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Remembering and Honoring
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Today this column is dedicated not only to the Americans that lost their lives on September 11, 2001, but also to the survivors that loved them and continue to honor them.
It seems everyone I talk to remembers the exact place that they were when we first heard that horrible news that planes had struck the twin towers, and then later the Pentagon, and then finally, a resting spot in Pennsylvania.
Many of us can still feel the sense of disbelief and horror that all at once unified and paralyzed our nation - that 3,000 people had been killed at the hands of terrorists. The sight of seeing thousands of people walking for hours across the massive bridges in New York City was surreal.
The images of people just like you and me jumping from the 110th floor of the World Trade Center to escape flames will never fade. For most people, the idea that people would use airplanes filled with human beings as weapons was too barbaric to accept.
Life as we know it changed forever on that day. America is now vigilantly on the defensive. We live in a country in which threat levels are as common as weather reports. We can't enter a government facility or airport without being subjected to intrusive security checks. Blind faith that everything will turn out alright is obsolete.
But still we go on. We plan, hope, and dream for ourselves and for our families. We invest in our future and we celebrate life. We delicately balance our need to honor and remember with our need to move on. While the emotional scars of that day and the days that followed after continue to heal, our need to remember remains just as strong. To not remember is an insult to both those who lost their lives and to the people that lost those that they loved, and doing so also makes us complacent.
We must never forget our darkest day on American soil to ensure it never happens again. And we must always remember the unification across the country that occurred immediately following the attacks, and the resolve we felt to rebuild, defend, and protect everything we took for granted. For it is this loyalty to our country and to each other that has helped America to heal, hope, and move forward.
May all of the 9/11 victims rest in peace, and may all of the people that loved them and miss them every day somehow find a path to inner peace.
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