Welcome to the next post in the MFRW 52-week challenge. The official topic is "As a reader, what attracts you most to a character." I couldn't answer this as a reader. My writer hat kept slipping making it impossible to think. And when I asked my characters for their thoughts, they just laughed and said, "We are who we are." That really isn't sufficient for what is supposed to be a "thoughtful" post, so I went in another direction, one inspired by the date. The title for the post came from a comment left on the blog post, Never Forget.
I tried to think of a post along the lines of service. Duty, honor, and loyalty came to mind, but that was done. Every option from the price of duty to those who preserve the homefront were considered and tossed. Even the date, 9-11 (or what is now known as Patriot's Day, had a post previously done. However, even though almost two decades have passed since the fall of the Twin Towers, because of my own personal ties both to the date and the event, I kept returning to it.
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| Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay |
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The impact of the date goes beyond the attack on the national psyche, for me it was personal. Although the fall of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the crash of United Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, can technically be considered two events, for me they are one, inextricably entwined. On the date now simply called 9-11, I lived across the bay from lower Manhattan and stood on the boardwalk watching the smoke rise from the buildings. Other connections were working in the north tower for several years and knowing someone who died on Flight 93. I also had family members stranded when all transportation was halted. One of who was 1800 miles away from home as a result of a death in the family.
The fall of the Twin Towers also impacted me professionally. One of the local histories I've been fortunate enough to research and write dealt with a Monmouth County, New Jersey town. The county had one of the highest losses of people that day. Considering that town resident's lost in the towers and on Flight 93 the event had to be included in the history. The writing of which turned out to be quite emotional.
So now the emotions are relived twice. And that didn't include the barrage of mentions in the news day after day, week after week, and for years later. But the date wasn't finished with me. Those same emotions of anger and loss reared again when I wrote the history of a local organization. One of those lost on Flight 93 was a leader of the church and included in the book, which meant reliving those dark days.
Enough reflections. It is time to focus on a happier thought, a special someone's birthday as she turns 91 years young.
~till next time, Helen
Certainly those of us who were alive and old enough to understand what was going on, will never forget. But when I ask a room full of teenagers what the significance of December 7th is, I often have to tell them the answer, because "the day that will live in infamy" has been all but forgotten already. I wasn't even born when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but all of my uncles were in WWII in some way, so it was talked about a lot. It only takes a few generations for things to become historical--and even less now that everything is moving so quickly.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this! I was actually in bootcamp when 9/11 occurred, and I was subsequently stationed at Pearl Harbor, so 9/11, and 12/7 are both significant days to me. But as Fiona stated, most teenagers don't even know what happened on December 7. In fact, I just asked my 13-year-old son, and he stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thank you so much for sharing!
Kari
Helen, I hope we never do forget. As young people today have no recollections of the day, it's easy to let it drop. We never should, even though it seems so many of the lessons we SHOULD have learned that day have already faded. Stay true.
ReplyDelete