Remebrance
Today is the 8th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks. We all know where we were that day. We all know how our individual lives were changed. I came to know a dozen people that lived in New York and who were in the towers that day, and I can't go through today without thinking of them. Their entire beings were altered, their priorities changed, their personalties irrevocably moved.
I knew a man who carried another down the stairs, when he would have given up and waited for help. Because he did this, the man survived. My boss and former co-worker were in Washington D.C. And neither can remember without tearing the smoke that filled that Mall, and the confusion, and the fear.
Back then, (5 or so years ago) 9/11 came up all the time. Every time we went out to lunch, we talked a little more, me worried about my Dad, not getting through to my parents, them having been there, on the train to work, and turning around and going home.
That happens less and less now.
I don't advocate a day of depression, or melancholly. But I do think remebrance of what actually happened, and not the sterilized version that's put out, with little footage, and no upsetting photography, is disrespectful and disengenuous to what happened. There are images of that day that I can't get out of my head. I can't watch a plane crash in a movie without closing my eyes and my mind going back 8 years. I don't think I ever will.
And the recent outcry and fear in NYC over the White Houses' ill concieved Air Force One flyby shows that for many, the effects of this day are real.
But my favorite thing to think about, to remember .... are the babies born on 9/11/2001.
Life goes on! It changes and it evolves, but it always does go on. God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq ... and God Bless the 9/11 survivors, the families who lost. You all are in my prayers.
I knew a man who carried another down the stairs, when he would have given up and waited for help. Because he did this, the man survived. My boss and former co-worker were in Washington D.C. And neither can remember without tearing the smoke that filled that Mall, and the confusion, and the fear.
Back then, (5 or so years ago) 9/11 came up all the time. Every time we went out to lunch, we talked a little more, me worried about my Dad, not getting through to my parents, them having been there, on the train to work, and turning around and going home.
That happens less and less now.
I don't advocate a day of depression, or melancholly. But I do think remebrance of what actually happened, and not the sterilized version that's put out, with little footage, and no upsetting photography, is disrespectful and disengenuous to what happened. There are images of that day that I can't get out of my head. I can't watch a plane crash in a movie without closing my eyes and my mind going back 8 years. I don't think I ever will.
And the recent outcry and fear in NYC over the White Houses' ill concieved Air Force One flyby shows that for many, the effects of this day are real.
But my favorite thing to think about, to remember .... are the babies born on 9/11/2001.
Life goes on! It changes and it evolves, but it always does go on. God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq ... and God Bless the 9/11 survivors, the families who lost. You all are in my prayers.
Comments
This day is also difficult because it is now wrapped up in really ugly politics and both sides want to use it to their advantage. I think making this a day of service is bogus. I don't see the connection. The people who died were going about their daily routine. They were at their jobs doing what people do so they can live their lives. Some at the pentagon were "serving their country" but for the most part they were still "working" so they could feed and house their families or themselves. The truly awfulness of the day was the randomness of the event.
Another awful reality is the knowing there are people (I don't know how many) out there that their whole lives are centered around doing something more dramatic than 9/11 just to prove whatever point they want to make.
I am not certain that we have a government now that will try to seek out those individuals. I think they think if they appease and negotiate with them that they will see reason.
I just don't think that people who party and cheer when 3000+ people die, possess the same kind of reason that most US citizens have. It is a complicated issue with many sides. But 9/11 is still a sad day which will and should be a sad day for many many years to come. When we forget what some people can do with their anger and hate we will be surprised again.