The memory of September 11th bears hard on the soul. Even still, the wound is raw.
Our hearts remain heavy.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped outside that September 11thmorning was the sound of a jet passing overhead. That gentle roar isn’t unusual… after all, we live on an approach to Dulles Airport.
I don’t usually notice them unless they’re unusually low.
But I heard one this morning and it greeted me solemnly; it spoke to me. Next, I felt an ever so brief moment of silence, paying homage to the days following when all we could hear was an eerie silence of no planes above.
I paused and felt the weight of the memory, then began my morning walk.
9/11… it’s farther away now, but it’s burned in. It’s not going away.
The wound has not healed.
Retracing my steps that morning has become my personal ritual. I walked that path again this morning… as I did last year, and the year before.
I will always remember the steps I took that morning… the crystal blue sky and a gentle, late summer morning breeze. My two faithful pups were in tow (or was I the one in tow?). I’m sure they might know.
Everything was right until it wasn’t.
Questions came, some have since faded. Will they hit us again today? Will I be able to get on a plane again? Who will be in the wrong place next time? Will I know them? Will it be me?
We fly a lot now, but not without wondering. Not without sizing people up at the airport. People still leave their bags unattended.
TSA is an accepted annoyance, possibly a bit of a charade? But, I’m still grateful they are watching.
TSA is just an inconvenience, we have more serious matters.
Nineteen years later and we’re still fighting a war… now America’s longest. Twenty years later, it has come to an end. Still, we fight another war… one of thoughts and feelings, a war of ideas and ideologies. That war has severed the heightened unity that bound us together as the Towers fell.
Now we resolve to stand our ground, to prove the other guy wrong—if only in our own minds.
I remember reading a column not too many years after 9/11… finding it absurd at the time.
First the strike unites us, then divides us.”
So much was forever changed that day… I pray it wasn’t the United part of these States.
Maybe, just maybe, our new favorite pastime of being right about everything simply isn’t necessary?
Twenty years have passed since 9/11.
Let’s honor them by UNITING.
You may find these posts comforting…
Thanks Jeff. Beautifully written.
I remember walking in downtown Toronto with my friend Gerry, sometime around 2005. I looked up and commented that the sky was September 11th blue. He sort of made fun of me and was convinced that we could have stood at the main downtown intersection all day, ask people to describe the sky and no one would have said that.
Maybe he was right.
But as a Canadian, that is indelibly imprinted on me and I can only imagine how much more so it must be for you good people to the south of us.
It changed me, September 11 did. In ways that I won’t try to explain here. Much more than the colour of the sky, but that is for another day.
God Bless.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Pat. Every time I’ve written about 9/11, that particular blue sky fills my heart. I’ve struggled every time to describe it. Now I know to call it September 11th blue. God Bless.
Nice tribute, Jeff, for an unforgettable day.
Thanks Lou! Much changes with time, yet nothing changes. We must never forget those who were lost that day and days following…
Eloquently expressed! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you, Lucy Ann… especially for taking the time to read my post
Nicely written Jeff. I like the comment “we fight another war… one of thoughts and feelings, a war of ideas and ideologies.”
Thanks for sharing Jeff. Definitely a day that will be forever etched in our minds. We may not be perfect as individuals but when Americans unite we’re a force to be reckoned with. Excellent read my friend.💕🇺🇸
That’s so true, Mike! When we Americans unite, watch out. Here’s to pulling together again soon!
Good, poignant thoughts, Jeff. Perhaps the saddest part of 9/11 (at least for those of us who didn’t lose loved ones) is what you bring out at the end of your essay, that the ephemeral sense of “unity” we felt, even if only a micron or so deep, has been so thoroughly dashed.
Good thoughts. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve never been accused of being a history buff… there have been many times in our history that our nation has been deeply divided. We’ve made it through all of them, though by the narrowest of margins. I pray we find a way to pull together and make it through this one. Thanks for your thoughts, Tim!