Do You Remember?

Twitter is abuzz.

The Facebook world is overflowing.

Every social media outlet known to man is being bombarded with 9/11 themed postings.

And that's exactly how it should be.

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't remember 11 years ago today. I, personally, was in Mr. Hill's math class at Buford Middle School. Early morning in the 8th grade. Likely crafting some scheme to flirt with Riley Perrin, all the while trying to figure out a way to ensure that I had gotten all the breakfast out of my braces.

Mr. Hill was summoned out of the classroom for a second and handed a piece of paper. When he returned to the class, note grasped tightly in hand, and eyes drifting listlessly around the classroom, never making eye contact with a single one of us... the popular theory was that he had just gotten fired. He didn't say a word, and looked thoroughly lost as he slowly ambled to his desk, so we filled the awkward silence with hushed whispers.

We all know now that the silence was our teacher attempting to collect himself, trying to find the right way to explain a national tragedy to a group of 13 year olds more concerned with airheads and the latest Kidz Bop cd, than acts of terrorism. 

He explained to us what had happened, and I'm sure wasn't surprised at the lack of uproar from the class.

The looks on our faces belied more of an "oh... OK" response - an obvious basic absence of comprehension of the magnitude of the event that just occurred. We all knew that it was bad, but in our early teenage, ego centric minds, it was a sad story on the news, nothing more nothing less. We were 350 miles away in a classroom in Charlottesville, Virginia. The rest of the day went by, and it was little more than something to talk about. More details arose about the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania. I was able to connect with my family in New York and validate that they were OK, and from there it was business as usual, and my pre-pubescent world kept on spinning.

In the coming days we were inundated with pictures of Bin Laden, and started suspiciously evaluating Muslims and their faith. Months passed and conspiracy theories spread like wildfire - people predicting this, and prognosticating that. In 2004 the Michael Moore documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, was released, and by this time, Mr. Hill's 2011 math students were 16, and were beginning to see the bigger picture and beginning to be able to form their own views about the world.

It took a couple years for it to sink in. It took a couple years for me to grasp the bigger picture. To understand why America was so fearful, so skeptical, and so unified. To fully comprehend the sacrifices that millions of brave men and women make every day so that I have the freedom to bitch and moan about how my iPad doesn't work properly, or that drinks at bars are too expensive. To reflect on the significance of September 11, 2001 and stop worrying about how it affected me, and instead appreciate how it affected my country.

Fast forward to today. September 11, 2012. Exactly 11 years to the day and I can still give you a detailed account of where I was when I heard the news.

To all of you who were personally affected by the tragedy, my thoughts and prayers are with you and yours. Today is about you. And for the millions of you who will never read this, who don't even know who I am, but are still in harms way fighting for my freedom, there aren't strong enough words to thank you for your service. Today is about you. 

Don't observe September 11th in isolation. Use today as a springboard to live a life of purpose. Use today as a platform to reflect on what we are as an American people, and more importantly what we can be. 


Sitting here at 24, I feel blessed to be a part of a country where every day, men and women emerge from the fire of tragedy as heroes. To be a part of a country, where at least for one day, we can come together as one cohesive force and remember those who were taken from us, and those who are voluntarily making sure it doesn't happen again.

#Respect.