: . . .The Rendezvous Committee met this morning and their thoughts were along the
: same lines as many replies we received here: That we should proceed with
: our event and our lives and remember those who have been hurt by this
: tragedy.

: So....we will proceed

May I propose a reading :

The Building Of The Ship
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

the concluding verses:

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on the fate!

We know what Master laid the keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!

Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!

In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, are all with thee!

For the full text of this poem and notes on it see:
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/longfe11.html

It is a lovely, though long, poem that compares the building of a nation to the building of a ship.

Respectfully submitted

PGJ