Sandra Hults
Author
19 years
“Let them in Peter, for they are very tired. Give them couches where the angel’s sleep. Light those fires. Let them wake up whole again to brand new dawns, fired by the sun not wartime’s bloody guns” –“Prayer to St. Peter”, Edwin McCain
I woke up this morning thinking “Has it really been 19 years?” The world that day changed as we knew it. People have had time to mourn. A whole generation has had time to grow from childhood to young adulthood. My child was just barely a year old when 9/11 happened. I remember being glued to CNN and just about every news outlet available that morning. A lot of strange, violent events have happened in my lifetime alone but this one has always stuck with me, has always caused me to stop and reflect.
I haven’t written about this in a couple of years and I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said. My memories of that day sadden me but, at the same time, it gave me hope. Did the darker side of our nation exist within that tragedy? It did. I would be foolish to think otherwise but still, I hold on to hope.
I saw people band together that day and in the days that followed. People were good to one another in a way that I have not seen since. Yet, that also begs the question, why does it take such tragedy for people to do what is right? Right isn’t always, well, comfortable. That is a hard concept for a lot of people to grasp. Right isn’t always comfortable. Right isn’t always the thing that’s going to give us absolute happiness. Right sometimes requires us to make sacrifices we never thought we’d have to. Just sometimes, I think that ideal is lost on many people.
So today, on this anniversary, amid this craziness that seems to be our new normal right now, hug your loved ones a little tighter. Keep them close. Remember the people who did not get to come home to their loved ones 19 years ago today. Think about how far we’ve come and understand how much further we still have to go.
I listened to the song quoted above on repeat that day. I still listen to it to remember, and reflect. I’d like to share it with you today. Tell me what you think in the comments.
Sandra Hults 