Friday September 11 - Remembering

September 11^th has been a day to remember past events since 2002 for me and today is no different but it is a bit strange being in another country for it. Understandably this is just another day outside of the U.S. and in the past six or seven years I generally don’t heavily focus on the past, but it is a bit weird not hearing anything about it here in Peru. Logging onto the internet I can read about today’s events, more or less in real time since time here in Peru is the same as in Chicago. Usually on this day I am working anyway, and when in the office it was always a bit hard to think about the day’s events until I got home and could watch the news.

I know there is a push to keep the remembrance strong back home as the years go by and I don’t think anybody who lived through it should ever really stop thinking about what happened that beautiful day 14 years ago. Actually I don’t know how anybody really could, even today looking at the pictures still bother me. Unfortunately I don’t have access to it but I wrote down my thoughts that evening and would post it with this if I could. Every time I have gone back to read it a rush of feelings and emotions is brought back to the surface.

Our world, especially as Americans, changed forever that day and much the same way WWI and WWII changed the course of the 20^th Century, I think it is safe to say the events of 9/11 have changed the course of the 21^st Century. Imagine what our world might be like today if the events of that day had never occurred. No Afghanistan, no Iraq, no bombings or attacks in London, Madrid, Paris, Tunisia, etc. The course of history that changed that day goes on and on and probably will continue to do so.

But the fact that the memorials are smaller; our memory is not as strong; the major headlines outside of NY are not about the event; and that in general life goes on today tells me that as a nation we are healing and a new generation is coming of age that is not so defined by that day. Personally I will never fully get over what I saw that day and I guess I don’t really want to. But I also know a lot of people who were essentially kids at the time and it seems to me that they have a much more passive feeling about the day. A part of me wants them to be shocked and have incredibly strong emotions about it but at the same time they did not live through it in the same way I did and that is good. I would not want to wish the emotional rollercoaster that 9/11 was on anybody so I think it is good that things are winding down and we are essentially being able to move on with our lives.

That does not mean forgetting about 9/11 but I think it does mean going on with our lives and finding ways to remember the day and everything that has come since. For me, every year I make a donation on this day to The Mission Continues and the Military Family Association, which support military members and their families.