I am thinking of the people who are just young enough to not remember the difference between before and after. Those that were in their early teens or younger when it happened.
The reality they have as young adults is long lines at the airport, business continuity plans at work, security background checks for just about everything, and all things invasive that fall under the US Patriot Act.
This is their reality.
They seem to not understand when 'older' people grumble about waiting in line, or having to take just about everything off to get through airport security, or why some people roll their eyes when it's time for yet another BCP meeting at work etc etc etc...
In some ways I think they are blissfully unaware.
They aren't aware of the difference between before and after. I am thankful they don't have that unexplainable feeling of loss. I am hopeful that instead of writing it off as just another day in American history, they will take the time to learn. This day, this event is no less or no more important than other days in our history, and in 70 years it may only get the same amount of screen and print time as Pearl Harbor.
But for now, we as a country still need to make a big deal about this. It is something that those of us weren't directly impacted by have been able to put away. I think of all those people who haven't been able to do that, the thousands of people who lost family members day.
So many of us witnessed the death of those family members.
We may not have been on sight, but there was no 5 second delay on this event.
We were standing in the break-room at work, our hands covered our mouths when the first tower fell, and our branch manager said a prayer for those we had just seen die.
I am thankful for those who responded, those who tried and succeeded in saving thousands of lives, and in doing so sacrificed their own. I continue to remember those who weren't able to make it out.
