The people of Maine have long been known for their generous support of the defenders of this Country, both the men and women who serve in the military and the heroic first responders at home. Many groups were formed after the attacks on 9-11 and even seven years later they continue their support often at great personal expense and sacrifice. The anniversary of 9-11 offers a chance for them to come together in a common cause.
Flags still flying
Spirited 9-11 Tribute
A gathering of Patriots
7 years & still Standing
With Great Love & Deep Gratitude
The State of Maine has long been known for a high degree of patriotism. Turnouts to honor patriots from Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain to modern day heroes always draw substantial turnouts. 9-11 remembrances are no exception. From State House in Augusta where the Governor, State senators and representatives gather on the steps of the Capital to observances held by veteran's groups around the State Mainers step forward. One of the outstanding observances is to be found in Freeport where the American spirit will soar.
The Freeport Flag Ladies, who have been holding American flags on Main Street in Freeport every Tuesday morning since 9-11-2001, will be joined by people from around the State and visitors from across the Country. They will gather to honor those who perished on 9-11, the men and women who are serving our Country in the military, and police, fire and rescue workers
School children, veterans, soldier's families and patriotic citizens will line the street with flags waving. Amidst early morning traffic will be an open parade. Cheers and applause will resound as brightly decorated vehicles, Patriot Guard, and Rolling Thunder and other motorcyclists with flags flying roll through. Fire, police and rescue trucks will join the parade being cheered by the onlookers and antique cars will add to the colorful mix.
At 8:45 traffic will stop and silence will descend as heads are bowed in remembrance of the lives lost in the Towers, the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania.
This will be the 7th Anniversary of the 9-11 Tribute held by the Flag Ladies. Many of those in attendance have come every year since the 1st Tribute was held in 2002.
In addition to holding the flags each Tuesday morning through snow, sleet, wind and rain they travel to Bangor International Airport, which is a two hour drive from Freeport, to join with the Maine Troop Greeters meeting flights heading to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Troop Greeters have been meeting flights in Bangor since Desert Storm.
Sporting their signature flag shirts the Flag Ladies wait with smiles and handshakes as the soldiers enter the terminal.
In the next hour and a half they take over 300 pictures of the soldiers as they talk to their families on a cell phone, have a snack, talk to friends or sleep stretched out on the floor. Each soldier whose picture is taken is given a small gift with a website link on it. The families can go to the site and download this last picture of them still on American soil. It is a relief to the families to see their loved one with a smile and relaxed among their buddies.
The Flag Ladies can often be seen struggling up the hill pushing a dolly loaded with packages headed to Iraq and Afghanistan. On a recent trip to the Post Office they were mired in a pot hole and a passing motorist was kind enough to help them on their way. They are filled with tasty treats, games, magazines, and toys ? anything that might bring a smile to the face of a soldier. Other packages head to field hospitals with shorts and flip-flops for wounded soldiers that are ambulatory, and neck pillows to provide a little comfort for soldiers being transported to Germany and then home to the United States. At the request of the soldiers many packages are shipped to Afghanistan filled with hats, mittens, shoes and coats to help the children survive the bitter Afghan winters. Our soldiers have built many new schools for the Afghan children but wrote to say that many of the children have no school supplies and that a pencil is considered a treasure so still more packages go out heavily laden with pencils, pens, crayons, erasers, pencil sharpeners and paper. The gratitude of the children has saved many a soldier's life as they often know where an IED is buried or an ambush set up.
The American Legion, VFW and Am-Vets cannot be outdone in community support. They raise money to support scholarships, Special Olympics, children's camps and countless worthy causes.
The veterans are held in high esteem. The Flag Ladies will come to any of their events to help or show support. When the annual reunion of the Shipmates of the USS Boston was held in Portland they were invited to address the gathering. Many of the veterans were from the Vietnam war and had never been properly thanked and welcomed home. There were tears in many eyes as Elaine Greene welcomed them home and the Flag Ladies presented each of them with the card that is given to each of the soldiers that they meet who are deploying today. They speak to various veteran's groups and help them with fund raising. In return they have received the Americanism Award from the Maine American Legion and were nominated for the prestigious Silver Helmet Award by the Am-Vets. Many of the veterans from posts not doing a 9-11 remembrance will again travel long distances to come stand with the Freeport Flag Ladies on this 7th anniversary.
I am writing this article with this awareness in mind. Over the last three weeks I have started to gather souls from my soul group for some event that I know nothing of on a conscious level.
It started with my estranged youngest stepson-who stopped talking to me when he entered into puberty. We were so close and spend a lot of time together. He contacted me two weeks ago, and wanted to start hanging out and doing things together again.
I received an email a few days ago from my favourite niece wandering what happened to me, and where I was. She hasn't been able to contact me, although my phone number hasn't changed, and if you punch my name into Google-it will come up 39,000 times. So we got together last night over super, and caught up.
Two days ago I received a cryptic email from I women I didn't know, asking about if I was the son of women who's name she found on the internet. The information she had about her was correct, and I informed the sender that I was in fact this women's son. The sender was a good friend of a lady that was an adopted child, and having investigated into the time of her birth she came up with information about her mother (my mother). The lady contacted me and informed me that I had a sister, who had been adopted as a baby. I was intrigued by this and said that I would be interested in further contact with her. The lady (my alleged sister) emailed me with a picture of herself, and I starred at it in shock. I am relieved that I saw the picture first instead of meeting her on the street I would have sworn it was my mother, come back from the dead. Today I received a further email from her, and discovered she lives only 10 miles from me and we have probably crossed paths many times over the years.
While I have brought these people together, I have also alienated a close friend at work because of a promotion I received.
In addition I just received my final proof for my new book to be coming out in two or three weeks. Is there a connection? All of these events are tied together-nothing happens by chance. All of them have opportunities, and I have brought them together for some reason. These people are gathering around me for some reason. The time and place in space is obviously perfect for a major event to happen.
This is even more ironic because I enjoy my recluse, my independence, and the silence-I really function very well alone. I really have not missed having anyone in my current life, and I am not lonely. I never ask for help and do well on my own. My life is shared with the five or six new people I bring into my life each day, my writing and my books. I am healthy and my days are full.
It's kind of like a secret birthday party you are not supposed to know about it, but it has leaked out-and coincidentally my birthday is tomorrow, and none of them would be aware of that fact.
These events are current-I am not blessed with clairvoyance, so I don't know what is going to happen, but they are gathering. In hindsight of course, it would be easy to see these as steps which are leading up to an event, and it would make perfect sense.
Of course these current surprises are simply opportunities, and have no meaning except for the meaning that I will give them. Any other time I would not have noticed, and given them little thought.
I am sharing this with you as an exercise, as a demonstration of how we all bring things into our lives to create an experience of our choosing. These other souls are being drawn to me by my own power, and for my own reason-they all have a connection to me. At this time I am not giving any purpose to these events-I am noticing them happen, but not trying to influence the outcome by thinking about their purpose. Their only purpose may be one of awareness or acknowledgement that has no specific outcome-sign posts along the way. It is my creation and I will decide their significance.
If one is a positive thinker-he would know that things are coming together for some good thing to happen. If one was a negative thinker then he would know that things are coming together so that there will be a big let down later that will reaffirm an old belief system.
So the event that is about to unfold will tell me what my current root thoughts are about my life. It is a choice and I have up until the time of the event to choose how it will be. I also have a choice after the event of how it will affect me. Normally, I would impart onto you a past experience, and all the steps that lead up to it, so that you could see who it works. This time you will be privy to a future experience as it unfolds. This is completely opposite of what normally happens. It is a cliff-hanger that holds much speculation as to the outcome. I am tempted to predict-but I am staying out of it consciously.
If you are interested in how all of this turns out, you can email me by going to my site at: www.klienwachter.com and using the contact form to leave your email address and I will keep you up-to-date on what may happen.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity . . . Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
Charles Dickens notes only two possibilities here. Then there is Freud who said "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." There may be nothing to this at all-an opportunity missed!
Both Joann Miller & Roy E. Klienwachter are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Joann Miller has sinced written about articles on various topics from Health. The Freeport Flag Ladies are second only to L.L. Bean's in Freeport, Maine for recognition around the country. They work tirelessly for the troops and veterans/