September 11th. 19 years ago today our world changed forever. For the last several years I’ve made it a point to write down some thoughts on the anniversary of this day. As I look back through the archives on the site, and specifically posts that I’ve written on this day I quickly realize that there’s not really much left to say that I’ve not said in years past, so I won’t bother rehashing. If you’re interested you can check out previous year’s posts in the list below:
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- 18 Years and Counting (2019)
- Patriot Day 2017 – 16 Years Later I Remember (2017)
- 14 Years Later – I Remember (2015)
- 13 Years Later I’ve Not Forgotten – Have You? (2014)
- Never Forget September 11th – Together We Roll Forward (2013)
- Should September 11th Be A National Holiday? (2012)
- Never Forget… Let’s Roll (2009)
We’re living through a time of incredible upheaval in America. I’m not going to bother getting into my personal politics other than to share a tweet I made recently:
Know what I miss? I sort of miss the days where NO ONE knew who you voted for. You kept that to yourself. Your vote was sacred. It was like going to a confessional booth. You cast your vote and you moved on with life.
You didn’t bicker and fight with your friends, family, and coworkers over a dumb ass politician. You let that politician do their job, and if they did a garbage job, you voted them out.
Those were simpler times. Those were better times.
Everything becomes political. Everything becomes ‘my guy’ vs. ‘your guy’. There’s no such thing as ‘civil discourse’ these days. I ran across this image that really spoke to me:
Wouldn’t that be nice? A divided country where we stood by our neighbors, recognized that we had differences and were still able to be civil to one another?
The one good thing for me on this day is that it marks the day my Mom quit smoking. 12 years ago today she quit. If you’ve followed me for any length of time you know my battles with nicotine so I can’t tell you how proud of her I am. She’ll never read this but way to go Mom. Love you.
I will once again reuse this particular passage from a previous entry which sums it up:
I’ve said “Never Forget” more times than I can count… and every single time I’ve really thought about what it means. But simply saying “Never Forget” isn’t enough. You have to truly do it. Really REMEMBER.
Remember where you were.
Remember what you were doing.
Remember who you were with.
Remember how you felt.
And then realize something. Whether you believe the official story of what happened that day, whether you love or hate our current administration… realize that the events of September 11th, 2001 changed your life. Forever.
Below is a photo shared by my local fire department with an amazing story. Here’s hoping we can REMEMBER… and have more stuff like this:
We love our young adults here in Twinsburg. Thank you to THS senior Nate Wagner and friends for the somber, yet amazing display in front of Twinsburg High School. 2,977 flags representing the souls lost on 9-11.
Thanks also to Twinsburg VFW Post 4929 for donating the flags for the project. #TwinsburgProud #NeverForget 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸
