Seven years ago this morning, I returned to my computer after my first class where an IM awaited me. “A plane flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings”. A message like that doesn’t really lend itself to the gravity of the situation and before I could even begin to ask questions, a simple turn of the web had filled in the gaps. And then I saw the news of a second plane.
It was described then, and still I perceive it today, as the moment that has defined our generation. And though I’m certain we all realize this, I think we’re still figuring out what that means. For some it means we work less, in order to spend time with our families and enjoy what’s really important. For others it means we work more, protecting all of our families while sacrificing their own. A cry for tolerance, and open-mindedness echoes over a sea of isolation and strengthening beliefs. Patriotism begets an epidemic of unpatriotic diplomacy. Oil is the new gold standard, credit the new currency. What once temporarily unified us has, over time, seemed to have only driven us farther apart.
It’s important to remember those who lost their lives that day and those who live with the pain of those falling towers. And it’s important to remember those whose lives are different now, everyday because of that day. And then, in remembrance, I wonder if you can listen to a song like The Rising and ask yourself why it doesn’t sound like that around here anymore?
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