I know what 9/11 is about. I read the history that brought this to being. I saw the news breaks on that morning. It’s branded on my brain just as Vietnam was, just as man walking on the moon was.
The lives lost in New York, Washington DC and rural Pennsylvania, was horrendous, but as I have reflected and researched, 6,650 Americans died on 9/11/2001 from normal causes, excluding the attack victims. This aligns with the Tuesday average for 2001. All I’m pointing out is that many people suffered loss of a loved one on that day, not just those who lost their lives due to the terrorist attacks.
I remember it and a small part of me wish we didn’t have to have our lives interrupted on this day to be reminded by the news outlets of this day of remembrance. I know we can’t forget, but like I said, a small part of me wish I could forget.
I get teary eyed when I see the aftermath from twenty-five-year-old news clips, listen to the survivors recount their harrowing ordeals, hear the names called and the bell chime for each name called, the bagpipes and the bugler sounding taps.
I guess if there is a lesson that can be learned from all of this is that the war on terrorism just like the war on drugs isn’t something we can easily win. We may win some battles, we may eliminate the heads of the snake, but we can’t defeat them like we could in an actual war where we claim the other country’s lands until they surrendered. This enemy hides in the shadows and strikes indiscriminately.
Jerry Schellhammer 