I've been sitting here thinking all evening about how strange it is that I have had such a normal everyday, day. It's a bit surreal if I let my mind drift back to today, eight years ago. When I was young my family would reminisce about what they were doing when Kennedy was assassinated, or when Elvis died, Peal Harbor, or any of those monumental moments in our history. When I turned on the television that early morning and watched the second plane slam into the tower, I was transfixed with horror. As I sank my sick, pregnant body into the recliner in front of the television, I knew with perfect clarity that this moment would stay with me forever.
In the days, weeks, and months following the most brutal attacks on U.S. soil, it seemed as if we were inundated with images from that day. Images of horrified American citizens running for their lives with looks of not just terror, but confusion on their faces. They, and all of us watching were wondering "why"? We no longer wonder because we understand the who now, but I am still wondering why, why we are able to so quickly fall away from the lessons of that day. That day we learned about terror, but we also learned about unity and rediscovered humanity. I felt that suddenly we were able to connect with one another on a level far deeper than at any other time in my life. Suddenly we as Americans could reach across all divides and feel the same pain. We were sharing the same fears for our future and celebrating the same guilty gratitude that it wasn't us on that television screen covered in dust and blood wondering what just happened, grateful that we could hug our loved ones. I wonder today, having not seen one of those images that was burned into my brain from repeated exposure, if we have broken that promise of not forgetting? Have we settled back into our mundane existences, forgetting that we are still fighting the war that began on that day? I think that maybe we have. I did hear a comment or two on the radio today but it seemed like not enough. Of course how can we quantify what would be enough?
I saw a petition of sorts on my husband's facebook page asking if he thought if 9/11 should be a national holiday. He answered "yes" and I was almost offended that we had to ask this. Isn't it already? How could we not consider a day when the world stopped to watch thousands be murdered a "national holiday"? Do we have to make it official and plug it in on the calendar to make it any more valid or to keep us from forgetting? It is/was far more important than that.
I just want to take a moment to publicly (to the two of you readers) state that I am so grateful for our troops that still fight the war that began on this day eight years ago, with honor and at great sacrifice to themselves and their families. I am grateful for my country and the freedom that it stands for around the world. I am grateful for this day that I have the freedom to write this, and publish it while my husband and baby sleep beside me in safety because of those that have sacrificed for us and will continue to do so as long as there is a need.
And as for me, I will always remember...
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