Much has happened in the world in the past 25 years. In the days immediately following the attacks, people from throughout the country, the world in fact, went to New York to aid in the search for possible survivors and victims. Volunteers also assisted with clean-up and clearing the site.
Sept. 11, 2001, changed our world. Travel will never be the same, yes, but also our notions of security and safety were altered forever. Our place in the world also changed.
In the shared grief we all felt. The shock at the destruction. The understanding that someone could hate the United States and what we stand for enough to cause the mass murder we witnessed was staggering.
But, I think it does us all well to remember how our country was united immediately following the attacks. We all felt the loss. We all suffered the pain. We shared the experience and the grief. So many found ways to help others. We listened to the better angels of our nature.
I was walking my dog early that morning. We had contractors at our house beginning demo work on the addition we were building. My neighbor Jim Galloway, who I saw most every morning, hurried by on his way home. He had been listening to the news on a radio and told me a plane had crashed in the World Trade Center. I turned around and got home in time to turn on the TV and see the second plane hit the North Tower.
That morning and afternoon I watched with John (the carpenter who was demoing the back of my house for the addition and remodel project) as the towers burned then collapsed. We were aghast at the sight and speechless as we learned another passenger plane had hit the Pentagon and another crashed in western Pennsylvania.
There are still no words adequate to express what we were all feeling that day and the days that followed.
All we can do is remember.
Tomorrow, take a moment to be silent in remembering.
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