Yesterday we talked about growing up. So many of you have shared little pieces of yourselves in the comments, emails and via Instagram messages. Thank you. In the same vein, September 11 is another way my kids are growing up. I remember vividly the years when I intentionally didn’t turn on the tv or radio on this day. I couldn’t bear for their innocent minds and pure hearts to know the horror of the real world. As they got older and started to hear about it in school, I was careful to point out the helpers in the midst of the tragedy. And finally, last November, I took them to ground zero. It was time and it was a necessary and emotional experience.
For the boys, who did not live through 9/11 and don’t have images forever imprinted on their memory, it was things like this that they could not believe. Seeing demolished fire trucks, support beams and elevator motors drove home for them the level of devastation. For Honey and me, seeing the last column and standing on the sacred ground that once marked the twin towers was surreal and one we will collectively never forget.
We did have a guide that day who expertly and sensitively narrated how the events of September 11 unfolded as he walked us through the museum. Honey and I both learned things we didn’t previously know, and the kids were quite literally rapt with attention.
I don’t think most adult Americans will ever wake up on September 11 and not remember the events that unfolded seventeen years ago. I was at work in downtown Atlanta at Coke and it was terrifying. We were all gathered around the tv in the conference room on the 11th floor trying to make sense of the horror. In that moment, coworkers and leaders and interns and strangers and maintenance workers on my floor all became one. Our roles and titles were stripped away and we were just scared humans. Americans.
Hearing the stories of the helpers and seeing the beautiful pieces of remembrance were reassurances that there are beautiful, good, kind and wonderful people in this world and that we should be incredibly proud to be Americans.
No day shall erase you fro the memory of time. <3 Never forget.
Read more: New York City | 9/11 Memorial & Museum
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