Always Remember, Never Forget

Today is, of course, September 11th.

9/11.

The twelfth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States in which 2,977 innocent people were murdered by 19 terrorists.

Unless you’re spending the day (and probably the whole week) locked inside of a vault which is sealed inside a Faraday cage, completely cutting you off from all contact with civilization, it’s impossible to not see and hear hundreds of mentions of 9/11. Television news, newspapers, online news, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail — they’ve all got stories about 9/11, either the one in 2001 or the memorial services today. That’s not unusual given that it was such a monumental day in the lives of so many people.

So many people were directly affected, losing a spouse, child, parent, or friend. So many people were injured and still suffer from long-term disabilities due to the after effects and exposure to toxic smoke and materials following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Factor in everyone who was killed or injured in the ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the percentage of the population which have had their lives knocked off course due to 9/11 gets to be huge.

We all watched and felt the horror, shock, anger, and frustration. So many among us were directly touched and scarred by the events of the day. For them, this day on the calendar will never be the same.

But…

Don’t we all have dates on the calendar which rock us back on our heels every year? Dates on which we know that we’re going to have to spend some time alone or with family or loved ones to remember and reflect on the loss of a spouse, parent, child, or friend? The difference with a tragedy like 9/11 is one of proportion and size, with so many people sharing the pain, horror, and anger.

Sadly, among those who weren’t directly touched that day, so many have succumbed to fear that continues to echo in their lives. We need to beware of that. Too often that fear is irrational and leads to consequences which weaken us instead of strengthening us as a society. More on that some other time perhaps.

What of those who had some wonderful thing happen on September 11th, either the one in 2001 or some other. Or the day before, or the day after? Today I’ve seen multiple stories about children born on 09/11/2001 who can’t enjoy their birthdays or even get teased or bullied about it, as if they had any control. I’ve seen people whose wedding anniversary just happens to be September 11th, and they feel that it’s now tainted in some way.

Really? People react this way?

Two sentiments that sound like opposites but mean the same thing get repeated over and over on September 11th. Our new national mantra for the day.

“Always remember.”

“Never forget.”

Absolutely. No question. But let’s do it with our brains as well as our hearts.

Let us make a conscious, intelligent decision to be positive, not negative.

Let us always remember the innocents, remember the heroes, and remember the stories of bravery and courage.

Let us make a choice to not remember it tinged with an everlasting patina of fear and hate.

We can and should pledge to never forget any of it.

We can and should strive to always remember and memorialize every loss and every triumph.

We must also realize that we have a choice in how we work to do those things as well as how we try to prevent it from happening again.

We can be inspired or we can be consumed. We can be motivated or we can be paralyzed. We can look forward to our dreams or we can be trapped by our past.

Sometimes in all of the grief and rage it’s hard to remember that we still get to choose.

Let’s always remember that, too. Never forget it.