September 12th

I can honestly say that I am glad its September 12, 2011.  10 years and 1 day past the anniversary of one of the worst things to happen on American soil.  I don’t mean to sound glad that is gone so that we will never remember it or that we will put it in our past.  We never will.  The people that lost their lives that day will never be forgotten.  They paid a debt for America that we can never begin to repay.  There was a commercial that ran not long after and it showed a row of houses then the next screen was plain text that said “With the attacks of Sept 11, terrorists hoped to change America forever” and the next screen is that same row of houses with US flags everywhere and the caption says “ They did”.  I believe that still rings true today. 

But living in DC, you just accept your kind of a target or at least more so than say Fargo, North Dakota.  But as the anniversary approached, the city became very tense.  Expecting the worst.  Almost crippled in fear.  I got stopped for jaywalking two times in Chinatown, in a city where pedestrians can seem to walk out in traffic and cars are supposed to stop.  And as the day wore on, we relived that day over and over.  Watching footage.  Talking of where we were when it happened.  And somehow I don’t see that as helpful.  I was told by a rape crisis counselor that you don’t want to relive the event with the person, you want to bring them to the here and now where they are safe. But the media prevents us from doing this.  They take us back to that day all over.  Living each moment as though 10 years has not passed.

I am a person that believes that you should celebrate the life, not the death.  And in that I believe we should honor those that sacrificed and paid the highest price for us, including those continuing to pay.  Honor them and their lives.