Two Princeton High School students led the effort to continue last week’s 9/11 memorial tradition of planting 2,977 American flags, each flag representing a life lost on September 11, in the town’s Heritage Park. Wandering by the temporary memorial, recollections of the day filled my head, as it no doubt had for anyone old enough to remember this particular flashpoint in history.
A quarter of a century later, 25 years, is a unit of measure that is challenging to wrap one’s mind around. We are only granted so many days, and these markers of time are powerful enough to make one pause. I’m guessing where you are today does not match whatever projection you had for yourself in 2001. The path on which I find myself bears little resemblance to the destination on my 2001 GPS. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just different.
Twenty-five years ago, the library had temporarily relocated to the Princeton Shopping Center, as plans were underway for the new building. Only a handful of current employees can recall those days. I had the opportunity to visit the location when I wandered in, new to town, looking for a job, at the end of 2003. Staff members were packed into makeshift desk spaces in the basement, operating to the best of their abilities, and the main floor was, no surprise, bustling with visitors and books.
Alongside markers of tragedy, there are markers of joy and goodness for all of us. It is a privilege to be here another day. Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” comes to mind:
“…I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
Into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
How to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
Which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done…”
The library is not just a building with books; it is a place to be in community with others to share all of what a life can bring – the joys and the sorrows. On October 19, we’ll be screening “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World.” We hope you’ll join us.