As spoken by Todd Beamer, Flight 93, 9.11
September 11, 2001…I started the day with thoughts of a dear friend who was celebrating a 30-something birthday; those thoughts were quickly replaced with images of chaos, confusion and destruction. A branding of terror that seared itself upon our collective hearts, silent scars which tell a story that never should have been written.
…the first date my children will remember for the rest of their lives with the words “I remember what I was doing when I heard…”, much like, I suppose, my earliest “like” memory–the ’72 summer Olympics in Munich.
I remember thinking “the sky is falling” as I studied our own azure sky 670 miles away from what would eventually be known as Ground Zero, and I wanted to duck and cover but there was nowhere safe to hide…the vulnerability, the underbelly exposure, wondering how to protect our children?
The strangest memory, perhaps, is recalling the song “American Pie” playing over and over in my mind’s ear….”the day the ‘music’ died…” I googled the lyrics just now, and wow, although written about something entirely different, so much of it “fits” 9-11…bizarre.
Pausing to remember the living and the dead, grateful to discover moments of beauty when we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Many moments of beauty–lives of beauty–are honored in this week’s Blogging Chicks Carnival. If you have a few moments to spare, you’ll be blessed.
also, Rocks in My Dryerhas so many posts out there you’ll never get them all read.
then there are all the posts commemorating a person who died that day.
One of those called it a “wave” around the blogosphere. I thought that was so well spoken.
Honestly, I had forgotten that today is the 11th until I saw your post. Thank you.
That photo is one of the prettiest I’ve seen today. Thank you for all the links. I can’t seem to pull myself away from this computer to read all the tributes.
I’ve been trying to get through as many tributes today as possible. I’ll never get through them all….there is too many, and that in itself is heartwrenching.
The NY skyline is empty. My heart is empty. Tomorrow I’ll move on – but today it is good to remember the dead – and honor those living.
Why wouldn’t you want to submit this to the Carnival? If you want to submit it email me and I’ll include it (make sure you send a description as well).
Thanks for the link.
You know, my earliest ‘where was I?’ memory was when JFK was shot. It’s still vivid today, as is the WTC.
It’s not really so strange that there are similarities with American Pie, don’t forget, it too was written about the loss of innocent life in a plane crash.
Great post. I think the American Pie lyrics are very appropriate, too.
Nice work!
The picture is interesting.
I have seen so many pictures today.
My mind is a blurr.
My remember is up
You are so right….that date, where we were, what we were thinking and music related to it all…is forever etched in my memory.
I have honored Sgt. Michael Curtin on my 9/11 post. He was a NYPD officer who willingly walked into collapsing buildings on a rescue mission five years ago. His body was recovered from the rubble of Ground Zero March of 2002. So many lives lost, so many heroes.
Diane
Love the pic.
You know – it is amazing how our lives can change from one minute to another…It makes me live my life with a lot more purpose…