Ten years ago everything changed. We lost our innocence, and realized that everything we thought we knew about the world was wrong. Our sense of security was shattered, and our faith in the fundamental goodness of humanity was called into question. But something else happened also. In the face of overwhelming tragedy we came together as Americans. Bound together by unspeakable loss we found our collective voice and stood side by side and hand in hand. We were united. That is the lesson of September 11, 2001. As we remember that day we have an obligation to live our lives in a way that honors those who were lost. With every challenge comes an opportunity. This somber anniversary represents an opportunity to recapture the unity of purpose and commonality that we all felt in the days and weeks following the attacks.
As we pause to remember the horrific attacks a decade ago it is hard to believe that so much time has passed. The world has been irrevocably changed, and those fundamental changes have revealed a very different future from the one we had imagined for our children.
Children born on September 11, 2001 are today entering the fifth grade. For them, there has always been a gaping hole in the Manhattan skyline, and an equal one in the soul of America. International Terrorism and war are a business-as-usual part of their daily lives. They don’t question, nor even seem to notice, this elephant in the room. Our babies were never privileged to the kind of innocence that defined their parents’ childhoods. It’s true that we who were born in the years between the end of the Vietnam War and the violent birth of the War on Terror came of age in a time of peace and prosperity in our nation. We did not witness evil in the magnitude that now exists in our children’s world until we were old enough to vote and buy alcohol. That kind of innocence has been robbed of our youngest generation who will come of age during one of the most challenging eras in our nation’s history.
As parents, our cardinal responsibility is to somehow raise our children with both a heightened awareness of human capability and a strong faith in the fundamental goodness of the majority. We need to somehow teach them to be discriminating in their observations but not in their hearts. They will live in a time that requires great vigilance but also an unwavering allegiance to the fundamental principles of humanity. Ours will be a monumental undertaking as we seek to raise our children in a world that requires a duality of seemingly incompatible perspectives. While this mission seems daunting in its complexity it is the calling of our time. What we do as parents over these next decades will determine the climate of our children’s perceptions about life and so that of our society’s future.
Take a moment today to pause and remember the event which was the catalyst of our social metamorphosis. Mourn for a moment those whose futures were robbed from them, and whose eventual contribution was robbed from all of us. Cry if you will, be angry if you must, but then take a deep breath and move forward. Remember that every moment we live in defiance of evil is a tribute to those who gave their lives ten years ago. Our resilience in defining of our children’s future in a manner incompatible with the ideals of those who attacked us is a tribute to our character and to the character of the United States of America.
May God bless those we lost and empower those who survived. May He guide our hand as parents and lift our children’s hearts. May He grant us the strength, knowledge, and will to overcome what once seemed inevitable and to give our daughters and sons the greatest gift any parent can bestow upon their child – a bright future in a peaceful world.
Beautifully said Jonathan! I believe that once a year we should watch, and relive that day so that we NEVER forget the sense of unity we had that very day. I have never felt such a strong feeling of unity. People bonded in ways unthinkable, working together, and patriotism was reborn! Our lives have changed forever, but let us remember always UNITED WE STAND! GOD BLESS AMERICA!