It’s been seven years, but the pain is still fresh, the wounds raw. I wish I could say it was easier to handle for many, but I can’t imagine how it is for the families who lost loved ones that day. If I’m feeling this bad, how must they be feeling? How can they deal with this day and every other one which they face without loved ones taken from them.
It’s cloudy today which makes it a little easier for me to try and forget that day which had a cloudless sky so blue it was if you were staring at a tropical ocean above you. The air was crisp and clean that day, unlike today’s cloying humidity. A little easier, but still . . . raw.
There are reminders everywhere. The big ones you can’t miss like the front pages of the papers or the mobile police command unit and squad cars screaming by as they go to set up shop in areas that might be prime targets for terrorists. The reminders on the newscast about the timeline of events for that day.
Then there are the not so obvious reminders. My sis (who works with me) is wearing a black shirt today. All along the cuffs and down the front of the shirt is a trimming of little black hearts. A beautiful shirt, I told her and then she said to me, “Black hearts for all the people who died. I wear it every 9/11.â€
So today, take a moment to think about what happened that day. How innocent people lost their lives. How bravery came in the form of so many different faces – ordinary citizens, firefighters, police, priests, the military.
Think about how a city came together in the aftermath, putting their beloved New York above self as they came to sift through the wreckage and offer their services and their blood.
Think about how a Nation came together to say, NEVER AGAIN.
Think about those who make that NEVER AGAIN a possibility. Ordinary citizens who speak out about something as simple as an abandoned knapsack on a train seat. The law enforcement and national security people at all levels who give of their time as well as their families. The military and their families who sacrifice so much so that we might be safe. Bless them one and all for what they do for us.
Remember this day and pray that our future leaders will also remember it and take the necessary steps to insure that vow.
NEVER AGAIN.