The other day I was talking with a young man that is staying with me while he does an internship in computer engineering. I was recalling that after 9/11 all air traffic was grounded for weeks and it delayed the SF (Green Beret) from getting back to America.
He looked at me perplexed. I said, “Surly you remember?” He replied, “No, I was only 3.” So the story was told.
I know Deuteronomy 6 speaks of remembering what God has done for the Israelites in Egypt, but there is wisdom in abundance in His Words. If we don’t remember and teach our children where are we as a civilized Nation?
“To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temple of his God, (my changes in the plural of God).
And for the tender mother who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses his baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens who feed the eternal flame,
To save them from false Sextus, that wrought the deed of shame?
Remembering:
John Bentley Works
World Trade Center
ACTA EST FABULA
John Bentley Works
October 24, 1964 – September 11, 2001
Rowayton, Connecticut
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.
Two World Trade Center, 89th Floor
Then out spoke brave Horatius
The Captain of the Gate:
To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods.
In loving Memory from your devoted family,
Pam and Allison
Dad
Dorothy
Tim, Lynn, Owen and Baby Works
Tribute submitted by Pamela Works.
A Love of Books
John B. Works always had his nose in a book. Or books - he usually had three or four going at a time, said his wife, Pamela Block Works. History books. Gold books. Economics books. Philosophy books. Historical fiction. (Dorothy Dunnett and Patrick O’Brian were favorites.) “And lots of junk - ‘Star Trek,’ “ she said.
On his bedside table are “Cryptonomicon,” Neal Stephenson’s novel about making and breaking codes, and Jack D. Schwager’s “New Market Wizards: Conversations with America’s Top Traders.” Mr. Works, 36, had recently become a trader himself; in March, he rejoined the investment firm of Keefe Bruyette, where he had started his career as an analyst.
To house all those books, as well as their 3-year-old, Allison, the Workses were building a house on the site in Rowayton, Conn., where Mr. Works grew up. On weekends this summer, he would climb a ladder to the third floor, with its view of Long Island Sound. That floor was going to be his library, Mrs. Works said, “with a large porch off it, because he always wanted a widow’s walk.”
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on September 30, 2001.
https://www.legacy.com/sept11/story.aspx?personid=115458&psl=1
Thank you!
Thank you for pinging me.
Love this.
What a wonderful tribute.
Will share, just as you shared with your young “roomy”.
Curious....did you happen to know this Mr Works?
Again, thank you.
So that the Word of God will be remembered above the poem:
Deuteronomy 6:
Love the Lord Your God
6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.
20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”