Remembering Where You Were When
There are, fortunately, few incidents in a person’s life when they distinctly remember circumstances…where they were when something happened. For many, over the past 100 years, that might be when World War II ended, or when President Kennedy was killed. For a younger cohort, that “when” was on this date 23 years ago.
There will be appropriate memorials today at the site of the original World Trade Center twin towers, the Pentagon, and the site in Pennsylvania where brave citizens overpowered their hijackers and disrupted plans for a devastating attack on our nation’s capital. But with each year that passes, those who experienced it remotely in real time find their memories fade a bit.
So for just a moment today, I ask that we each remember how we felt on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. A mixture of emotions, no doubt, changing as the day itself went on…and then as darkness fell, a time for reflection. Remember how Americans treated one another in the immediate aftermath, pledging to always have that solidarity with one another…solidarity that quickly melted away as it typically does.
And after holding those memories close for a bit, think about what if—what if something similar happened today. The world was a dangerous place 23 years ago, and by most accounts more dangerous today. The next attack won’t be planes crashing into buildings; after all, they surprised us with that once. What’s next? Because there will be a “next” whether we’re ready for it or not.
None of this is meant to scare anyone. Just asking for honest assessment. Because our attitudes on September 12 of that year were far different than they were on September 10. Where are we now, on the anniversary, 23 years later.
