Fog rising from pond
hole #2 at Green Mountain National
7:30AM, September 11, 2006

Fog rising from pond
hole #2 at Green Mountain National
7:30AM, September 11, 2006

It's strangely quiet here today at Killington. It's hard to put an exact reason for it; the weekends motorcycle rally is gone with the attendant noise; we had the first frost last night in the area, not a hard killing frost, but enough to cover roofs and windshields; the river valleys were filled with a ghostly shroud of fog this morning, as the heat of the water in mountain streams and ponds was trying to escape into the atmosphere. Then again, there are the TV images of another beautiful day that turned awful 5 years ago for so many friends and acquaintances.

In 5 years, it is amazing how much has changed, and how much stays the same. What ever your point of view or perspective about the meaning of September 11th, keep in mind that life goes on, that fall and winter still surely follow summer, that frost in the morning is the natural consequence of temperatures going below freezing in a humid atmosphere, and that the fog of that fateful day, like many other public tragedies many of us have witnessed, must not fill our lives with pessimism, but encourage us to rededicate ourselves to the wisdom of our countries forefathers.

For we must "hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." Declaration of Independence, by unanimous declaration by the thirteen United States of America, July 4, 1776.