| Walking a never-ending ascent to a bluff overlooking the Bandon River outside Kinsale, Ireland, I see a gate painted fire-engine red, adorned with daffodils. On the gate is a plaque framed in gold with bold letters, We Will Never Forget. Stunned, I enter a garden of 343 trees, one tree planted for every firefighter who died September 11th, 2001. Next to each tree, a photo, name, rank, ladder number, and an American flag fluttering in today’s breeze. Stepping softly through 23 rows of trees, I begin to remember. On impact, the Twin Towers collapsing in slow motion, first one, then the other. Black clouds billowing. Bodies falling. Firefighters charging through flames, smoke, and crumbling steel. Floors collapsing. Signs with photographs posted on buildings. Have you seen my dad? My wife? My son? My friend? On street corners neighbors gather among Teddy Bears and cut flowers, tears flowing unchecked in sorrow, solidarity, prayer. In New York City, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C, 2,977 people would die because of hijackers. Do you remember? And 343 were firefighters. Kathleen Cait Murphy was a nurse whose career took her to New York City to care for patients at Lennox Hill Hospital. An immigrant to the United States, when Kathleen retired, she returned to her home in Ringfinnan. So many of the firefighters were her friends. As was the chaplain. They were her friends. How does one live with the horror, the heroics, the aftermath of that day? and so many others? On her land atop a hillside overlooking the Bandon, Kathleen Cait Murphy chose to create a garden. A garden of trees. |
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