If you haven’t figured out yet that this is the 10-year anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2011, then you need to turn on your tv right away and watch all the emotional and touching coverage. As our generation’s Pearl Harbor, 
9/11 is our historical benchmark, the date that changed our world forever.
In college, my thesis was on the concept of collective memory, how our thinking and our sense of history is constructed by our culture, our ethnicities, our race, our gender, our education levels, our economic status and a million other variables. No single event is remembered in the same way by everyone who lived through it – we are each programmed to see that event in a different way.
Thus the way we all remember 9/11 in vastly different ways. I, as with most of the people I know, can tell you exactly what I was doing, where I was, and who I was with for that entire day. I can tell you what I did to deal with the grief of those days. I can tell you about the high school and college classmates that I lost in the tower. Every moment seems to be etched in my brain as I reflect on those history-changing days.
But every person (and their history) is different. Some people knew no one that had been directly involved in the attack while others wandered the streets of Manhattan for weeks trying to find their loved ones. Some people were
concerned about the political ramifications of the attack while others concentrated on the human impact of the terrorism. Some people felt that going to war for retribution was the only way to prevent further attacks while others instead volunteered to give their time, money, and health to search Ground Zero for the victims. Some people cloaked themselves in anger and bitterness towards those of the Muslim faith while others gathered in churches and community centers to help each other grieve.
I propose that every single person’s response to the tragedies of that day was shaped by that person’s socioeconomic, religious, social, and political ideologies. Everyone’s reactions were different – and the important thing to remember is that NONE of them are right or wrong. All too often in our society, especially in coping with tragedies like 9/11, we are so terribly judgmental about other peoples’ beliefs and actions. I can’t help but think that if we all were a bit more tolerant of those that think or act differently than we do, tragedies like September 11th wouldn’t happen.
I was amazed and enlightened by the outpouring of common human compassion in the wake of 9/11. The tears that were shed by Americans around the country were genuine and the shattering sense of awakening affected us all. 
Patriotic pride and the American spirit abounded, as flags were raised around the world and people turned out by the millions to show their support. While one of the most heartbreaking events in our country’s history, that awful day brought out some of the best qualities of the American people and made me truly proud to be a citizen of the United States.
As we sit at the 10-year anniversary of that terrible day, I ask that everyone take a moment to think of all the innocent people that lost their lives that day – 
the 411 emergency workers (firefighters, paramedics, and police officers) that gave their lives in the service of others; the thousands of people on the airplanes and in those buildings that were just going about their daily lives; the heroes of Flight 93 who rebelled against the terrorists and prevented their plane from hitting another target; the families and friends of all the victims who have struggled for the last decade to put their lives back together; the survivors who have to live each moment with the terrible memories of that day.
Today is a day to remember those that were lost, to reflect on the tragic cost of hate, to hope for a more peaceful world. Today is the day to thank the first responders in your communities who are running into burning and collapsing buildings to save lives every single day. Today is the day to set aside hate and anger and embrace tolerance and diversity. Today is the day to shed a tear for the moments and memories that the survivors and families have lost with their loved ones. And today is a day to thank whatever Supreme Being you believe in for the blessing of continued life.
I wish you all a peaceful and reverent day of remembrance. God bless America and her citizens.
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menu! I am once again going to feast at the table of the world around me. People are, in my theory, like a giant restaurant – sometimes a buffet, sometimes a fancy steakhouse, sometimes a fast food joint, sometimes an exotic foreign eatery. There are millions of different types of people out there and sometimes you have to be brave and try something new. Sometimes you’ll find that people are bitter or rotten but more often, I would like to think, people are sweet and unique and full of their own unique ‘flavors.’ But remember that the menu isn’t a la carte – people aren’t side dishes. You can’t pick and choose what qualities they have and don’t have – you have to accept them and enjoy them for all of their ‘flavors’!
The Burning Horse 