Thoughts for September 11

Act with courage, and may the Lord Be with those who do well.
2 Chronicles 19:11

In memory of the police and firefighters who gave their lives in the service of others Sept. 11, 2001, and in honor of all police, firefighters, and rescue workers:

The noblest service comes from nameless hands.
And the best servant does his work unseen.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

The first verse of the U. S. national Anthem is often sung and fairly well-known; the subsequent verses are infrequently sung and frequently forgotten. I add one below that I believe is particularly relevant today:

Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
Francis Scott Key

What stands if freedom fall?
Rudyard Kipling