The Foreign Service Journal, October 2013

The Cruellest Month Like many other Foreign Service employees, I have been reflecting on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on our mission in Benghazi, during which U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three of his American col- leagues were killed. Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Waste Land,” I would like to offer the following tribute in their memory: “April is the cruellest month.” As floral dreams to rains surrender, And so comes summer and so summer fades In the cruelest month: Not April—September. Manhattan’s towers, Shanksville’s heroes, Our fortress breached and we remember Benghazi’s savior, made its martyr In the cruelest month—that is, September. Leaves golden beneath bright blue skies The sunlight fleeting, such sorrows render. So weep for them, now do God’s work. Transform the cruelest month: September. Rebecca B. Thompson FSO Washington, D.C . n iStoc kphoto.com/cre8tive_studios 10 OCTOBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL