Remembering...

September 11, 2001. Ten years later, the images and sounds of that day, and the fear that I felt, and the sense that my world had changed forever are still with me.  I knew before that day that there were people in the world who despised America and our way of life.  I knew that in other places, I could be imprisoned, tortured, or killed for even whispering opinions I held about freedom, faith, and a myriad of other "normal" aspects of my life as I knew it.  But never before that day did I feel unsafe.  Before that day, "those people" were faces and names far away, in countries I never expected to visit.  They could hate me from their world while I was safe in mine.  My parents' Vietnam, my grandparents' World War II -- these had affected them in fundamental ways.  The wars had affected their everyday lives and remained with them, but the bloodshed was far away, and the Americans lost, by and large,were lost in conflict.  September 11, 2001, the bloodshed was here.  Americans were lost not with guns in their hands, but with briefcases and serving trays and merchandise from their stores.  They were ordinary people, leading ordinary lives, who had no reason to think that that day would be their last.  So many had their lives taken that day, and so many more gave theirs away.  We will never know all of the stories.  We will never know just how many lives were saved because a police officer or firefighter stood in harm's way and gave others time to flee.  We will never know just how many ordinary men and women ushered others to safety as their last actions on this earth.  We will never know, at least not fully, the impact of that day on those who were there, on all of us who remember, or on the generations that follow us.

And so today, ten years later, we remember.  We pray for the dead and for those they left behind.  We pray for those who found joy in sorrow, and those who still suffer in bitterness.  We pray for those who did what they could to protect then, and those who are doing what they can to protect us now.  I am so grateful that, for all the possibilities that entered my awareness that day ten years ago, for all the vulnerabilities, for all the things I took for granted that could be used to harm me or my family, I am safe.  There are men and women every day, here in our country and abroad, who are working to protect and defend us, our way of life, our ideals, and our freedom to live and speak as we choose, without the constant threat of harm from those who would take our freedom and our lives simply because we are not like them and do not live as they live or believe as they believe.  I pray that we never, ever forget that freedom isn't free. 

We cannot really ever give a voice to the unspeakable.  I will chose silence today, as I am sure many others will, in remembering....