It’s that dreaded day again. September 11, 2013. Twelve years ago most Americans had their lives changed forever with the attacks on our nation. Most of us watched in horror as people died on live TV with the collapse of the Twin Towers in NYC that filled the airwaves on that fateful day.
Every year this day comes with a bit of dread. Remembering that day. Remembering our nation going to war because of it and the ramifications of both the reasoning for the war and the expense of that war hanging over our heads every day since then.
I sit here and honestly am thankful that they’ve stopped repeating the video of people dying. Every year for the first few years people (both the media and private causes) would trot out the video and obsessively play the footage of the towers collapsing and people dying to drum up support on TV or in on-line videos for whatever cause was being promoted at the moment. The names of the people or the fact that people *actually died* in the videos didn’t matter, they were making points and hammering home those points with the memory that would impact most of us the most.
I’ve written in the past that I was screwed up for years after 9/11. I was. You can go back to old blogs and see that for yourself. The images would bring me to tears every time and it was to the point that I had to turn off the TV for the majority of the weeks surrounding September 11th each year because I couldn’t take the constant bombardment of death and dying.
This year has been different so far, but then again, all I’ve watched is old Survivor reruns on TVGN for the past few days. We seem to be moving away from the over the top imagery on Facebook and other media outlets (yes, Facebook is as much a media outlet as anything else). We’re moving away from the over the top TV specials and movies based on that day. I’m hoping that this trend continues because frankly, every American is a victim of that day. We’ve all been touched, we’ve all had to face consequences, and we all need to find healing in our own ways.
One day our children and our children’s children won’t know the impact of this day. 9/11 will join Independence Day, Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day as days on the calender that they don’t quite understand. Days marked in tribute to something big in our nation’s history but never knowing the reasoning behind the anniversary or the impact on our nation. I’m okay with that. We must heal as a nation, we must go forward and most of all, we must bring peace to those lost on that horrible day and in the days and years that followed.
I choose to take this day as a day of Peace. Each year (as work permits), a quiet day of reflection. I don’t need to have images and memories hammered home. I don’t need to wrap myself in the flag and declare myself Captain America (unless you’re willing to pay me for party appearances). I just need some time alone to catch my breath, and put my best foot forward to face the next year.
Talk to you again soon,
Jim