We Will Never Forget!

September 11, 2002

We will never forget, how could we forget?

I saw a news article that talked about the differences between the September 11th attack and the Pearl Harbor attack, and how the reaction one year later to the Pearl Harbor attack was much more subdued than the reaction we are experiencing today, September 11th, 2002, a year after the World Trade Center fell.

I sat today, like I did a year ago, in front of the TV watching the news, recounting over and over again what happened last year, and what has happened since. Like last year, I struggle to hold back the tears. Tears of sadness from the loss of lives, and tears of comfort as I watch men and women come together to support and help each other in this difficult time.

I am over half a continent away from New York, and have never been there, yet I have been personally affected by the attack. Most certainly nowhere near as much as those who were there, but still affected. I knew coworkers who were there on a business trip across the street in a hotel when it happened. Fortunately they escaped. I shudder every now and then as I realize that it is possible that I could have been there myself with my coworkers. It has affected my life and family in many ways that I cannot begin to mention.

I wonder, how could something that happened so far away from where I live, have such a great impact on my life? Why do I watch, over and over again, the various news programs on the World Trade Center describing in detail, what happened? Why do I, a year later, still fight back the tears? I was not there! Aside from my coworkers that were there I don't know anyone in and around New York. I have no family there. I have no friends there. I have never been there. I am just an average person doing my own thing in this world. So why do I cry?

Maybe one reason that September 11th, 2001 has had such a greater reaction a year later than Pearl Harbor is that we are such a connected world now. We have Radio, TV, Internet, Cell Phones, where people communicate with others all around the world instantly. I wasn't around during Pearl Harbor so I can't say, but I'll bet that the sights and sounds weren't played in front of you over and over again for a year, on TV, and the Internet, not letting you forget what has happened. Sure, you knew full well back then what happened, as the whole world was at war! But did you get to see, hear, and almost feel like you knew total strangers as their lives and experiences were played out for you, over and over again by the Media? To the point that you too almost feel like you were there yourself?

Yes, let us never forget what has happened. We were attacked. Lives were lost. But let us never forget, most of all, that people came together and helped one another. Grown men hugged each other and cried. People picked up those who had fallen. People put aside petty concerns to help out total strangers that are in need. People cry and have compassion for those they do not know. We stood together. We still stand together and we stand together tall. Let us never forget, that even though there is ugliness in this world, there is also great beauty and goodness and kindness in this world. We are like a family, united to the cause of the betterment of our brothers and sisters, those we know, those we don't know, neighbors, across the street, or across the continent.

Let us never forget!

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