Another 9/11 has arrived.
Yet another day of remembering where we were and what we were doing at a watershed event for this generation. I don't know that I have the energy for it this year; after all, one can only stare at the pre-9/11 skyline of New York City for so long before you realize that you will never forget, no matter what you do to try. How long can I do that before I stop being the wistful transplant, feeling sorrow and horror and sadness? When do I become the doddering old man who is solemnly depressed because his childhood home was torn down?
I'm not saying it's time to move on. Time has a way of doing that whether or not we're on board for it. I am saying mourner beware. We should never forget, we should have a place in our hearts for the buildings and the tragedy of loss of life, and the irreparable harm done to my city and my country alike. I am saying that living in the past is a sure way to miss the future. Time waits for no one. A new tower rises from the ashes and steel of the old one. Entire middle schools are now populated with kids who never saw the buildings up close, who have only known this to be reality.
So while we wrap ourselves with a blanket of sadness, my friends, it is time we begin to look to the future. Rather than focus on what this has done to us eleven years on, it's time to shift that to who we've become in the aftermath. That is a far more interesting conversation.
