Like many others, I was affected by the tragedy. Unlike many others, I do not care to relive it. I do not own a shirt, a bumper sticker, nor do I have a tattoo memorializing the event. I do not care to remember it. This is not to say that I do not honor and respect those who perished. It is not to say that I don't have a heavy heart this time of year. I was affected like everyone else. I consider myself very lucky that nobody I was close to died in the attacks. I know people who did and their loss can not be imagined.
The fact that this is the tenth anniversary is inconsequential to me. Why is this year any more important than the first or the seventh year. Does it make it any more important to remember? People will make money off this event, like they do with every tragedy in this sick world we live in. I will not buy a freedom badge or an Old Glory tee shirt. I will not put "never forget" on the back of my car. If you need to do this, you are missing the point. Tragedy, if only briefly, brings people together. It forms a bond. We as New Yorkers lost not only friends and family, but the penultimate symbol of our city and state. We came together as one for a short time and then it seems that hatred and anger resurfaced. For me this never happened, because I know better.
When I was a child in Brooklyn, if I looked to the left, out of my bedroom window, I could see the Towers. To the right, the Williamsburg clock tower. These two buildings were constants from the time I can remember. As the second tower fell, I was overcome with grief. Of course, human life is more important, but at that very moment, a symbol of my childhood was taken away. Maybe some of my innocence left as well. I can't explain the emotion, but as I sat and watched on TV, I cried. I cried like I had lost two great friends. I had only been on top of the towers twice. As a child, it's as close to space or heaven as one can get. It's awe inspiring. I will never see anything like it again. I almost hope I don't. They were ugly buildings when you think about it, but they were ours. They were the symbol of just how big we thought we were. Now they are gone.
On Sunday morning, I will have my moment of reflection, as I have every year. I do not pray, but will hold all of the nearly 3,000 people who died on that day in my thoughts. I will think about the brave souls who ran in as they told people to get out. I will think of the families and the friends who lost someone. I will think of the many friends I know who helped pull body parts and items out of the rubble just so these people could be identified and their families have closure. Then I will think about how they never will. How we as a society thrive on this. How we have marketed 9/11 into our own trademarked symbol of America. In doing so, we have trivialized thousands of lives and those who saved them. We have made caricatures of the brave men and women who died trying to help. Imagine if someone close to you died and people you didn't even know made a tee shirt to show their feelings. Imagine every year, you had to see coverage of your loved one's leaving you. Imagine if you had to do this every year for the rest of your life? I can't imagine what that would be like. I have a hard enough time with the one or two people who care to remember my mother and pay their respects. I can't imagine if everyone I saw walking down the street did it; for a week!
Pay your respects as you see fit. Remember in any fashion you want. Memories are special for people. For me, I will take a brief moment. I'll shed a tear for those we lost, for what we lost and for what I lost. And that will be all.
The fact that this is the tenth anniversary is inconsequential to me. Why is this year any more important than the first or the seventh year. Does it make it any more important to remember? People will make money off this event, like they do with every tragedy in this sick world we live in. I will not buy a freedom badge or an Old Glory tee shirt. I will not put "never forget" on the back of my car. If you need to do this, you are missing the point. Tragedy, if only briefly, brings people together. It forms a bond. We as New Yorkers lost not only friends and family, but the penultimate symbol of our city and state. We came together as one for a short time and then it seems that hatred and anger resurfaced. For me this never happened, because I know better.
When I was a child in Brooklyn, if I looked to the left, out of my bedroom window, I could see the Towers. To the right, the Williamsburg clock tower. These two buildings were constants from the time I can remember. As the second tower fell, I was overcome with grief. Of course, human life is more important, but at that very moment, a symbol of my childhood was taken away. Maybe some of my innocence left as well. I can't explain the emotion, but as I sat and watched on TV, I cried. I cried like I had lost two great friends. I had only been on top of the towers twice. As a child, it's as close to space or heaven as one can get. It's awe inspiring. I will never see anything like it again. I almost hope I don't. They were ugly buildings when you think about it, but they were ours. They were the symbol of just how big we thought we were. Now they are gone.
On Sunday morning, I will have my moment of reflection, as I have every year. I do not pray, but will hold all of the nearly 3,000 people who died on that day in my thoughts. I will think about the brave souls who ran in as they told people to get out. I will think of the families and the friends who lost someone. I will think of the many friends I know who helped pull body parts and items out of the rubble just so these people could be identified and their families have closure. Then I will think about how they never will. How we as a society thrive on this. How we have marketed 9/11 into our own trademarked symbol of America. In doing so, we have trivialized thousands of lives and those who saved them. We have made caricatures of the brave men and women who died trying to help. Imagine if someone close to you died and people you didn't even know made a tee shirt to show their feelings. Imagine every year, you had to see coverage of your loved one's leaving you. Imagine if you had to do this every year for the rest of your life? I can't imagine what that would be like. I have a hard enough time with the one or two people who care to remember my mother and pay their respects. I can't imagine if everyone I saw walking down the street did it; for a week!
Pay your respects as you see fit. Remember in any fashion you want. Memories are special for people. For me, I will take a brief moment. I'll shed a tear for those we lost, for what we lost and for what I lost. And that will be all.
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