All around the world, people are remembering that day.
It was such a profound day for so many people, that I could have easily titled this blog, “Remembering” and everyone would know exactly what I was talking about. So profound that the mere phrase, “Never forget” on any day of the year brings back those images.
What were you doing on May 15th, 2011? Most of you couldn’t tell me. But, if I were to get on Facebook and merely write, “What were you doing? Do you remember?” And stories of the shock, horror, sadness and disbelief would flood that post.
We each have our own perspectives from that day. Many of us remember what we were eating and what was on our schedule for that day. Even those of us who lost no one close to us can remember. That day created a time capsule in the minds of Americans.
I find that we each want to say what we were doing. Many of us were so moved that we feel such a great need to express our feelings. For those of us not touched personally with loss from that day, we mention the person who knew the person who was killed… as though that makes it more OK for us to feel the tremendously heavy emotions that we carry from that day.
I just wanted to say though, that those heavy emotions are warranted, even without knowing a person who knew a person. That day changed our world forever.
And as we watched the images on TV or heard the broadcasts on the radio or saw the images online… we were well aware that the world, in one day, was changed.
We all lost something, whether we lost a loved one or not.
I don’t even need to tell you what it is, because you can feel it. I just wanted to make sure that you know that it’s a genuine loss in and of itself. And to say out loud, “I’m sorry for our loss.”
My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost their loved ones. Their loss and grief is inconceivable to me.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the heroes as well as the victims from that day and the days and years that followed.
But my thoughts and prayers also go out to all of us. To you. My thoughts and prayers are with you today. I am sorry for your loss.