She doesn't remember
I wasn't going to write about this day. This horrible day. But I will. I will write about this day every single year until I can't write anymore.
I was watching The Footage on YouTube with my daughter Danielle. She doesn't remember 9/11. She doesn't know what the world was like before that day. She doesn't know that there was a time when we were so certain of our insulation, of our security that we would walk brazenly through the airports or cross the border without a second thought. She doesn't remember that there were no x-ray machines or body searches at the airports. That you could walk anywhere in them and greet family as they walked off their plane.
She doesn't remember what its like to not be in war.
She doesn't remember a time when our soldiers weren't in harms way, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
This day has been side-tracked though. The idiotic press has decided to give too much attention with a cult leader in Florida who had one too many books of matches. If they had left him alone, if they had ignored him, he would have been a single man with a lonely fire. No one would have cared, no one would have had to worry that their son, daughter, husband or wife would have been at risk while serving in Afghanistan or Iraq. This was a media firestorm, created and perpetrated by the 11 o'clock news. It had nothing to do with religion or God or the Qu'ran. It only had to do with headlines, advertising and ratings.
Not even a whacko minister could grab our eyes and attention for too long though. We know that today is more than one man's religion. Today is the day everything changed. Its the day we will mourn not only the loss of life, but the loss of a certain feeling of freedom. Of feeling safe always. We will reflect on this day and know that nothing will ever be the same as it was.
I watch the footage every September 11th. I watch the planes hit the towers, I watch the news reels and the memorials. I share them with my girls and I will one day share them with my sons.
I was watching The Footage on YouTube with my daughter Danielle. She doesn't remember 9/11. She doesn't know what the world was like before that day. She doesn't know that there was a time when we were so certain of our insulation, of our security that we would walk brazenly through the airports or cross the border without a second thought. She doesn't remember that there were no x-ray machines or body searches at the airports. That you could walk anywhere in them and greet family as they walked off their plane.
She doesn't remember what its like to not be in war.
She doesn't remember a time when our soldiers weren't in harms way, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
This day has been side-tracked though. The idiotic press has decided to give too much attention with a cult leader in Florida who had one too many books of matches. If they had left him alone, if they had ignored him, he would have been a single man with a lonely fire. No one would have cared, no one would have had to worry that their son, daughter, husband or wife would have been at risk while serving in Afghanistan or Iraq. This was a media firestorm, created and perpetrated by the 11 o'clock news. It had nothing to do with religion or God or the Qu'ran. It only had to do with headlines, advertising and ratings.
Not even a whacko minister could grab our eyes and attention for too long though. We know that today is more than one man's religion. Today is the day everything changed. Its the day we will mourn not only the loss of life, but the loss of a certain feeling of freedom. Of feeling safe always. We will reflect on this day and know that nothing will ever be the same as it was.
I watch the footage every September 11th. I watch the planes hit the towers, I watch the news reels and the memorials. I share them with my girls and I will one day share them with my sons.
Brooke doesn't remember either. She remembers what she was doing that day, mostly because I have talked about that day with my kids often, but she does not remember a life before war. K.G.
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