Monday, September 11, 2006

Lest we forget

Five years.

Five years ago today, everything changed.

Our world didn't stop being "safe" -- it never was to begin with. It just stopped feeling safe.

Almost 3,000 people murdered in cold, deliberative blood, one of whom I went to high school with, the other M did. My college roommate's office was across the street from the World Trade Center. She escaped unharmed.

Everything stopped that day. Work, thought, even, seemingly, time. All of us lived our lives listening and watching for the next bit of news so we could start piecing it together. Who the fuck did this. Why. How did they get away with it. We had to know.

We all got on the phones to make sure our families were OK -- even though, in my case, my mom and dad were in Boston and the horror was unfolding on an island hundreds of miles away. It pulled on you and made you want to grab the people you love and hold on.

I was the one who initially told M, then my fiance, about what happened. I called him at work and told him what I knew. He was shocked. We spent much of the day emailing and calling one another. I needed him. He needed me.

Five years later, all of our worlds are much different. We don't joke about bombs on planes anymore. Security is a way of life. And then there's that great big hole in the ground in New York City. Sorry to the sensitive, but Ray Nagin had it right.

Lest we forget September 11, 2001, we have these videos to remind us. And our own memories.

I believe in heaven. And I pray the almost 3,000 souls who left this earth that day in a rain of smoke and dust and fire and pain are there. And that their families find some peace in this life.

Lest we forget.
Overthink
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