September 11, 2013

Yesterday I was thinking how much things change from year to year.

Today at work someone asked if we all remembered where we were that September morning when the plane hit the first tower. I was young, but of course I remember. I was at my breakfast table eating cereal preparing for another day of 6th grade. I was mostly unaffected by the event due to spatial separation from New York, a lack of understanding of what terrorism truly was, and the fact that I had no friends or family for whom I feared their death.

Twelve years later much has changed. I have seen a lot more of the world and have many more people in many more places who I would worry about if disaster were to strike in any country or city. I have walked the streets of New York. I have seen Ground Zero and the partial construction of the new memorial tower. I have worked on the 62nd floor of a building and felt and unnerving pinch in my stomach at the thought of a plane crashing into a lower floor and knowing that there would be absolutely no escape route.

I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly close last year, which I highly recommend. No other book has ever extracted so many tears from my eyes. Months later I watched the film on an airplane with the same reaction. Not only is is a story about the attacks on 9/11 but it is a story about family, about childhood, about coping with loss, about getting through things, and eventually about moving on.

Today I think of those who lost their lives. In honor and respect, I weep for the individuals and what they went through those minutes or hours that the towers were hit, filled with smoke and flames and fell. I pray for their families who searched for their loved ones, for those who found them and especially for those who were never able to speak to their friends and family one last time.

I almost think that it is human nature to take life for granted, but when I rethink this statement, maybe it is just that way for the privileged. There has never been a day that I have opened my eyes and for any specific reason thought that I shall not make it through the day. September 11, 2011 goes to show that events occur out of the norm that can bring your life to unexpected end. This seems unfair and unfortunate, but at least every other day you wake up essentially without worries.

It is important to keep others in mind. There are millions of people who wake up with the goal of surviving the day. Whether this is due to war in their country, an unstable and corrupt government, a lack of clean water, a lack of shelter, anything, there is the fear that they may not live to see another sunrise.

You are blessed to have access to power, a computer and the ability to read this blog.  You are blessed to have learned to read and write. You are blessed to not only be able to eat lunch, but to have a selection of 45 different sandwich toppings, and to not have to think about throwing away the half that you don't want. You are blessed to be alive. Never take that for granted.