How soon we forget

I debated posting today, mainly because I didn't want to do some cheesy "let's all remember 9/11" post. But then I thought about the very nature of my reticence, and how it's pretty lame that I would worry about being cheesy on such a day.

Seven years ago our nation experienced an unprecedented attack that was both horrifying and unexpected. (And please spare me the comments concerning the idea that we deserved it because we always butt our noses into the business of other countries or how it's all a big Bush conspiracy, because I don't want to hear about it.) Honestly people, what's disheartening to me is how soon we forget.

We forget that almost 3,000 people died in those attacks. We forget how many people still suffer because they lost someone they loved in those attacks. We forget that for once, we were able to come together as a nation and disregard the petty differences that now divide us more than ever. I remember, for the first time, realizing that we as Americans are vulnerable; for the first time I felt fear because I am an American.

How soon that fades.

I remember those towers. I remember what it felt like when I went to the top and looked down to the world below me. I still have my ticket stub, now treasured because I realize how fortunate I was to be there "before." I also remember how unsettling it was to go back and look into the gaping hole that once housed those towers.

So I guess my hope from writing this post is that we all remember how we felt that day. That we remember the heroes who gave their lives that day. That we can go forward not in fear, but with the hope that we, as the future generation, can work for a better and more peaceful world.

Construction at the World Trade Center site

The World Trade Center Museum