Freedom Tower by John S LES ©

"Freedom Tower" by John S LES

There is Freedom in New York
And all over the land
There is a Freedom in New York
From ashes it stands
There is Freedom in New York
For all the world to see
There is Freedom in New York
We say no to terror and tyranny
There is Freedom in New York
Let us not forget the lesson
There is Freedom in New York
No more room for hatred and oppression
There is Freedom, Freedom, Freedom in New York!

For the young and the old..
Not just freedom in our mind,
But also freedom in our souls...



From age 5 to 21, this was the view of my bedroom window in lower Manhattan from the east side.  I used to see the Twin Towers there every day I woke up for school, work or socializing.  At that time it was inconceivable that those two majestic buildings would ever be gone from the horizon.  They were the heart and soul of lower Manhattan.  I had been inside them or walked around them quite a number of times in my life.

Ten years prior to September 11th, 2001 I had actually interviewed for a job with a company inside the World Trade Center.  It was the first of two job offers that I had interviewed for in September of 1991.  However, it was the second job interviewer who got back to me in just 24 hours, so I took the money and ran out to Queens and Long Island.  At age 26, that was the last time I would ever interview for a job in my home town of Manhattan ever again. a place where I had worked in since I was 16 years of age.  Unfortunately, I did have a college friend who worked at the World Trade Center, and he was among the nearly 3,000 lost souls, Sept 11, 2001.

If there is anything to be learned from the tragedy, it is that we must remember to say no to hatred and defy, stop, put an end to - any madman's thinking that requires one to kill innocent people in order to get your way.  There are and always will be better ways to bring about positive change.  It may take a minute more, or a while longer - but only positive efforts can bring about positive change.  No one man, woman or child is perfect.  No matter how a madman may dress it up, this was just mass murder plain and simple.