September 11 - A Wendy Post

September 11, 2013, this day, 12 years later.  I have struggled to know
what to express
how to express.

I have been puzzled all these years by my ongoing emotional response to 9/11.  It was not a personal tragedy for me.

Jerry Sittser says something like, "Tragedy expands the heart's capacity for compassion."

I respond emotionally for the attack on NYC, on businessmen & first responders.  I respond because our country was attacked.  I remember the uncertainty of what this all meant and what it would mean for the future.  I cry over each story explained, both victories, heroes, good endings & losses, sadness, death.  I ponder about how those big numbers of people who perished in each tower & in each plane crash are made up of individuals.  And how each individual has left behind a hurting family and hurting friends.  I consider the wars that we have entered since 9/11 & what they are really about & how compounded & complex is our nation's loss & ongoing grief.

We will never forget.
But what did it all mean?

One thing it meant is that a boy named James finished growing up & joined the Marines & fought in Afghanistan as a man impacted by 9/11, in a war directly tied to 9/11.  And that young man, James is now in heaven & I love his sister like she was my sister & I grieve for them all so.

And another young man from my little corner of the world, a beloved cousin to some of my cousins, younger boy from school whose house I passed on a daily basis, it meant that he too would move on to heaven.

And each time I pass his dear mom's house with the row of flags my eyes well up with tears.

When writing me a check today, someone asked me what the date was.
I surely know what the date is.  My son knows without me mentioning it, what today's date is and what it means.

I won't forget.

I was not looking for 9/11 videos b/c I burned myself out on that 2 years ago on the 10th anniversary.  However, without looking, I stumbled upon this one today.  It tells a story.  And I like stories.  It inspires.

http://www.upworthy.com/the-incredible-inspiration-one-man-gave-us-in-the-last-hour-of-his-life-9?c=fea