It's Ok To Forget

Never Forget

    Never forget what exactly?  September 11, 2001 brought many events.  The overly broad statement of "Never Forget" has as many interpretations as there are memes to proclaim it.  Not all of the events on that day should be remembered though.  Some should certainly be remembered, while others still should be ingrained in our hearts and minds.  However each passing year I see more and more social media posts of buildings on fire, people falling, and photos of terrorists before the hijacking, all in "commemoration" of the tragedies of that day.  These are not the things to remember. These are the things to forget. To move past.  To finally lay to rest.  Buildings burn, are torn down, replaced, and forgotten about all the time, only more so in locations like the ever changing New York City skyline.  Images of destruction and death only serve to renew the pain, as if we are willing participants in some annual PTSD cycle, every year reliving the horrors.  The photos of terrorists only encourage the branding of 1.8 billion people based on the actions of 19.  Demanding that we never forget these things is demanding that we keep the wound open and let it fester.  These things we can forget, and should.  Let those wounds finally heal and relegate the 19 names to musty history books as they should be.
     Here is what we should never forget.  Never forget that when disaster struck, we proved to each other and to ourselves that we are better together.  We proved to each other that the person we know nothing of is willing to risk their life for someone they've never met.  This was bore out the countless times that strangers risked their lives for each other.  Every time a life was saved, it was saved by someone else, a stranger, another human being who happened to possess the courage to act.   Remember that for a day, we proved that we had the capacity to drop the labels, and view each other as we are, equal in our flaws and equally deserving of being saved.
     Lets remember that it wasn't Republicans or Democrats that died, nor Americans for that matter, it was the business man from Singapore, it was the repair man from New Jersey, the lawyer whose husband and family where on Long Island while she met with her client on the 32nd floor, and the family on vacation from California seeing New York for the first time.  It was people we cared about, though we've never met them.  Remember that.  We care about people.
     Lets remember the lesson we all learned that day, that we can do better, that we can be better.  That we deserve the best of each other.  If you want to honor those that were lost, honor them as so many honored those that were saved.  Assume the best of each other, and give each other your best.



(Picture:  Survivor Tree at Ground Zero)


(Note:  Not sure if this post makes me an optimist for thinking some might actually understand this or a pessimist for knowing so many will not. Overly dramatic for sure regardless.)