I Still Remember

 Last night I was watching an episode of my favorite tv show, a crime drama called Castle.  During part of it, a suspect in a murder investigation gives the cops his alibi for the time when it was believed that his brother killed his own wife who the suspect had dated in the past.  In giving his alibi, he describes where he was that night in great detail from the name of the waiter to the drink he ordered later at a bar, saying, "When something like that happens, its burned into your brain.  Every detail..."

When the episode ended, I looked at the clock and saw that it was just after midnight, September 11.  And just like every year on September 11, I can recall everything perfectly.  I was sitting at the bar in our kitchen in the seat closest to the tv.  I was eating half of a blueberry muffin with butter with a half drunk glass of milk.  My dad was sitting next to me also eating a blueberry muffin and drinking a full mug of coffee.  I was wearing a navy skirt and a green shirt and I remember staring at the tv and watching the second plane crash into one of the towers, my 10 year old brain not fully comprehending what was going on.  Its the one image I've wished I could forget as I've gotten older, because it is the clearest image of all.  I can remember the shock, how the whole nation just seemed to reel, how it just simply couldn't be true.  But it was.

And yet, even as big a tragedy as it was, in many ways, I think the horror of it has been forgotten, dialed down from the initial reaction which is what happens normally.  I think with a lot of people, the only time any thought is given to it these days is on September 11.  I think proof of that can even be seen in people's reaction to George Bush.  He's been crucified again and again for the war in Iraq to the extent that I think many people simply view him as a failure in office.  How quickly people forget that the reason for that war was to prevent something like 9/11 from happening again, to protect not just America, but other countries as well from the threat of terrorism.

So today, and every day, let's remember those whose lives were cut short, let's remember those heroes who gave their lives to save others and honor them and their sacrifice.  Let's remember the people who lost husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, and other loved ones and lift them up in our prayers.  Will you remember them?