Flags and Girders and the Little Things in Life

This past week builders passed an important milestone as construction continued on One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, in New York.  With the erection of a steel girder atop the hundredth floor, the Center passed the Empire State Building to become the tallest building in New York.  For many this was seen as an important step in the continuing recovery from the aftereffects of 9/11.  Not so much in economic terms, as in emotional terms.  One construction worker being interviewed about the milestone was near tears as he spoke of its significance for him personally.  He had been part of the cleanup after the attack.  Who would have thought a steel girder could mean so much?  Yet that is often how it is in times of grief and loss.  It is the little things that bring us the biggest comfort.

Just a week or so after 9/11 my wife Linda';s Uncle Jimmy died after a long, long bout with emphysema and cancer.  He lived in upstate New York most of his life, but a couple of months before his death his daughter had taken him to her Midwest home to take care of him.

Jimmy was an interesting guy--friendly enough, but never a joiner.  He wasn't a church goer.  Didn't belong to clubs.  But he had been in the Navy during World War II--and he was a very proud American.

As a sign of that pride Jimmy had a flagpole on his lawn, with a flag that was always up--he even had it lit at night.  He was always very careful to follow appropriate rituals for national holidays and the like.

But Jimmy was in Wisconsin on September 11th--on the verge of death himself.  And so, despite the national period of mourning that had been ordered following the attacks, his flag stayed at the top of the pole--that is until a neighbor, remembering how important such things were to the old sailor, came over to his house and lowered Old Glory to half staff.

A girder up, a flag taken down--yes, it's the little things that bring us the biggest comfort.