It's raining here in New York City today and on TV the names of the victims of 9/11 are being read aloud while family members cry and carry pictures of their loved ones protected under umbrellas.
It's eight years since this great city and country came under attack. How has your life changed in those eight years? Did you get married? Have a child? Graduate? Write a book? Travel?
I think back on how much my own life has changed. I can't help but wonder how the thousands of lives taken that horrible day in NYC, Washington, D.C. and PA would have changed too -- how all those men and women would be living out their lives today if things had only been different on that September morning in 2001. Like us now, they might be bemoaning the end of another summer, seeing their kids off to the first days of school, getting ready for football season, and enjoying every day life.
We have that opportunity today on 9/11/09 to live our lives just a little better for them. We can hug and kiss our loved ones, call someone we miss, and through our words and actions contribute to our country again to make it stronger and united (and not only through days of tears). Eight years went by in a blink.
Life does go on for sure, and we've all changed as individuals and as a nation, but it's important every year for us to look back, to remember and to never forget .
2 comments:
Hey Janet,
Honestly, but it truly is incredible to believe how 8 years has passed and I sometimes have the awful feeling that some people really have forgotten. Your post was incredibly touching - hit all the right places - and made this girl instantly teary (Very painful too, since I have poison ivy on my eyelid and it hurts like hell.) This monsoon we're experiencing is so contrary to that first 9/11, isn't it. I know you of course remember what a gorgeous September morning it was - the sky that color blue that's so impossible to describe. So much lost, and for what purpose? Just heartbreaking to see those still suffering families and hear those names... Just as it's so impossible to see that NYC skyline and not look for those buildings. I do it everytime -- as if that big hole in the cityscape can only be a reverse mirage.
Barbara,
I remember you were the first person to call me that morning. Hearing your voice on the other end of the phone was like a life line after I watched the towers come down. And yes, I remember how crystal clear blue the sky was... and the next day I took the train into the city for work and it was empty, except for me, the conductor and a handful of others who had to get to their jobs. People were lined up outside St. Patrick's Cathedral the next day in the rain praying to make sense of what happened. A restaurant in Manhattan had a sign on its closed door that read "President Bush Declare War on Afghanistan tonight!". It was a surreal time.
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