I’ve read all the news about people who are tired of hearing 9/11 stories. I don’t understand those people. Are they tired of hearing about everything important in the past? All the pieces of history that have made us who we are today? Is their world so tiny and egocentric that they can’t see beyond their own wallets?
In the past, I’ve written about what I was doing, how I felt and how we reacted to this day in 2001. I’ve written about the good and the people who were lost forever. Amy’s kindergarten teacher was in New York on 9/11/2001. She was a Knoxville girl working for Children’s Television Workshop. While most children dream of going to Sesame Street, she did it. After 9/11, she came home to Knoxville and now she is teaching our little 9/11 baby at the school where she herself was once a student. There is something full circle, healing and as it should be about this situation that I don’t need to try and explain. I can’t and won’t let this day be forgotten. Up close, it is an ugly scar on the tree ring of our lives. With each new ring added to our trunks, it becomes the thing that tightly binds the rings together. Remember this day in unity, not in division.
Today is so different from that day. It’s pea soup outside, but on 9/11/2001 the skies were completely clear. Not a wisp. With all air traffic grounded, the city was snowstorm quiet. I could smell the Pentagon burning.
There are two types of people that fit into this category. Those that you have covered (that can’t see beyond their own wallet), but also there are those that reading the stories again is akin to ripping the scab off a wound. They just can’t deal with all the emotions it brings up. Unfortunately, thanks to personal defense mechanisms, it is often difficult to differentiate the two.
It also has a lot to do with how it affected “you” personally. I mean, I am sure that the Oklahoma City Bombing is remembered in far more detail to those that were affected by it than in many other places.