making choices a long time ago — choices took them so far off center that flying a plane into a building seemed like the right thing to do. It’s like any one of us. We choose our way into being ourselves. And I think that’s what Patti and Susan do in little choices and in big choices. When given a choice between violence and love — they chose love. When given a choice between retribution and restoration of harmony — they chose restoring harmony. When given a choice between death and life — they’ve chosen life. That’s just who they are. It’s who they’ve come to be. It’s who they’ve chosen to be. And because of that, their children are learning to choose life as well.” —Jim Fleming, S.J., Patti Quigley’s brother, in Beyond Belief

Two women whose lives, and whose children's lives ,would never be the same turned their pain, their grief, their anger to action. They were determined that from that day could come hope and change. For many of the women left behind by war in Afghanistan they can now reach for the sky, a sky that that holds promise of a better life, a better world and that may be the lesson of that September day.

To Donate or for more information Visit Beyond the 11th

Beyond the 11th's Grantees include:

Arzu meaning Hope in Dari helps provide income for women by marketing and selling their handmade rugs and paying the women 50% more than the market rate for their labor. The women also receive a bonus for each rug in exchange for promising to attend literacy classes and enrolling their children in school.

Bpeace which helps women in regions of war and recovery to market their skills and build businesses such as a group manufacturing soccer balls and other leather goods.

CARE a Beyond the 11th grant helped to fund a CARE Livestock Development Program helping women earn income through raising and rearing cows and lambs.

Women for Women "Helping Women Survivors of War Rebuild Their Lives"

The Answers are Blowing in the Wind-In Appreciation, Mary Travers

“We’ve learned that it will take more than one generation to bring about change," Mary once said. “The fight for civil rights has developed into a broader concern for human rights, and that encompasses a great many people and countries. Those of us who live in a democracy have a responsibility to be the voice for those whose voices are stilled." Mary Travers

She was the emotional and physical center as she stood and sang from her soul between the "boys" Noel Paul Stokey and Peter Yarrow as the heart of Peter, Paul and Mary. Mary Travers' powerful and passionate presence with her blond swingy hair transcended the traditional folk music audience.

Peter, Paul and Mary made folk music accessible, they introduced Bob Dylan to a mainstream audience and believed that folk music could reach all people across race and economic lines. Their music was the background theme music for the extraordinary events and change this country went through in the 1960s and it was also an instrument of that change and a catalyst for a movement of peace and equality.

Unlike a lot of the "pop culture" of the decade,however, Peter Paul and Mary's music did not fade as the country changed and they "showed up" wherever there was injustice, whenever the country needed to hear their voices they were there-anti-nuclear, anti-apartheid, worker's rights...and at the center was Mary Travers. Her voice resonated through halls, and across parks and in auditoriums throughout the country-audiences came for the music and left believing the world could be a better place. To achieve that change Peter, Paul and Mary shared the music, believing the music should be passed on to generations as they did in Peter, Paul and Mommy
and my favorite Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too . I love the PBS specialPeter, Paul and Mommy, Too [90 Minute Concert] [VHS] and watching Mary sing from her very core to her grandchildren was a memorable three Kleenex moment that should be shared with all ages.

The trio sang together for nearly 50 years. They won five Grammy's,had 13 Top 40 hits including songs such as "Blowing' In The Wind," "If I Had A Hammer," "Leaving On A Jet Plane," "Where Have All The Flowers Gone," "500 Miles" and, of course, "Puff, The Magic Dragon." "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem of the Civil Rights movement” as they sang at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech.

Their roots were in folk music but it was Mary Travers presence that helped them reach beyond the coffee house tradition and reach top 40 status and who kept their music out in front as an instrument of change and the sound of political action for every decade since. Traditionalists criticized that perhaps they "sold out" but Mary Travers would argue that they were accessible and singing to so many more people- moving them to action with their voices and reaching more than one generation with their call for freedom and justice.

"I'm not sure I want to be singing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' when I'm 75," she said in one interview. "But I know I'll still be singing 'Blowin' in the Wind.' "
Their work may be best known for the anthems they sang during the anti-war and civil rights movements but they continued to be out in front of the movements that were to change the direction of America, championing the rights of the disenfranchised and the legitimacy of those who fought for fairness. They proved time and again that music can change the world and Mary Travers voice peace and justice and a better planet will be missed.

"I have a sort of sampler in my head," Travers said, "that--paraphrasing the rabbinical scholar--says, 'It's not your duty to finish the task, it is your duty not to neglect it.' If war and hunger and racism were easy things to get rid of, I would assume we would have gotten rid of them already."

A Voice for America,The Last Lion- Senator Edward M. Kennedy

We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever... He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.

Kennedy Family Statement

It is a postcard summer morning in New England...the kind of morning that Cape Cod sailors love, a morning you would expect to see a sailboat off of Hyannis Port. This morning, however, the sailboats off the Cape sail without him.

Around here he was known simply as "Teddy" and we cannot remember a time when he was not "our" Senator. The loss of Senator Edward M. Kennedy feels personal as we have never known a time when he was not there, not at the center of an important vote or championing the causes that matter. He was a father figure to not only a family that relied on him no matter their sadness but also to those of us who knew he would be at the helm, in the forefront of important fights, doing whatever it took make it better for us all. Such was our faith in this man whose power grew along with the respect he earned. His personal demons and political mistakes shaped him and helped him become a rarity in American politics, a true leader we trusted.

"The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference...."


The news of the loss of "Teddy" Kennedy is not a surprise but a jolt nonetheless. Through his battle with brain cancer The senior senator from Massachusetts made some extraordinary public appearances and never stopped working. In recent weeks, however, he was unable to attend his sister Eunice's funeral and he issued an urgent plea for the fight for health care reform that he spent over 30 years tirelessly fighting for and the issue he declared "the cause of my life."
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Perhaps we just thought he would always be there,as he has been for nearly five decades, fighting the good fight as the last liberal voice, devoting his career to achieving rights and dignity for those who did not have the privileges of the Kennedy name,serving as the family patriarch whose strength and love brought such a center to a family torn by tragedy and pain time and time again.

No matter what this nation faced Ted Kennedy was visibly involved. Even if he stood alone he stood for the people of this country, the people who most needed a voice, and what a voice it was. Senator Kennedy was a tireless force, and one that was respected by both political friends and foes. His voice was genuine and reassuring and committed to fulfilling the "dream that never dies".

Through a lifetime littered with tragedy and pain he stood strong and carried the torch of his legendary brothers with determination fueled by their loss. The Kennedy dynasty is gone with him. He was the last of a family surrounded with a mystique and almost mythical cache that has captivated American life and politics for decades. He was a Kennedy and with that mantle came not only power and privilege but also extraordinary responsibility that would take its toll but also fuel the drive that would bring him to the center of legislative prestige and win him the respect and admiration of allies, constituents and opponents around the world.

This was not to have been his role,he was not the chosen son, the youngest brother left to carry the burden for a family besieged by sadness. He "walks amongst ghosts" it has been said and perhaps it was those very"ghosts" that drove him and made him such a remarkable legislator--as if he could not let them down.

His personal and political mistakes may have kept him from becoming president , he was reckless at times and seemed almost to self destruct, but he got back up and became a true leader and it is entirely possible that was for the best for him and for this country.

He was elected to his brother John's senate seat in 1962 and would serve there the rest of his life. For nearly 50 years in a life that reads like fiction,Ted Kennedy overcame his own personal battles to win so many public ones. He would indeed become the Lion of the Senate, roaring with passion for each bill he fought for, arguing with presidents for the good of this nation. He learned not to be divisive to achieve his goals, but rather to reach across differences and build consensus. In fact some of his closest and dearest friends were found on the other side of the aisle. He knew when to deal and when to pass and he did not let political favor block his vision of what was right and necessary.

"...Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all...For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Senator Kennedy,1980

When diagnosed with brain cancer Ted Kennedy went home to Hyannis Port, not to die but to fight to his last. He worked whenever and however he was able to ensure the election of Barack Obama and for the passion of his career the passage of health care for all Americans. He was at the center of every important moment in American. It was his voice that carried the cry for a better America, and it is that voice that cannot be replaced.

"...virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.

I valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've profited as President from his encouragement and wisdom.

An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time." President Obama

"I am a part of all that I have met
To [Tho] much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are --
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Tennyson