"We’ll smoke them out of their wholes,
We’ll get them ruining,
We’ll bring them to just this!"

This quote is yes, a play on words spoken by an American president about the aftermath of September 11th and the potential retaliation. The original words stated were, "We will smoke them out of their holes; We will get them running and we’ll bring them to justice."

Watching the images of destruction on the news channels for quite some time, i kept focusing on parts of the debris from the fallen towers, particularly the two, tall, leaning spires standing watch over the wreckage site, the ones which seemed to have a cathedral look about them. Because of how i see mmusic in most everything - these spires appeared like a broken and disfigured grand staff standing on end, tipping over at such an angle that they seem to be ready to come crashing down to the ground. What was whole, harmonious and standing tall is now in ruin. The same images were shown over and over again, people in fear, running north to get away from the terror and destruction, many covered in ash and blood. The power of these images finally came together when the words were changed to the quoted words from their original and presented more clearly the true face of terror; a face we all wear every time we treat others as less valued than ourselves. From these images rose the beginning of the painting - Anthem of Terror.

The colors of the circles at the bottom of the painting, and the notes in the broken staves are the four direction colors - representing all the cultures of the world. The treble and bass clefs are at the pinnacle, toppling over with the staves as they fall... describing the range and harmony of all that is no more... the vertical rectangles superimposed in the background are the images of the original towers... ghost images. The numbers shown to this date were at the time, the known missing and the dead – All laid waste..

How can terrorism end unless all humans pull up the shades of darkness potentially in each and every heart, and let the sunrise of love and tolerance for those of different cultures shine in our souls? Yes, we all need to be safe, to end hatred, and oppression - the roots of violence, but we must also not fail to see the web of life upon which all depends. Freedom and understanding begins with tolerance of others of every culture. If we are to be free of hatred, free of poverty, and therefore willing to uphold these freedoms to fulfill our dreams... as a one-world chorus, we must not sing nor play to the tune of the Anthem of Terror.