As others are doing, my family is commemorating the anniversary of the terrorist acts of 9-11. Having been through loss and trauma myself, I hear these stories with a much more personal and empathetic feeling than I ever did before my own loss. I went to school in New York State, though, to my knowledge, I didn't know anyone in the building. However, for me, it was a personal event, more than just the death of just under 3000 people. It's more than a number. It's not just that I went to that plaza years before the towers went down or that I saw it when they were still clearing away the rubble from ground zero. It's also not just that I know a lot of people who live in New York and did not know right away that they had all escaped the events of that day.
For me, it's a day that means loss for so many. It's a day during which mothers lost their children and children lost their parents. My heart aches for those who went through the experience of going to work like any other day and being scarred for life or lost. My heart also aches for those who said goodbye to their loved ones for the last time on that day.
I don't think anyone who was not there can imagine what it was like. However, many of us know what it is to lose loved ones. We can all feel the pain, on some level, of those hurt by that day. We can all take a moment and mourn with those who still mourn, comfort those who need comfort. For just that day, we can get beyond the differences that separate the US and find common ground in a time of healing.
