On this day eleven years ago, the world also changed with the September 11, 2001 attacks. I remember that day vividly, of course, as most Americans do. The question we ask ourselves, or one another: Where were you on September 11th?
What I remember most is how the mind could not really process the images and what those meant. Eventually, over the course of the next few days and weeks, we began to hear the stories and could see what it meant to thousands of loved ones who had lost their beloved on that awful day. We began to learn the source of the attack, and who was responsible.
A movie that I saw this year, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, brought home in a new way, the emotional aftermath, by focusing on the story of one boy who lost his father. I could feel the torment in my heart, like never before.
But it took years for it to unfold what that day would mean to our nation and how our country would change. That involved liberties lost, several wars, tens of thousands more deaths. It meant torture was sanctioned as a means for security. It meant that national security was elevated beyond personal freedom. Phones could be tapped and library cards reviewed. I could not begin to enumerate all the changes--political, social, cultural, worldwide--that have resulted from that one event.
The term '911' has become an abbreviated reminder of what happened, and how we have changed as a result of it.
The earlier anniversary, (our marriage) has always been for us a reason to rejoice and celebrate. The changes brought by that event were monumental. They impacted us as individuals, as a couple, as a family. I sometimes think that the marriage was as great a personal blessing for us, as the second anniversary was a tragedy for our nation. Both created a new way of being, for better [1982], and for worse [2001].
I do know with certainty that I would not be the person I am today, had not our 1982 event occurred.
This is a day both of sorrow and of joy.
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