Behind the Headlines

It was right about this time six years ago that hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 people and setting off a whole chain of events that is still being played out.

Like most people, I remember where I was very vividly. I was on the phone with my mom, who called to wish me a happy birthday, and I was checking to make sure my bag was packed since I was driving to Minnesota later that day for a job interview. She had to check the other line because someone kept calling. When she came back she said something like “America is under attack.” File that under chilling words and things you don’t really ever expect your mom to say during birthday call.

So much has been said and felt about Sept. 11. About the people who were killed, about the terrorists, about the war that still follows. I don’t have much to add.

But I was thinking the other day about this. What was I doing on Sept. 10? Or Sept. 9? Or any of the days directly proceeding the event? What shoes was I wearing? What was I thinking about? Just the little things that seem like nothing, but when you can’t remember, feels like something is lost.
Maybe really happy events also leave such marks, but the human brain seems to operate more in the way of remembering negative experiences stronger. I very much remember what I was thinking that day, what happened next and what I did next. I remember what shoes I wore. It’s much more than I would have remembered about any other day that took place six years ago - birthday or otherwise. In some way, the marking of horrible or even less heinous acts (my friend Sue once stepped in dog poop on her way into my house, another regular Sue visit, but I remember it only because she tracked poop throughout before realizing - something I probably would have forgotten without the unfortunate tracking.)

So when I see those signs - Never Forget - I think, how could we? I know people need to move one and maybe we stop having public events, or the blood drives start to dwindle on years between the milestones. But, we’ve shared an intensely personal experience collectively and it’s not going away anytime soon.