Remembering September 11th

It seems that every generation has an event, a solemn date, that can never be forgotten.  A moment when everything you thought you knew changes in a moment.

I remember my grandmother telling me about Pearl Harbor; “I’ll never forget that day,” she told me.  “Everyone always remembers where they were when they heard that Pearl Harbor was under attack.”  And my mother remembers the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  So many tears.

And so soon, we observe the tenth anniversary of 9/11.   It’s already been ten years.

I want to write something in honor of 9/11, but it’s so hard to know what to say.  Everyone has a story to tell; everyone knows where they were and what they were doing.  I just read a few really great personal stories on the Woodbridge Patch; first person accounts from people who lived through the tragedy.  It’s been ten years, and I still cry every time I read about it.  You can read one of the stories, about a guy from Iselin, Captain Rich Naruszewicz, HERE.

I also saw an interactive map on the New York Times.  You can share a brief comment on the map – who you are, where you were, and how you felt on that day or today.  I plan on checking the map several times as the weekend goes on.   I want to read the comments and see what people say.  You can comment on the map too;  find it by clicking HERE.

Some people want to share their stories, and some people just don’t.  And that’s really very understandable.

I have a friend, someone who grew up in Iselin, who was there that day.  His story, as a first responder in Emergency Services, and as someone who worked at Ground Zero and with the clean up for months afterwards, is definitely worth sharing, and I asked him if he would let me put it on the blog.  But he’s too modest, I think, to have people read about his experiences and label him “hero.”  He said to me, “I don’t know, I did what I could.  I did what had to be done.   The focus shouldn’t be on me.”  He doesn’t want to be the center of attention, and almost seems embarrassed to have received a Medal of Valor from the City of New York.  “I didn’t put in for that.  My supervisor put me in for that.  But – the whole thing – it isn’t about me.  It should be about the guys who died.  And, for that matter, what about all the soldiers who are still fighting in the wars? They are the heroes.  Or the guys who went through the World Wars, Pearl Harbor… They are real heroes.”

So, yes, everyone has a story about where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001.  But not everyone can tell you about it.  Sometimes, it’s just too emotional, even ten years later.  Even a true hero feels like no matter how much he did do, he wishes he could have done more.  And in fact,  even though it’s been ten whole years, it’s still hard to process the enormity of the tragedy.  But the fact is, it will be something that we remember for the rest of our lives.