09/11/2019
Cooking breakfast for customers at our cafe in Maine. Someone mentioned to turn on the news. Flipped on the radio and the world changed....for us...in the USA... the reality is that people around the globe had been living this violent, unpredictable life for years...and now we had to look at it. And feel it. And we have felt it. For the last 18 years, we have fought with it...and with each other. The aftermath of the September 11th attacks is one we can not overlook. In the immediate days following the attacks, I remember how together we all seemed. How a part of a single nation with common purpose we were. Brought together by our shock and our grief but also our resolve. We honored those who served and sacrificed. We mourned those we lost. But then it faded. Little by little over the years we have separated. Pointing fingers and placing blame has become our way. Deciding which team we are on and committing with all our might to destroy the other team.
The 19 men who hijacked those planes didn't care about the numbers of people they killed that day. Numbers were inconsequential. What mattered most, and what I'm certain they'd be most proud of today is the discord they sewed. The insecurity and fear they generated in our cultural whole.
In many ways, the USA is 18 years old today. A young adult with a traumatic past and the post traumatic stress to show for it. When we say "Never forget", it should not be to conjure up the horror of that day but instead the unity that we felt and the feeling that we could survive anything ....together. #911
