9/11

In memory of 9/11

There have been plenty other huge events in history, but few so traumatic that the date alone immediately transports all who were more than babies at the time, right back there.

People have their birthdays or their wedding anniversaries on that day.

Folks have started a new job that day, had their first child, met the person of their dreams or got engaged – but no matter what great things might be associated with it, the shadow of the Twin Towers always falls across the date of 9/11.

So, like many others right around the world as well as in America, I want to take a moment to remember and say a prayer for all caught up in the events of that day…

The victims, whether in the planes or on the ground;

The survivors, some physically injured, all emotionally seared forever by the things that they experienced or saw that day;

The families and friends who waited desperately for news, both those who got the news they longed for and those who had to bear the news they dreaded, with a special thought for those who to this day can only guess what happened to their loved ones;

The children born after the event or too young to remember the person who set off for work or sight-seeing in New York that day and never came home, who will grow up without the knowledge of a father’s or a mother’s love;

The family pets who waited loyally for an owner to return, and to whom no-one could explain why someone they completely trusted had apparently abandoned them;

The firefighters, so many of whom risked or even gave their lives to rescue total strangers;

The police, medics, air traffic controllers, priests, and all whose training for emergencies had suddenly been called into the most desperately-needed use in the unfolding tragedy;

Those who fed the fire crews, made space available to treat the injured, comforted the traumatized survivors and helped desperate families find news of missing loved ones; and

All others whose lives were painfully affected by that day or by its aftermath.

The world, of course, has changed for ever. We learned the hard way it’s a whole lot smaller than we thought it was.

We found out that we really are each other’s keeper – that what happens in a city or a country far away impacts the lives of all of us.

As a UK newspaper proclaimed next day, “We’re all New Yorkers now.”

For all of us who will commemorate the tragedy today, we still are.