September 11, 2005 – Bryan Strawser

Over at his new digs, Lex has a post up about the 4th Anniversary of 9/11:

It’s hard to believe it’s only been four years.

Four years ago we stared at the television screens in shock and anger, teary-eyed, uncomprehending, lacking the vocabulary. We watched the endless loops of those buildings coming down, the Pentagon on fire, a field in rural Pennsylvania. Four years ago our children looked to us with questioning eyes, asking us wordessly how this could happen. Four years ago we did not quite know how to answer them.

Four years ago we wondered who had done this to us, and why it was done. We wondered how anyone could hate so incandescently that they would kill not only themselves, but nearly three thousand anonymous strangers. Four years ago we were still unaware that there were those who hated us and offered us only two choices: Submit, or die.

Four years ago most of us hadn’t heard of al Qaeda, or bin Laden, or al Zawahiri or al Zarqawi, strange combinations of sounds on our tongues, exotic names that led to exotic places like Kabul and Kanduhar, Najaf and Falluja, none of which we’d heard of either, for the most part.

Four years and one day ago we were sour and divided. One day later, we were just Americans, and all the old divisions were meaningless. Since the disaster fallen upon all of us collectively, the wealthy and the poor, without regard to color or ethnicity or gender no one could possibly gain any political advantage by trying to divide us into smaller groups with competing interests. No one even tried. That was four years ago.

I believe that I said a year ago everything that I have to say on the subject of September 11th:

Personally, 9/11 was a gut-wrenching emotional experience for me. I was driving in Connecticut on my way to visit a store that morning when a peer called to tell me about what had happened. The second plane had just hit, you see. I spent that morning in South Windsor, Connecticut with my team watching as the day unfolded. I remember, that morning, being almost completely in shock.

[..]

Emotionally, 9/11 affected me – like others – greatly. I was fortunate in that I did not lose any friends or family members that day. But I cried many times during the following days – sometimes out of a sense of loss – sometimes in awe of the heroism displayed that morning – sometimes just because I love my country.

[..]

Professionally, 9/11 has had a huge impact on how my job is viewed – and what I worry about each day. I’ll always focus on the traditional aspects of retail loss prevention – theft and fraud – but now I’m highly concerned with how we prepare and posture ourselves to better respond to a crisis – how we prevent major incidents – how we coordinate with public safety officials – and on and on —

[..]

In the end, I think we all have the responsibility to remember what happened that day – to us – to our fellow man – here in our own country.

A few weeks ago, while having coffee with a peer in Minneapolis, our conversation steered towards the impact of September 11th on our lives – both personally and professionally.

She pulled out her PDA – tapped on it a few times – and spun it around so that I could read it.

It was her calendar – turned to September 11th, 2004 – and it showed just one word:

Remember….

This morning, we donated money to the Pentagon Memorial Fund and the WTC Site Memorial Fund.. Our donation to the Pentagon was in memory of all servicemen and women that have lost their lives during this fight. Our donation to the WTC Site Memorial was in memory of Lt. Ray Murphy, FDNY, a man I never met, but whose photo after the first tower fell is one of the finest examples of courage I have ever seen. That photo adorns my office wall.

We gave because we want to remember….

Only Four Years

Four Years Later

Archives for September 11, 2005