9/11 Remembered

I remember when growing up  as a child of the 1970s, in the post-shadows of the Vietnam War, I would hear stories from my aging grandparents about World War II and Pearl Harbor. Whenever Dec. 7 rolled around, the date wouldn’t just be a piece of history to be aware of, but for them, a day to truly remember what it felt like to learn the nation was attacked. I now feel that way about 9/11. I remember being at work, which were across the street from here, and I walked in and heard that a plane flew into one of the WTC buildings. No one uttered the T word. We all thought an idiot pilot accidentally clipped the building. But then we heard the Pentagon was hit and another WTC building was slammed into by a plane.  We knew this was no accident, but we didn’t yet understand who was attacking or why – or if it would stop there. It was a frightening day. I remember how the media covered the cleanup for months. The economy came to a halt. Uncertainty was in the air. We were gearing up to attack someone - -anyone – to exact a price for the lives lost. Early speculation put the death toll at 10,000 or more. Wild guesses were being made. For several days things just shut down. Offices and schools were closed. My company couldn’t even reach the media for a month after the attack, as it was silly to pitch them anything but something related to 9/11. The nation was in mourning.

It’s 14 years later and a new tower stands taller and shinier than the original. But we still feel the whole that stood there for so long. Those who lost friends, family or colleagues to the tragedy have found a way to continue onward, but never the same as before. For those of us who lived then, we have never forgotten. The images and sounds and smells of the day will not permit us to.  As we strive to live in peace, we still see violence in the world. It seems to be a never-ending cycle.  My hope is that one day we can forget 9/11 because it will mean that the notion of terrorism and war will have become as foreign to us as typhoid fever. May that day come soon, but for now, let us honor the brave responders, police and armed forces that came to help rescue, cleanup, and protect us.

This day gets to me a bit. The truth is, as sad and scary as it was, the aftermath was worse. It left us with a legacy of two bloody and costly wars that altered the geopolitical landscape, impacted the economy, and changed the psychology of how we live our lives, and led to the absence of privacy.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015