If September 11, 2001 was a person, it would be 21 years old today.
It reached adulthood today.
I've followed September 11 for all those 21 years.
These anniversaries will become fewer and fewer, because that is how life progresses. But today, we still pause to remember. (Although, it seems that the channels on TV that used to carry the ceremonies are more focused on the British monarchy).
One day, September 11 will be only the day on the calendar between September 10 and September 12.
For our grandchildren, perhaps they will ignore a plaque in the
lobby of their high school honoring the alumni who died that day. This is the plaque in the lobby of my high school. But, more likely, they will have their own way of remembering, perhaps the way we who were not alive for Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) still remember and honor that day.
One of the names on that plaque in my high school is Christian Regenhard.
He was the youngest New York City fire fighter to die on 9/11. He was
one of those who ran to danger, making it possible for others to escape
and live another day.
We remember September 11, 2001 in
different ways.
I remember September 11 every year. It was my father in
law's
birthday (although he was no longer with us on that day.) Then, it
became the day I watched in horror (after my
employer hastily located a television) as the second tower fell, later
finding out that one of my co workers lost his son on that day. His
daughter in law was pregnant. Other people I know from family and
friends in New York City lost loved ones, friends, neighbors. 11 people
who
went to my high school died that day. Two of them left pregnant
spouses.
There are the children of those pregnant women, who will
be reaching their 21st birthdays in the coming days and months. Over the years, People Magazine has followed them. I wonder what today will be like for them.
There
were the children in a nearby elementary school and a nearby high school
to the World Trade Center in New York City. The story of the students of Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan is especially poignant.
There were the Sarasota, Florida children who had been gathered with then President Bush to listen to a storytime before he was called away. They are also children of 9/11.
There is comedian Jon Stewart, fighting for health care for 9/11
responders who are still dying from their exposures that day, and the
following days. We must never forget them. Their statistics are staggering. Too many people in power seem to have forgotten these men and women.
Maybe you, my reader, don't remember because you weren't
yet born, or were too young to remember, and have no personal connection
like the children of 9/11. After all, it's been 21 years.
But history doesn't forget.
Tonight, the 9/11 lights will shine in Manhattan yet again, marking where the Twin Towers once stood, where my co-worker's son and a cousin in law's best friend once worked.
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum invites us to "
Yonkers, New York sunset, September 11, 2016.
Politik by Coldplay, written on September 11, 2001.
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ReplyDelete...Jon Stewart is one of America's true patriots!
ReplyDeleteI remember.
ReplyDelete21 years doesn't sound so long until you mention babies born then are 21. I didn't have any personal connections to it, being on the opposite coast no one I knew of was in NY. It was different for you. I won't forget seeing it live on the news. My late husband was getting ready to go to work, and the television in the bedroom was on. They were showing the towers and the first hit, then in flew that second plane. I read how people criticized Bush for his reaction, but as you say, he was reading to young children. I think he handled it well under those circumstances. The last thing anyone should do is cause more panic.
ReplyDeleteHello Alana .. even though I am Canadian I remember what this day was like because I watched in horror seeing the towers go down. It should never be forgotten. I so admire Jon Stewart for his struggle to help these people .. I feel absolute utter disgust knowing some politicians actually fight against helping these brave people that tried to help that day .. how do they live with themselves I wonder, no conscience at all ?
ReplyDeleteI will never forget
ReplyDeleteI remember my niece was 3 months old. I think I've been aware of the passage of time, as it's been a few years since the kiddos I see weren't even born when it happened. The 9th grade English classes do a unit that includes readings about it. It's distant to them, but one day they'll have their own event that they'll all remember.
ReplyDelete