I have felt many things, but nothing as profound, then at this moment.
Location: South Beach/Miami
In the midst of 22,000 people about to run a a marathon, I was set in my task to photograph the event. One's senses are overwhemled by the enormity and excitement around you, getting lost in this crowd is effortless. It's 5:30 in the morning and the energy and adrenaline surging through the air is incredible.
Through all this there was a presence felt behind me, hairs standing on end now at the back of my neck. What the hell??... The flood of emotions that fell over me was so intense and now felt as enormous as the flag that was draping from a crane before me. AS I questioned my emotions and reaction, a voice stormed over the crowd...speakers crackling...The host of the race begins to speak..." Let us all take a moment on this beautiful morning to remember 9/11, let us remeber all the victims and all the men of service, who died that day, in the line of duty..."Let us never forget"...Here before you stands the FLAG that was raised during the rescue and recovery of the 911 tragedy."...
My mind started to race.....This was the flag that stood it's ground on GROUND ZERO. When all felt lost. when tragedy consumed our hearts and souls... this flag STOOD IT'S GROUND. Letting the world know WE WOULD NOT GO DOWN!...That we would FIGHT! Though we would mourn our losses, we would RECOVER, we would OVERCOME! As I started to take inventory of what I had experienced prior and what I felt initially, I started to recognized the attributes of that intense feeling more clearly: LOSS, DEATH, STRENGTH, SADNESS, ANGER, FEAR, ANXIETY and finally, thank GOD, INSPIRATION... In that moment, that emotion felt...was my 1st experience of what GLORY truly feels like.
Collectively, 22,000 people from all over the world found SILENCE... We bowed our heads and moments later began to lift them in a voice of CHEER, that exploded throughout BISCAYNE Blvd, as the gun went off and the race was started.
GLORY...what a truly rare and unique emotion... Though I was not anywhere near 9/11, I was able to feel the TORMENT and TRAGEDY and perhaps for a moment the spirits of those lost that day. More incredible is the fact that it is all present, forever sewn into, that particular flag. Now I understand the meaning of it's name sake "OLD GLORY"... For it has stood when we felt unable,embracing us through triumph, tragedy and tribulation. It has comforted and inspired us for generations. This FLAG stood proudly over GROUND ZERO when there was VERY LITTLE HOPE, then WHEN ALL HOPE WAS LOST..... and NOW.... STILL WAVING giving us HOPE for brighter days.
In all my days I will never forget that PRESENCE I felt at that moment, nor the MAGNIFICENCE and PRIDE that followed, knowing I was in the presence of GLORY...I humbled myself, remembering the lost and fallen...Thanked GOD for giving me the abilities/talent that brought me to that moment on that day....and found new meaning in the rising of the sun and coming of a new day, as the sun's light began to break over the horizon. The race was off and I was on my way to fulfilling my obligations of this new day... What a moment, what a life!
LINK on details of Race.......... http://www.ingmiamimarathon.com/
