blessings on 9/11

god bless the rain, and the storm clouds that bring it.
god bless the music, and the voices that sing it.
god bless the ones who sing everything wrong.
god bless the creatures who do not belong.
god bless the hearts and the souls who are grieving
for those who have left, and for those who are leaving.
god bless each perishing body and mind,
god bless all creatures remaining behind.
god bless the dreamers whose dreams have awoken.
god bless the lovers whose hearts have been broken.
god bless each soul that is tortured and taunted,
god bless all creatures alone and unwanted.god bless the gargoyles, a children's book about prejudice

(read here for the full poem)

this blessing comes from the beautiful children’s book god bless the gargoyles by dav pilky of captain underpants fame.

yes, on this day i ask that all gods bless all creatures, whatever stripe, colour and of whichever persuasions these gods and creatures may be.

may allah bless the souls of the dead NYC firefighters and their families. may the gods of science and logic bless the ones who in utter misguidedness flew the planes into the towers and the pentagon.

may the gods of the brahmins bless each and every person who to this day shudders in terror at the sound of a plane coming close. may the god of abraham bless the youngsters who right now, this moment, are training for suicide missions.

may the great god manitou bless the families whose loved ones were taken away in the horror of 9/11. may the blessing of jesus lay on all those whose weapons kill innocent people all over the world, not just in afghanistan and iraq.

may our communal blessings go to those who are trying to make sense of this all. may the mighty isis bless george bush.

we all need these blessings because we are humans and as humans we have a deep tendency to fear and demonize our own version of the gargoyles, of the “other”, the out-group, the not-us. osama bin laden’s “other” is america; george bush’s “other” is al qaeda.

but – we can evolve from this tendency. we don’t need to give in to fear:

… so if you see shapes in the night sky, don’t fear –
for it simply means angels and gargoyles are near,
easing the earth with their gentle night call:

“god bless the gargoyles. god bless us all.”

isabella mori
counselling in vancouver

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