Dreams, Currents, and Light
The dreams that followed 9/11 were so vivid and surreal that they cast doubt on all we recognized as reality. Many of those horrible dreams were likely due to a sort of survivors’ guilt, as for many of those experiencing the events there was the nagging question (whether conscious or subconscious), “Why wasn’t it me?” Did our world end on that September morning and has life ever since been a glimpse into an imagined future? For many years, we have been free from the hapless dreams of that September day, but the memories are indelible…We take it as a sign of hopefulness, that we are not consumed by imagined horrors or wasted second guesses of fate…We are forever wandering a path between light and dark and when we stop on the edge of darkness to contemplate these moments, we imagine the flow of dark waters around us and marvel at the swirling currents rather than worrying about the effect of tides…we turn away again and focus on the light.
We search for meaning in a senseless event as though seeking to understand the value of a scar…a momentary trauma without celestial intention, resulting only in the toughening of our skin and the permanent mark to remind us of the experience. We’ve experienced some tough times in our line of work…we’ve lost friends, fortunes, time, and opportunity…In one way or another, we all bear the marks of damaged goods, yet in the midst of our lament, we find joy among the clouds…We are forever called to serve in a space where few may dwell and we carry out our missions with dispassionate resolve…all the while, we are passionate about adventure and pushing our limits and we share a sense of camaraderie on the wing that others cannot conceive…we develop bonds of faith and trust built upon mutual reliance and professional respect…we live a lifetime in the moments we spend aloft…time passing more rapidly as we sail along the tropopause at eight miles a minute…we live for a string of moments and abide our time on earth as a necessary perch from which to launch on the next leg of our journey, unbound and free to share in the legacy of flight. We will always treasure the gift of flight and WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
The Aerial Horizon 