9.11.01

"When I look out the window,
I exhale a prayer of thanks for the color green,
for my children's safety,
for the simple acts of faith like planting a garden
that helped see us through another spring,
another summer.
And I inhale some kind of promise to protect
my kids' hopes and good intentions we began
with this country.
Freedom of speech, the protection of diversity--
these are the most important ingredients of
American civil life and survival.
If I ever took them for granted,
I don't know."

-Barbara Kingsolver, novelist