Ten years. It’s hard to believe that’s how long it’s been. That’s how long we’ve had to remember, respond, and grieve.
As the memorials commemorating all of those lost on 9/11/01 are revealed we continue to wonder how history will remember this moment that so many of us still can’t forget.
Normally we’re not ones for grand patriotic gestures, but today is an exception to many rules.
Ten years ago, an act that was meant to divide and defeat us brought us together. Today we continue to question, theorize, and second-guess. Yet, we’re still able to put politics aside and (if only for a moment) unite and remember.
It’s in that same spirit that today we’ve chosen to write as one voice (and font) as we reflect:
There may be little agreement over what these attacks meant, or will mean to future generations, but there can be little doubt that for those of us who remember that our world changed forever ten years ago, today.
Whether you lost someone, witnessed the destruction or were hundreds of miles away; we all have a personal connection to 9/11. Not one person who lived through this national tragedy will ever forget where they were when they first heard.
All of us, those in New York, D.C., Pennsylvania, across the country and even in freshmen English, will never forget the images we saw and how we felt that day.
Disbelief, fear, anger, confusion…the list of thoughts and worries is endless.
While much has changed, and much has been done in retaliation; those emotions are still present whenever that day’s events are discussed.
Lives were ended and forever changed. People were brought together and people were isolated.
Where we go from here will also define what this catastrophic event truly meant for our country and the world.
Do we continue to focus on the enemy, or do we begin to look at ourselves?
Of course it’s unlikely that there will ever be a consensus on the meaning, the resulting war, or the significance, but for today I think we can all at least agree on this: All our thoughts and prayers today go out to the victims and their families.
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