A few words about 9/11
22 years later, chilling memories and uncountable loss haven't wandered far in my mind.
Last year, 9/11 became old enough to drink. Drinking is one of the many ways to salute, remember, and appreciate the heroism and lives lost on one of the worst days in our history. Easily the worst morning of my life, and I was a thousand miles away. The pure shock and chaos of 9/11/01 can’t really be washed off.
I met my wife a little over eight months following 9/11, in the same Hatch Hall building that we experienced that world-shifting day. We were only kids in dorms seeking a career and maybe something else when those planes hit the towers. There’s a fair chance we walked near each other to class that morning; University of Missouri, Columbia was a ghost town full of zombie-walkers that morning. No one wanted to learn anything, only hide in the corner of a country under attack.
The precipice for something like that taking place wasn’t completely out of mind or the realm of reality, but the scale was the true leveler. Getting hit that hard, all over, and a layered attack. If you were in the United States, some part of your being thought safety had left the building. After it was over, professors sent classes home. Who could concentrate?
I won’t bore you with what I’ve written elsewhere and often over the past 22 years about that and its unshakable wrath. All I can say is be appreciative of the time given on this Earth. I’m sorry, but it’s not connected completely to a higher being. You’re on your own down here. We get what we get, and fate and tragedy can often live on the same block. All one can do is appreciate that we’re still here, able to fight another day.
Many, from thousands of families spread across the world, didn’t get to fight another day after 9/11/01. That’s the real uppercut to the jawline. The complete toll of that day. The amount of lives lost came in just under 3,000, but take it further and try to comprehend the amount of lives affected. The wives who lost husbands abruptly. What if they fought the night before? How many imaginary arguments has that widow endured?
Walking a mile in someone’s shoes is tough shit. Try doing it for a second. Imagine a sister getting ready to reconcile or make up with a best friend or sibling, and then that never gets to happen. Imagine a kid just waiting for mom or dad to come home, or wondering weeks later what happened to their uncle or aunt? Kids who lost parents deserve a holiday for the loss, but the nation as a whole doesn’t get to stop and recognize it.
As Brooks would say, the world has gone and got itself in a big hurry. It’s not slowing down. Just slow the roll long enough to realize that life is a precious fucking gift that we all take for granted every morning our bodies skip out the door with coffee in our hands. As we tap, swipe, and poke our phone screens, the reality that this whole big ordeal known as life is a ticking time bomb eludes our minds.
Have we learned anything since 9/11? Heck no. We’re the same lost, mixed up species.
Can we get better still? Sure.
22 years ago, a bunch of people turned back towards a burning beast to try and save lives. Think of the toll if first responders didn’t respond, or if civilians didn’t instantly become heroes for a day. Strangers became friends, enemies became allies. All in a single day, or matter of hours. Why do we still seem led astray, away from each other, over two decades later?
What if we didn’t need a terrible tragedy to come together and think of ourselves as one united group against a true evil? Act today towards a stranger like you would if the world suddenly went to shit
Let’s be better. Thanks for reading.