Ten Years

I feel like the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks deserves saying something here.

But the fact is, I don’t know what to say. In some ways I can’t believe that only 10 years have passed. With the war, the fighting, and everything else that followed the events on that fateful day, the passage of time did sometimes seem slow. On the other hand, sometimes it feels as though the attacks just happened, that we are still in the early stages of disbelief and grief over what went on.

So I don’t know what to say. I’m saddened by the loss of life on that day and every day after for the past 10 years. I’m sorry for those still grieving. I’m grateful for those who are fighting. I hope in all our remembrances of the WTC that we also remember the attack at the Pentagon and that field in Pennsylvania where passengers took down another hijacked plane before it could find the intended target.

Ten years is a long time, but it’s not been long enough for us to recover, to heal. In a way, I think that it’s okay. I think we need, as a nation, to remember feeling hopeless, feeling lost. Remember how quickly we turned to God and faith. Remember how much more patiently we dealt with each other. Remember how we banded together, and really presented a united front.

I guess I just hope that we really don’t forget.

Never Forget

It may be nine years later, but the memories live on.

May we never forget.

Taken from the deck of a Naval battleship.