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Editorial Note: This article originally appeared in The Weekly Choice on September 11, 2003.
The time goes by so fast these days that sometimes those more important dates – birthdays, anniversaries, and so forth, seem to get overlooked or forgotten altogether…lost in the shuffle. It was two years ago on this day that our country was put to the test – the United States of America was challenged by terrorism. They said that life would never be the same and for a while it wasn’t, but eventually things did calm down and we were able to once again carryout our everyday lives. Don’t get me wrong – we’re all a little more cautious than we were two years ago and our government has made many new and rapid advancements with regards to security and public awareness, but for the most part we’ve pretty much gotten back to the regular swing of things – spending time with family and friends, enjoying the scenery around us, and watching the Lions preseason performance as they pretend like they’ve actually got a chance this year!
I think the best generalization I can find for it relates back to keeping in touch with your old buddies from high school. During those first few months directly after graduation, it doesn’t even really occur to you that life will ever be any different – the summer is filled with parties and trips to the beach and you typically end up spending so much time together that by the end of the three months you’re all sick of one another anyways! And then everyone goes their own separate ways off to college and communication breaks down to maybe an e-mail or a phone call once a month – life gets in the way. Pretty soon you’re only seeing the gang during Christmas break, which is more or less spent exchanging a few select stories from college and moreover reminiscing about those days back in high school. Sure, you end up repeating the same tales about the time you painted your math teacher’s lawn blue or that night when you filled the school’s courtyard with three dozen live chickens, but it was an important time in your life all the same and a little sentiment never hurt anybody…
Nonetheless, I do think that a lot of people have a tough time when it comes to the events of 9/11 for a few reasons. Unlike other memorial days, nearly the entire population was affected in one way or another by these events, whereas most only know the others through their ancestors. It’s also a difficult time because there are so many varying points of perspective – I was fortunate enough to not even know anyone who lived in the area, let alone who might’ve been in one of the towers themselves, but I was still moved by what had happened – you have a lot of different emotions floating around. I think it goes without saying that these times are rough for just about all of us because hey, we all live in this country together, so what really is the best way to remember what happened that fateful morning?
I watched a documentary on the Discovery channel earlier this week about the reconstruction of the World Trade Center and I think it’s safe to say that New York City is on the right track – now the rest of us just have to fall in line. Over the next seven to ten years, what was only months ago a gigantic pile of iron and concrete at ground zero is to once again become the largest focal point for commerce around the globe, and that’s really just the beginning. During this new development, the city also plans to revamp their transportation and utility grids, add thousands of square feet of street frontage for shopkeepers, and correct countless other problem spots that early contractors created with the first center, thus both paving the way for the future of downtown Manhattan and establishing a truly remarkable monument for the memory of all those who lost their lives at the same time. Keep in mind that these projects will no doubt slow down life in New York City quite a bit as they progress, but Manhattan remains open for business and vows to stay that way throughout the entire duration…
And that’s what the rest of us need to do as well, from just blocks away from the construction sites all the way up to Northern Michigan – it may slow us down a little bit in its various forms, whether it be a news interruption on television or even just passing by an American flag waving in the breeze, but it only takes a moment before continuing on with our daily lives. We all have our own ways of coping with those sorts of emotions, and whether it be by laughing at the good times or crying about the loss itself, these are the types of memories that are worth holding onto – remember, a little sentiment never hurt anybody.
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