This is a tough one. Each and every person who died in or as a result of the 9/11 attacks is remembered. By those close to them, those who knew them, those who shared in their lives, and those of us who never knew them. To pick one person to memorialize is impossible for me. Instead here is the link to the database/list of all the confirmed victims. Click on a few names – it is over whelming – perhaps that represents my memories of it all. Glued to the TV in disbelief –
Then came the song: Where were you when the world stopped turning … funny thing is I had finally started watching old reruns, I did read my Bible, and I do remember exactly what I was doing when the first news cast came over the radio. I was driving in the darkness to work. To a high-rise building that housed the State Trade and Commerce Dept… I remember the fear when there was a reported missing plane – maybe on the way to Calif. I stood in front of the parking structure turning people away, checking Id badges, total confusion. We borrowed a TV from the pawn shop next door…
Now there are more victims, those on all sides who have died fighting.
And possibly a generation of children who will grow up NOT knowing the pre 9/11 – the era before where many lived in blissful ignorance of how vulnerable to terrorism we really are.
It was an indelible moment; you will always remember where you were when it happened. Just like some remember where they were when JFK was shot, when ML King was shot, and when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I remember the tuck and duck drills of the Cold War – hiding under a silly little desk – pretending that if a missile hit us I would be save. Now where do our children hide?
My tribute is a simple one – yet two fold – I still wear my “We will Never Forget” 9/11 pin my company passed out – and I still pray for an end to all the fighting – for peace – and I go about my everday life – so the terrorists have not won.
